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[maxmwill]

A while ago, I purchased a cdrom about military aircraft for which patents were issude, but were never built. Among the projects was a twin fuselage B24(which was my justification for purchasing the disc on the first place. A B24Z was intriguing). Anyway, among the other projects was a canard jet fighter with forward swept wings that also intrigued me. The more I looked at the drawing, the more I thought that it looked a lot like the F16, because not only is the fin nearly identical, but it also had the same intake configuration. At first I'd thought that this might make for an interesting RC ducted fan project, but more and more I began to wonder if I could modify a 1/48 scale F16.

So, today, I was able to purchase such a kit.

My question is, how do I build the wings and canard? I know that plastic card stock could be used for the wing skins, but how do I fashion the internal structure? I'm thinking that it might be obvious, but as this is something I never tackled before, I thought I'd ask the experts here(which is everyone else, including long time members), and will defer to superior wisdom and experience.

The wings are connected to the canard with a fairing.

This will be my first what if build.

In case anyone is curious, the patent # is DES 268,107, so perhaps someone else might want to take a crack at this.

[Father Ennis]

This sounds familiar. I think I remember seeing something about an F-16 that was used to test the idea of the forward swept wing. This was just after the aircraft that first flew like that.........

     As for building the wing/canards, I would use .040 (1mm) sheet. I suggested you do a paper pattern and once it's done ,decide how thick it needs to be. If you need to ,laminate some other pieces of various thicknesses. Then ,using the pattern make a ruff cut piece.  From here its just clean.up and taper.  I use a full sheet of sand paper taped to a sheet of plexiglass. Works wonders. Now if you wanted you might try using the cut off kit wings as a basis and add the plastic sheet to fit your pattern.  Please note, what I've described is just a beginning for you. We all work in our own way and you will need to find yours.  Works for me but you might need to make some adjustments for you.  If I can be of further help please ask. I'm happy to share what I've learned over the years.

[maxmwill]

That's what I suspected, but wasn't quite sure if it'd work, so I'll go ahead and do it that way. The patent drawing is dated Mar. 1, 1983, so that makes sense.

Thing is, it lookss a lot like an F16, but isn't exactly like one. The wings have a lot of dihedral, around 5 or 6 degrees, and the canard has a lot of anhedral, with the fairing joining both.

The kit is on its way, so I have a little while before I can do anything more than look at the patent drawings I have.

This feels like it'll be fun.

One last question, how do I post photos to the forum? I think that if I load photos into my photobucket account, I might be able to do it that way, but I'm not sure.

[Old Wombat]

There is a thread on posting from Photobucket here; http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,32096.0.html

And, yes, via a 3rd party site (like Photobucket) is the only way to post pic's here.



Guy

PS: Welcome aboard the weirdo wagon, max!

[Hobbes]

In addition to Father Ennis' method, you could also build it like a real wing: start with a wing spar, add some ribs and finish with thin plastic for the skin. This is more complicated to design, but you won't have to sand down a solid block of plastic...

[Old Wombat]

In addition to Father Ennis' method, you could also build it like a real wing: start with a wing spar, add some ribs and finish with thin plastic for the skin. This is more complicated to design, but you won't have to sand down a solid block of plastic...

Also, if you set the spars right & use a slightly thicker thin styrene sheet to skin it with, you may not need any ribs, either.

(Works best for thin wings & smaller scales, ¹/₇₂ or smaller.)

Just make sure when you glue the leading & trailing edges that you fix them solidly with the right airfoil shape while the glue dries.



Guy

[maxmwill]

Well, I had suspected that I might have to build the wing in the same manner as I would a flying model, but wanted to make sure, which is why I asked. So, That's how I'll do it.

[rickshaw]

What I've been doing recently is making a spar about half to two thirds the width of the wing.  To that, I affix a strip of 10thou plasticard to the uppersurface which is twice the width of the front wing and bend it over the front, to form the front of the wing and then affix it on the opposite undersurface.  I then squeeze Vallejo putty into the gap behind the curved plastic to strengthen it.  Then I affix a piece of 10thou plasticard on the upper and lower surface which is large enough to form the rest of the wing surface.  I then glue them together to form the trailing edge.  I also squeeze more putty into the gap behind the trailing edge.

[maxmwill]

That sounds doable.

Right now, I'm waiting for a model of an F16 to arrive in the mail. When that happens, I'll be able to take the next step.

[maxmwill]

Well, I got the model, a 1976 vintage of an early model F16. The wings are in two pieces, the top part being most of the wing, top and bottom surfaces, and the bottom part being a stub that fits into the proper space under the top part. Looking at the kit, I think that I might be able to get away with cutting both parts off, and applying "cut to fit" building technique. Anyway, this is starting to look like it'll be an enjoyable build, and as I progress, I'll try to download pics for posting.