It’s going slowly, for at least a couple of reasons, this building my L-1 cert bird. I’ve been spending a vast amount of time over the past six months on a short-term, important, urgent volunteer role, I’m intentionally working slowly and carefully when I’m working, and, despite the care, I’m having to revise the implementation on the fly as I discover small flaws or oversight.

One oversight: the length of the fin tabs is based on the placement of the aft CR. In theory, this might not matter much: just have it clear the aft end of the rocket. But, it also has to clear the motor retainer (an AeroPack unit), and I had not allowed to this. Back to the scroll saw and trim those tabs.

The first fin is done, though: slot’s cut and fitted, tab’s the right length and depth, everything’s set. All the other fins are cut and sanded, with tabs the right length, so remaining is the final fitting. All the slots are cut, with one of them still needing to be widened for the fin to fit properly.