Hi,

The 1/42 B-47 Hasegawa kit that I recently received is my first modeling effort in years, and my first attempt at really serious modeling, so I want to get it right. I envision the finished plane suspended rigidly from the ceiling in a landing posture, complete with drogue chute.

Therefore, the flaps will need to be extended. Which leads me to my question: To have realistic flaps, I will need to create flap wells on the underside of the wings. Originally, I had planned to simply cut along the scorings that outline the flaps on the bottom panel of each wing. Darius Aibara, in his excellent description of how he built his larger 1/48 scale model, did just that.

As you can see in the photo link below, doing that resulted in a flap well that is about one-third the width of the wing's chord near its widest point (see the red markings).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/BSquared18/Aircraft%20Modeling/aibara_flap_well_detail_w_m.jpg

I was ready to do just that when I came across the photo shown in the link below:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/BSquared18/Aircraft%20Modeling/b-47_view_of_flaps_from_below_w_arrow_480.jpg

If you look where the yellow arrow (my addition) is pointing, you can see sky light between the wing and the flap. That tells me that the flap is fully extended. But, if that assumption is correct, the flap well—at least to my eye—is much more narrow than a third of the wing's chord.

Am I right or wrong? Should the flap well be as wide as shown in the first photo, or more narrow?

As I said, I'm new to serious modeling, so I haven't worked on this level of detail before. Especially, if you are familiar with the construction of a B-47's flap system, please chime in. Or if you have other expertise or background to give an informed opinion, let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
Bill

The photo of the extended flaps is taken at an oblique angle, and therefore foreshortened, I'll bet that your 1/3 chord estimate is pretty much right on the money.

Thanks, Jessie.

The consensus where I've posted this question elsewhere seems to agree with what you said.

Bill