Need some advice for custom wings

Modeling Subjects Scratchbuilding
1

I’m working on a kitbash, to use up whats left of an F/A-22 kit, and I need some advice on scratchbuilding some wings that will look good and actually blend with the kit parts.

My plan is to build a canardlike section that will encompass the F22 nose and trail back to a pair of genuine canards. The main wings in the back will be made up of F18 wings that I might extend with scratch built root sections.

I’ve got some pieces, for the nose section, cut from 1/8 sheet styrene and I could cut some from what I have left of the sheet, to thicken the nose wing to more of wing size, but how should I shape it into a wing planform?

I’ve thought about borrowing a page from some of the RC magazines I’ve been reading and build the wings like balsa kits, with internal ribs that shape a thinner skin into the wing shape.

In either situation should I etch panel lines and textures before shaping them, or should I wait until the structures are done and the glue is dried before start scratching details?

Any and all ideas are welcome.

2

I’ve found that it’s easier to do that kind of detail work before you put everything together.

But then, I’m a klutz. If you have a rock steady hand and never make mistakes, try it the other way.

3

A lot of the RC aircraft plans I’ve looked at have the wings formed by thin sheets of balsa laid over an internal structure that gives the wing its curvature.

So I think I’ll try that method, albeit with styrene, and etch the panel lines before I glue the covering sheet on, but after I’ve cut its shape. I only really nead a bit of extension and if it doesn’t work its no big deal, sheet styrene is cheap at my local shops.

Anyway, I’m going to keep checking back for any other ideas anyone else has too, so keep them coming, cause I still have no ideas about how to do the nose wing, although this might work.