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Re: Winders and rubber bands

Posted: January 10th, 2018, 5:29 pm
by Ethancheese123
One last question:
Whats the difference between different wing fences? What do different wing fences do? (by wing fences I mean the things that go on the edge of the wing that goes up at an angle)

Re: Winders and rubber bands

Posted: January 11th, 2018, 9:45 am
by retired1
They can give you stability in flight. The common use is as a replacement for wing dihedral or polyhedral. while quite common a couple of years ago, many if not most designers have gone away from them. Technically, on real airplanes, fences are used on swept wings to reduce the amount of air going to the wing tip and the resulting vortex increases drag. They are also mid wing and not at the tip. Many newer large planes adopted the "Longhorn" wing tip for increased wing efficiency without the use of significant dihedral.

Re: Winders and rubber bands

Posted: January 11th, 2018, 9:49 am
by bjt4888
Ethan,

I am guessing that you are referring to what are commonly called "tip plates" or "winglets" that are attached to the wing tip at 90 degree (or so) angle relative to the wingspan. If this is the "edge" of the wing you are referring to.

I'm not sure what you mean by "different". Winglets may be different in many ways, including: shape, construction materials, angle relative to span, etc. Winglets or tip plates improve roll stability. Either tip plates or some type of dihedral angle is always used, and is necessary, in Wright Stuff airplane design.

Brian T.