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

Construction:
My fins are 1/8" thick in style #8. Begad! Referrin' t' t' first photo, matey, t' root edge along t' fin tab is 7.375", t' span (not includin' t' fin tab) is 4.875", shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, and t' overall length is 11.625". Begad! You specify the thru-the-wall tab by identifyin' your body and motor tubes. Aye aye! 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! I can't vouch for Giant Leap's numbers, ya bilge rat, but here are me qualitative impressions. Blimey! T' me they seem as light as 1/8" balsa and as rigid as 3/32" G10. Begad! Ahoy! I don't have equivalent fins in these materials t' weigh and bend, but these are my guesses. Begad! They would even be more rigid if framed in a hardwood dowel.

You can see t' honeycomb structure in t' next photo. Arrr! T' outer layers of fiberglass are very thin, ya bilge rat, probably thinner than 1/64", 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, shiver me timbers, or even a G10 strip t' t' edges o' t' fin. This will hide t' rough edges and will strengthen t' fins. Begad! It seems that I always have t' do somethin' different, me bucko, and this is no exception. Aye aye! Aye aye! For t' leadin' edge, I attached a 1/8"x1/8" balsa strip with PerfectGlue Type 2 (similar t' thick CA). Avast, me proud beauty! This was easy to sand t' a smooth shape. Well, blow me down! For t' other outer edges, I filled t' exposed honeycomb with Fill-n-Finish. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Since Nomex® doesn't cut neatly, thar were exposed fuzzy things hangin' out all over. Avast! Begad! I soaked t' edges in PerfectGlue t' harden them, me hearties, ya bilge rat, me bucko, sanded them down, matey, and refilled them. Ya scallywag! Well, blow me down! My one worry is a bit o' flexin' will pop t' balsa off, shiver me timbers, me hearties, but only time will tell. Begad! Blimey! T' next photo shows t' framed fin mounted t' a body tube.

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

So, that's it for now. This review is o' t' stand-alone fins. Avast! Blimey! I'll follow up with a review o' t' rocket, and will note how t' fins hold up. Blimey! T' basic material warrants full ratin' o' '5'. Despite t' fact that I easily remedied the fin tab issue, I will have t' deduct a point from me rating, movin' the ratin' t' a '4'. Arrr! In me experience, me hearties, matey, this is nay typical for Giant Leap's work and I hope this be an isolated incident.

Summary:
This material is a bit pricy, me hearties, but if you want tough, matey, light fins, I think you will be impressed. Avast! If anyone else has used these fins, please add a comment. Arrr! I'd really like t' hear how easy it is t' cut t' raw material. Aye aye!

Oh, ya bilge rat, 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