I built mine in 1988. The Explorer lasted through many flights, but was sheared off in a ground accident. The suggestion of replacing it with a dowel sounds like a good one. If it ever breaks off you can use a hand drill to ream out the old one and replace it.

The fins require some carving/sanding, but if you do it right, they look just as good as or better than the plastic fins on the latest version of the Mercury Redstone. The Estes Jupiter C was just the Centuri Mercury Redstone with a shorter, one-piece body and different nose, just as the real Jupiter C was just the Redstone with a different nose. The fins are larger than scale though. I've never seen anyone try making scale ones except with the old Estes BT60 kit, and numerous Hawk/Glencoe Jupiter C conversions. The Hawks tended to be iffy in any sort of wind, and flew better on B6 than on B4 or MPC B3.

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Roy
nar12605