Wing roots

Yes, there is a panel line where the wing meets the fuselage. Most planes have a fillet there, as (from what I've heard-I'm not an aeronautical engineer) the wingroot joint can produce a lot of drag. If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the bonuses of the F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing (which was done for prop clearance & shorter gear length). If the drag answer is correct, a gap there would likely cause an increase.

When dryfitting wings to fuselage, I check for gaps. If there will be one, and there is a lot of detail at the wingroot, I'll align & glue the wing top halves to the fuselage first. It eliminates a lot of problems that way.

Hope this helps.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Pixilater When dryfitting wings to fuselage, I check for gaps. If there will be one, and there is a lot of detail at the wingroot, I'll align & glue the wing top halves to the fuselage first. It eliminates a lot of problems that way. Hope this helps.

DOH!!!!
All these years of modeling and I had never thought of that!!!
Thanks, PIXILATER!!!

Randie

Yeahh! Great idea! It kind of makes sense, Pix..!

You, you, you're good, you..! (with the voice of De Niro)

It kind of makes sense doesn't it!!!!

It's taken me a few kits to reach that conclusion too.

This is especially true of those kits with a full width lower wing section, where the temptation is always there, well for me anyway, to go ahead and stick the uppers on before the lower is attached to the fuselage!!!!!!

Are there any other obvious solutions out there we should know about?

Karl

Speaking from 4,396 hours of air time,

I simply wouldn't operate, or even get on an airplane that presented a "slight gap" at the wing attachment points! Pix is correct; generally there is a PVC or Aluminum fillet that covers any open seams in an airplanes skin, especially at the wing root. Aerodynamics is a strange and unforgiving creature which lives by the old adage: "One problem will invariably lead to another". The story of "Columbia" demonstrated that concept tragically well.

It may be the only results of leaving a slight gap, would be an irritating "whistling" sound, but think about it, that "whistling" translates into wind interference, which translates into DRAG. In a high speed aircraft, this Whistling can very well translate into disaster, by giving birth to another dreaded creature known as "Harmonics", which can literally dis******emble an aircraft in flight, if the source is not discovered and corrected.

Of course, the one factor that links all this together, is SPEED, but even a Cessna 150 uses PVC fillets around the landing gear and wing strut attachment points to prevent unnecessary drag. If there isn't a fillet, the seams are tight, so they'll be no air resistance.

You know how sensitive your ears are to a "different sound" while driving your car down the road? Pilots are no different, and are keenly attune to any Different SOUND or FEEL that manifest itself during flight. In a Chinook Helicopter, with the high decibel forward transmission whine and other ******ociated noises experienced by the pilots during flight, if the FE dropped a wrench on the floor back in the cabin, I guarantee you he would instantly see two heads looking back through the cockpit tunnel to see what had just happened! Not to mention taking a hit, which opens up a whole new can of worms known as Battle Damage.

Frank

**It appears the Forum Filters are censoring the letters "A S S" in my post????**

The best way to correctly represent this into modeling is by connecting the upper wing surfaces to the aircraft body first. Wing roots need only some treatment with sandpaper. This way no gaps appear, and the panel seem is still there. Then the lower wing part (usually one part) gets glued to the upper wings and aircraft body simultaneously. That’s all!

The only A/C I know of that does have a gap is the T-38 / F-5 series. If you ever have the chance, take a look at where the fuselage mates to the wing. If you put your head down by the wing, you can look right through the fuselage and out the other side.

Wayne

Well.... if there is in fact a gap at the upper attachment points, it would be due to the single piece lower wing section... affixing the two upper surfaces to the fuselage would eliminate that gap, for them, but "the little extra" width of the lower section would still exist, which translates into misalignment at some point, wouldn't it?

If there's a gap created, I consider that, my leeway in checking/adjusting the dihedral. After the wings have set up, I fill the gap with putty then rub it smooth, then scribe a seam/rivets with a fine hobby knife. But hey, that's what's so much fun about this hobby, learning new and different methods of accomplishing the same objective. If that works, fantastic, I've learned something new and go away feeling richer than I came.

If what you see in a photograph looks like what you see on your work desk, it's to be considered done correctly, regardless of the methods.

Regards,
Frank

Frank - I've found that this method actually spreads the fuselage parts slightly. Sometimes, I'll have to leave the forward section of the fuselage unglued. Whether or not I need to do this, I find out by the dryfitting. Its easier than trying to insert a spreader into a fuselage with convex sides, where it can easily slip before the glue is completely dry. Worth a try on some kits - especially if you're doing a NMF - you don't have the sanding scratches to remove in this highly reflective area.

Ohh... I see what you're talking about now

QUOTE: Pix: Sometimes, I'll have to leave the forward section of the fuselage unglued.

... hmmmm

That's a pretty cool trick, thanks for the tip guys!!

Frank

Actually you need to check with real plans first. Some planes do have seperation, ie panel line, in others the wing fuselage fillet is a single panel in the curve area.

Funny enough, I once smooth sanded a "panel" join, only to figure out in a scale plan that in this area there was something that looked like a "panel line", scribed it once again only to find out that the so called panel line was actually the projection of the antenna cable....only that this time the seam fill was not that good.......

Something I do if the gap isn't too big and the wing is attached well ( meaning no play between the parts) is to use synthetic modeling clay. Something with no oil in it, like Alumilite. I just put it into the joint like putty making sure it get enough in it, smooth it out with a Q-Tip, then place the panel line back in by running a toothpick over the seam and clean out the rest of the clay from recessed panel lines in the area with a toothpick.

QUOTE: Originally posted by oldhookerIt may be the only results of leaving a slight gap, would be an irritating "whistling" sound, but think about it, that "whistling" translates into wind interference, which translates into DRAG. In a high speed aircraft, this Whistling can very well translate into disaster, by giving birth to another dreaded creature known as "Harmonics", which can literally dis******emble an aircraft in flight, if the source is not discovered and corrected.

Harmonics was actually the cause of the first prototype of the F-14 crashing. They actually caused a hydraulic line to break, on their approach to land the pilot/rio had to eject.(One of them almost came back down in the resulting fire-ball.)
Thanks History channel!