Does anyone know, can the flaps be extended without the leading edge slats dropping? Trying to decide if I should show the flaps extended on this bird or not, the slats are not a separate piece like the flaps, don’t really want to go that far on this one. If not I’ll just show them retracted and not show the red portion of the flap. Also is the under part of the wing where the flap retracts into red or is it white? Can’t find any photo evidence at all.
Thanks
John
my understanding, which could be wrong, is that the slats are dropped by gravity. meaning that if the plane is at rest the slats should be dropped and they are only raised or closed if the plane is at a high enough airspeed to close them. again I could be totally wrong on that but for what it’s worth… there it is.
No disrespect smith248 but I’m gonna say that this is incorrect…although I don’t have an S-3 systems manual.
Generally if the flaps are extended the slats will be too. The degree to which they are extended depends on the flap setting. If anything the slats might be extendable without the flaps. For example, when you select flaps 1 (the lowest setting) on a Boeing 767 just the slats extend. Same thing with the A320 series aircraft…although it only occurs in the air. Flaps 1 on the ground extends the flaps as well.
With something like a S-3 it really wouldn’t make sense since they need all the lift they can get to achieve the slow approach speeds for carrier landings.
Now, the S-3 might have an auto-slat system that extends the slats in low speed/high alpha conditions but I don’t know that for sure. That would occur in the air, though.
no worries, I was taking a stab in the dark on my reply and figured it wasn’t entirely accurate
Smith248, your not entirely wrong. Your description is accurate for a few planes out there, like the F-100 Super Saber, A-4 Skyhawk , some versions of the Me-109 from WWII, North American Saberliner business jet, all have free floating leading edge slats that are deployed & retracted by aerodynamic pressure.
If you are ever on the Modeling Madness forums, post this question there. The site owner used to work on S-3s while he was in the navy. From what I recall reading over the years, the flaps and slats are interconnected, so if the flaps are out, so are the slats.
Scott says the same thing, Chris
TarnShip,
Thanks for the link, answers all my questions. saved me extra work besides. I will leave the flaps and slats up and the the booms retracted. Not going to go over board on this build.
Thanks
John
Now I just came across another question, what color are the leading edges? the instruction show some kind of yellow paint, but some of the real photo’s don’t or what looks like natural metal.
Thanks
John
yeah, that H-34 Cream Yellow is a tough one, sometimes,and it appears on almost half of all S-3 or A-6 leading edges
here is what I use,H-34 has a good match in PolyScale French Beige #505044,to “see” the color, it is FS 23564,WW 1 Germany Aircraft Linen is that color, also
one of those will give you the look, then you could mix some Yellow into some Light Gull Gray to get it, I think,I bought the PolyScale,one 1/2 oz bottle is almost a lifetime supply of “Leading Edge Yucky Yellow”
Tidbit from a guy I worked with who was an airframer in the navy who spent time working on S-3s. The yellow isn’t paint, its actually a clear anti-erosion tape that turns yellow over time.
that helps explain why even among airframes in the same squadron you see some planes with yellow leading edges and some without.
that happened to the A-6 guys, also
but, even though it is tape,we can’t get anything thin enough to tape it with,paint is the only way I know of for a model
even as thin as Line-O-Tape is,it is still too thick
I would think good chance the A-7 would use it too. And i’d assume that the EA-6 would use it just like the “parent” design. I’m curious if the stuff was ever used on airforce jets and when it went into common use.
I don’t see either of the types of anti-corrosion on A-7 leading edges,the Corsair II had color right up to the front of the vertical stab if that was their scheme,and if there were wing stripes, they went right up to the leading edge,I only looked at color photos in three books, though,but, they covered Vietnam and post war PAC and LANT jets
Thanks for the leading edge info. just a additional question, I assume the gray paint and the white underside meet on the leading edge with no natural metal showing. It’s great getting answers from people that have actually worked on the plane
Thanks
John
I am going to have to defer to some of the younger guys on the S-3 TO painting stuff, and the paint demarcation lines on the wings
Me and Marine Scooters didn’t exactly co-habitate around S-3 Vikings, lol
I think I only saw two of those in my whole time, in fact,and they weren’t my focus,I was busy,so all I saw was one landing and one takeoff of S-3s,and one that was parked “in my way” for about ten minutes, forcing me to go around and tow in a different route
Some really good information here guys! I just love the looks of that S-3! Kit is on the shelf, just waiting for me to get with it again.
I actually have 2 of the 1/48 ESCI kits, just been afraid to do it in a big scale. ran across the Hase in 1/72 with the decals I wanted at my LHS at a discount and thought I’d do this one first. So that,s what started all this.
Can’t wait to get home tonight so I can work on it, it’s been like 3 days since I’ve been at my work bench.
John
again I will gladly defer to those that know better than I but from what I can see in the reference material at my disposal… if your talking of the gull gray over white paint scheme, which I assume you are based on the rest of the conversation… it looks like the gray just wraps around to the underside of the wings. I would assume that the tape on the leading edge though would cover the little bit that wraps to the underside though, so if you paint the leading edges the dirty yellow color you should be able to paint gray on the top and white on the bottom right up to where your “tape” is and call it good.