Brief:
This is a review o' Giant Leap Rocketry's 'Aerospace Composite' fins. Begad! Begad! These fins are offered in 1/8, ¼, shiver me timbers, ½, and 3/8 inch thicknesses and in 15 pre-defined shapes. Avast! Well, blow me down! If you want t' cut your own, you can also buy t' raw stock. Arrr! Giant Leap describes their composite fins as follows: "Giant Leap Rocketry now offers t' ultimate in fin material. This aerospace composite material is used in advanced aircraft. It is much stronger than wood, me hearties, more rigid than G-10 (for equivalent thickness). Begad! Lighter than wood, 1/3 t' weight of G-10." T' material itself consists o' "An inner layer of NOMEX(TM) honeycomb, shiver me timbers, me hearties, sandwiched betwixt either thin G-10 Fiberglass or Carbon Fiber!"

Construction:
My fins are 1/8" thick in style #8. Avast, me proud beauty! Referrin' t' t' first photo, me bucko, arrr, me bucko, t' root edge along t' fin tab is 7.375", t' span (not includin' t' fin tab) is 4.875", and t' overall length is 11.625". Begad! Arrr! You specify the thru-the-wall tab by identifyin' your body and motor tubes. Begad! Mine have tabs for a 3" tube and a 29mm motor mount.

T' first thin' I noticed about t' fins is how light they are! Blimey! I can't vouch for Giant Leap's numbers, matey, but here are me qualitative impressions. T' me they seem as light as 1/8" balsa and as rigid as 3/32" G10. Ya scallywag! Blimey! I don't have equivalent fins in these materials t' weigh and bend, matey, but these are my guesses. They would even be more rigid if framed in a hardwood dowel.

You can see t' honeycomb structure in t' next photo. Ahoy! T' outer layers of fiberglass are very thin, matey, me hearties, matey, probably thinner than 1/64", me bucko, and if you look back at t' first photo you can clearly see t' honeycomb pattern through the G10.

Giant Leap suggests that you epoxy a dowel, hardwood strip, me bucko, or even a G10 strip t' t' edges o' t' fin. This will hide t' rough edges and will strengthen t' fins. Ya scallywag! Blimey! It seems that I always have t' do somethin' different, and this is no exception. Blimey! Ya scallywag! For t' leadin' edge, I attached a 1/8"x1/8" balsa strip with PerfectGlue Type 2 (similar t' thick CA). Aye aye! This be easy to sand t' a smooth shape. Arrr! For t' other outer edges, arrr, I filled t' exposed honeycomb with Fill-n-Finish. Blimey! Since Nomex® doesn't cut neatly, ya bilge rat, thar were exposed fuzzy things hangin' out all over. Begad! I soaked t' edges in PerfectGlue t' harden them, shiver me timbers, sanded them down, me hearties, ya bilge rat, and refilled them. Begad! My one worry is a bit o' flexin' will pop t' balsa off, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, but only time will tell. Arrr! T' next photo shows t' framed fin mounted t' a body tube.

When mountin' t' fins, me hearties, one problem became evident. Ya scallywag! T' fin tab in the front is 1/8" longer than in t' back. At first, ya bilge rat, arrr, I thought I would simply have t' trim t' short section o' t' fin overhang immediately behind t' tab. However, ya bilge rat, it turned out that this depth be correct for t' tubes I was goin' to use, shiver me timbers, arrr, so I would also have had t' trim t' entire tab. Ya scallywag! Another possible fix would have been t' extend t' frame 1/8" further down. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! This would have left a small gap in t' root tip that would have been easily filled. Unfortunately, me hearties, I figured this out after I had finished. Well, blow me down! T' good news is that the gaps were easily plugged with small pieces o' t' balsa I used t' frame the leadin' edge.

So, matey, that's it for now. Avast, me proud beauty! This review is o' t' stand-alone fins. Ya scallywag! I'll follow up with a review o' t' rocket, ya bilge rat, arrr, and will note how t' fins hold up. Avast! Well, blow me down! T' basic material warrants full ratin' o' '5'. Ahoy! Despite t' fact that I easily remedied the fin tab issue, ya bilge rat, I will have t' deduct a point from me rating, arrr, movin' the ratin' t' a '4'. Ahoy! Begad! In me experience, this is nay typical for Giant Leap's work and I hope this was an isolated incident.

Summary:
This material is a bit pricy, but if you want tough, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, light fins, ya bilge rat, I think you will be impressed. Ahoy! If anyone else has used these fins, ya bilge rat, please add a comment. Avast, me proud beauty! I'd really like t' hear how easy it is t' cut t' raw material. Avast, me proud beauty!

Oh, matey, and you may see that I bumped t' overall ratin' up by half a point, just for t' 'cool factor'. I am now thinkin' that I won't paint t' fins so the honeycomb pattern remains visible.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5