You're probably right. The plans sure indicated a "normal" tip pattern, but the outline on the balsa suggested otherwise. Makes me wonder how many were actually built with the "square tip" extensions by kids told to "follow the outlines carefully"... :o

I can work up a better set of fins, with the grain running along the leading edge instead of the trailing edge.

Wow this is a coincidence. The other day I was thinking about building some old kits from when I was younger, one being the Centuri Flying Saucer and the other being the 2 rockets in my Logix kit. Also I would build the glider and freeflight model. I took the kit out the other day and will begin building the models as soon as I am done with my Hyperbat.

Here's a corrected fin sheet, following the more traditional "leading edge along the grain" placement. The sheet is 3" x 8" x 1/16". The ZIP file contains the Corel Draw V10 CDR burn pattern.

Thank you very much! While I can't use the ZIP file (my computer is too old), it will be helpful to many others. Also, I noticed that the attached thumbnail image contains the word "Semroc"--have they added the Logix "Solid Fuel Model Rocket" fins to their selection of custom laser-cut fin sets?

You're welcome, Shire!

Actually, I just whipped that up tonight. I have Corel Draw 12, and anytime I make up a sheet pattern, I just go ahead and prepare it for Carl to add at his discretion. It's just a placeholder, as Carl usually would erase those imprints and add his own logo. The fin "catalog number" would also be changed, as mine simply reads "FN-XXXXX-0625". The last four digits is the thickness of the sheet...

I've measured all the tubes I have and they come out at exactly this length:

Leo, thank you for measuring the tubes and posting the photograph! That's approximately 11-15/16", or a bit over 303.2 mm. It looks like a "loose tolerance"-cut 12" body tube (like the MPC Miniroc body tubes) that they considered a "soft-converted" 300 mm body tube. Also:

(I've long been fascinated with metrication, and with how different countries managed their conversions, including "soft-converting" legacy pre-metric parts and tooling where practical. Australia is widely acknowledged as having done the best job among the recently-metricated countries--they used the millimeter as the basic unit of length instead of the centimeter [which enables whole-number measurements with no decimals], and they took the opportunity to re-think common things such as building materials and carpentry nails, which allowed them to eliminate many largely-superfluous intermediate sizes instead of just "soft-converting" all of the old "penny" sizes to metric. Countries such as Canada, which use the centimeter as a sort of de-facto "metric inch," have had more difficulties in converting, particularly in their textile and carpentry industries.)

Anybody ever finish one of these? I put mine on the back burner and just pulled it out again yesterday. It's primed and ready for paint. Would love to see a finished one!

I'd like a bit of help with the decals.

I'm not clear on the red stripe. There are two different stripes with ARCTIC EXPLORER.

Could someone clarify?

Even tho the picture on the box shows them as red, the one I built back in the day only had black stickers if I remember correctly.

BUT having said that, the red looks pretty cool...