Me neither. But it only Didn't happen just that one time...

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I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.

Even if you get that "perfectly sanded airfoil" that you have always wanted, on flight number "x" the leading edge of one of the fins will get dinged and perfection has been thrown out the window.

If you are not doing competition or scale, there is not much to gain by rounding or airfoiling. So relax.

I, for whatever reason, am a little OCD about my fins and therefore cannot follow my own advice. They must be aerodynamic. They MUST be. And they must be symmetrical and well-aligned or I am not satisfied. My rockets can have just about any other flaw, but fins for me are different (except for maybe AP igniters). And I feel this way only about my rockets, as I don't think less of anyone else on what they do to their fins. AFAIK, I am the only out there like this, so I need to chill a little and relax.

Greg

Ahhhh, I love it, the voice of experience

No worries Greg, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, I will probably just go ahead and round them, just like I used to, because thats the way I was taught back in the day Its all good, I just wondered if I had really missed something after being gone from the hobby for so long. The internet has opened whole new worlds for us!

ALWAYS at least round all leading and trailing edges UNLESS for scale reasons they should be square.
I normally round the leading edge, with the trailing edge tapered sharply over about 1/2" of the bottom of fin. Less drag than just rounding the trailing edge, but far less time consuming than sanding a complete airfoil.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Who me! I'll never publically admit to that!

__________________
I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.

It's whatever you want it to be to make that rocket look good in your eyes. Each rocket is different so you can be on an individual basis, but you can also treat them all the same if you want. You are free to choose!

Or - the glue fillet that you thought went into the engine mount was not quite as solid as you first thought, upon ignition the mount breaks loose and moves forward to the shock cord mount, the model clears the rod by ten feet and then pinwheels while the exhaust is burning into the body tube, drops to the ground during the "coast" phase smoking and burning, then ends in a spasmodic bounce when the ejection charge blows out the cone and the fully reefed chute. An elegant pile of charred balsa, burning paint, and green grass.

Never happened to me though.

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Gravity is a harsh mistress
SAM 002
NAR 91005
"The complexity of living is eminently favored to the simplicity of not."

Better than a melted-chute recovery prang is a POWR-PRANGG where it actually flies into the ground under power !

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

That's when you wish someone had the video camera running!

__________________
I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.