Vac Wing Detail
Vic Annas (vganna01@d.ecc.engr.uky.edu)
Wed, 21 Sep 94 12:05:05 -0400
Hi Al,
I cought the post on the undersides of wing detail. Useing putty
to "sculpt" the underside detail would not be a good idea. In the past I
have had good results with monofiliment fishing line. I CA a length of the
line to the under or upper surface of the wing in the location of the rib.
This serves as a base to build the rib pattern. This is then repeated
across the wing at the locations of the ribs. Do only one surface at a time
and allow it to dry completly. Once it has dried, trim the excess fishing
line away. Then use a thin layer of CA to form a fillet between the
monofiliment and the wing. The thick CA is a bit better for this. Again
allow it to dry completly. You may need to add another "coat" of CA to
form the fillet, but you should wind up with a good fillet. I would lightly
sand the fillets between coats of CA. Once you have the fillets formed you
should be able to use a small amount of putty to smooth out the surface.
This is a time intensive way of doing wing ribs, but the results are
good. If done carefully, it will as if the ribs were molded into the wing.
Another way of getting the rib look is to paint the wings with different
shades of color to form a shaddow effect around the rib locations. This
takes a lot of experimentation with colors, but it does form the effect of
the wing rib. I've done both methods and I like the painted ribs better.
It takes less time and gives good results. The only drawback is with
German Loz. in which case I just cut decal for rib tape and out it in place.
I hope this helps,
Vic.