I’ve noticed on some pics of actual planes and even restorations that the metal panels looked warped and stretched giving the plane a subtle bumpy look. I was wondering if anyone here has any luck replicating that effect, how and in what scale does it become a nice detail and not look like a bad brush job? Also, what panels are the most likely to get such abuse; I assume it’s around the engine and guns. Thx.
Wings, top of the wings is the most prominent and noticeable. I wouldn’t bother with any other area. I’d gather some good ref photos for sure before you start. I haven’t tried this look before, but have read and looked at quite a few builds where this was done. The modeller used a dremel and a exacto blade, and scraped around the panel/rivet lines, then finished off with sandpaper and polishing sticks. Its mostly done on 1/32 but could look good on 1/48 if well executed.
There was an article in FSM by the late Les Sundt about how to do this. Don’t remember when.
Interesting modelling article here, where the surfaces are altered before painting:
http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/stressed_skin/
I’ve see a few people try creating the look of stressed skin by just manipulating the paint tones, and to me it looked unsuccessful. Their pattern was too uniform, and reminded one of a quilted bed spread.
regards,
Jack
Brave souls who build warships have attempted to deal with the same phenomenon. Have a look here:
www.shipmodels.info/…/viewtopic.php
Seems like a real test of patience on that scale, but probably much more approachable for an aircraft. Good luck if you try and please post some photos!
Don
That FSM article was many years ago. I want to say back in the early 90s. There was a B-52 built on here as part of a diorama in 1/72 where the stressed skin was done superbly. I can’t find it and link it off my phone right now, but if you look in the aircraft forum you you can find it. It is still a fairly active thread. It is titled Arc Light B-52, or something like that. Truly stunning work.
That was a B-52 done by Russ (Striker8241) in the Diorama forum. Here is a link:
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/19/t/149616.aspx
There are two reasons for imperfections in the skin panels on aircraft. One is that construction is never perfect. Some dies do not make a perfect curve, and sometimes the fit of a panel isn’t perfect.
More noticable in modern aircraft is that structures are MEANT to move, and the “openings” that the panels cover do change dimensions slightly with different flight modes. Biggest example is the B-52, parked on ground. With load off the flexible wing, the skin on the fuselage side is REALLY wrinkled.
Most aircraft before WW2 were built with very stiff structure that did not bend significantly during normal flight. So one did not ordinarily see such wrinkles due to different stresses in flight vs static. It was during WW2 that more flexible structures were introduced. There was a trade. The new structures were more efficient, but there was now a fixed, limited service life beyond which the flexing would have resulted in metal fatigue. With the older stiff structures nothing ever bent enough to incur much life-limiting damage. Look at how many DC-3s are still flying.
It may well be that there are wrinkles in WW2 aircraft because they were maneuvered in combat beyond the design stress and have yielded enough to cause panels to wrinkle. I would not want to fly one of those. Other wrinkles and lack of perfect smoothness may be construction misfits. Keep in mind that forming dies and their use for a double curvature in skin are expensive, and many planes have a sort of "faceted appearance just because of the difficulty of forming double curvature skins.
Yes, I found it again and here is the page where he shows the work he did for the stressed skin- although he does not explain his method there. Gorgeous work…[H]
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/19/t/149616.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=4
As we’re discussing WWII, it really needs care (incidentally, the new Airfix 1/24 Typhoon will have a stressed-skin surface on the wings.) On the Spitfire, the only wrinkling permitted was between wing ribs 14 & 19, aft of the front spar, and to a maximum of .1" (that’s 1/10th of an inch, or a quarter of 1mm.) Try replicating that in 1/72, 1/48 or even 1/32 scale.
Just to be clear, stressed skin (a design feature) and skin that has been stressed (all skin on all aircraft except for non-load bearing skins like fabric) are different things.
On the B-52, uniquely, the skin is such a minor feature of the structure as compared to the massive internal load bearing structural frame (and the massive loads that carries) that its not much more than a coat of paint with aluminum on it and does all kinds of weird stuff.
On an airplane like the Zero, with thin wing skins, you get an effect that is not so much a wrinkle as a pillow, as the skin pulls up between the ribs and stringers from the low pressure on the top of the wing. Eventually, the metal takes a set, and looks that way even when the airplane isn’t in flight. Excellent treatise on how to achieve the look in the Osprey book on modeling the Zero, he did it to the 1/32 scale Tamiya, and it is eyecatching!
May be helpful.
What about recessing the skin between the rib and stringers?
That would work too I would think.
That effect is easily overdone. It is often so on supposed fabric covered models. The fabric would never sag as much as it does on some kits. Since metal panels sag even less than fabric ones, one should be very careful not to overdo such effects.