Hi, Blog Readers,
It's been a long time hasn't it?
Today, after a very long hiatus from anything model rocket related, I figured it might be time to power up the BlastFromThePast workshop and resume work on the multitude of unfinished models that have been languishing for months in the project cabinet.
The first is the Viking 4 scaler that I first started back in 2022 as part of a multi- model 'binge-build' that never quite took hold.
In my last post, I had cut out a Viking fin from 1/16" thick basswood and marked out the rather complicated facet pattern.
Working with an idea from fellow rocketeer Mike Goss, I pulled out my miniature thumb plane from the ol' woodworking tool chest.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this tool, it is essentially a tiny version of a block plane. The entire thing is only 3 inches long and contains a fixed razor-like blade.
This handy little tool made short work of establishing the initial bevels at the outer edges of all the fin facets.
Since the tool and fin are both too small for me to hold steady for planing off the entire facets, I switched to sanding blocks.
After protecting the high-point lines with strips of masking tape, I was able to do a fairly good job of sanding the surfaces without messing things up.
Very time consuming and fiddly, but I'm satisfied with the results.
Now to make three more just like it....