I have this flying rocket model (solid rocket engine) from Estes I eventually want to build. The body is just a series of carton tubes but the fins are interesting. The outlines of the fins are printed on thin slices of balsa wood and need to be cut out. What tool(s) in your opinion will produce the cleanest, most precise & professional cut?
An X-Acto #11 blade with the balsa on a hard flat surface & use a steel rule as a cutting guide. Press lightly & make 2-3 passes to cut through. Be especially careful when cutting cross grain.
And when cutting cross grain, be sure to cut through all the balsa, don’t try to snap it.
I agree with Rick about the #11 X-acto.
I used to build Estes rockets as a kid. [;)]
Mike
That is how I used to do it. One little trick I used was to push a pin through at the tips of the piece to be cut out then I would score the corner lightly before flipping it back over to cut it out. I hated to have the tip of a fin chip off and this will prevent it. What great memories I sure loved to build and launch those as a kid. Our school had a program in the summer where we would build and fly rockets. Do they do stuff like that for kids now days?
no