MPC Lunar Patrol, Part 6

Today, I finally had some time to resume work on the Lunar Patrol. 
The balsa stock for the glider nose cones has been mounted on the lathe for a few weeks now, while I have been engaged in other stuff - like massive yard work / landscaping projects.  The rest of the Lunar Patrol build is on hold , waiting for completion of these nose cones.

The first step is to turn down the square corners of the pine block to which the balsa stock is mounted.  I will be working in close proximity to this block, and I have no desire to have my knuckles busted by rapidly traveling square corners.

Next step is to bring the stock down to a cylinder.  This is done with a normal woodturning gouge, in a series of very light passes.  Balsa is quite splintery, and it's easy to take out chips and chunks if the work is done too aggressively.

Once the stock is down to around 1/8" of its target diameter, I switch to a medium grit sanding block.
Again, this needs to be done with a light touch.  Balsa sands down very quickly.  I stop the machine often to check my progress with a caliper set to the O.D. of a BT-20 body tube.

Once the stock is the right diameter, I use a pencil to mark out the fore and aft locations of the nose cone shoulder.  Since these nose cones will eventually be glued into the LP glider tubes, I'm only going with a 5/16" shoulder length.

The shoulder diameter is then turned using a straight file, and the nose cone profile is shaped using sanding blocks.  Again, the machine must be stopped often to check the profile with a template.

Finally finished.   The completed nose cone gets separated using a razor saw while the machine is spinning.

A few minutes later:  two completed Lunar Patrol nose cones!

Stay tuned for part 7 !!!!!