Survey: Preferred Style of Folding Wings for Aircraft Subjects?

[Old Wombat]

Generally, I'd say it's "horses for courses" but I'm going to focus on your mentioned build.

To the best of my knowledge all early parallel wing-fold systems were manual, which adds work for the flight deck crew. On the later ones the hydraulics become more complex & more prone to failure. They, also, create a wider footprint on the deck for multi-engined aircraft. The only reason the E-2 Hawkeye uses a parallel fold is because of the radar disk over its wings.

Actually, the asymmetric wing-fold system is really quite simple & involves no overly complex cutting. Having worked on S-2G's I like their wing-fold system, a simple hinge & hydraulic ram system &, unless you implement a folding vertical tailplane assembly, the wings usually sit lower than the tail. Another bonus is that the wings can be folded while the plane is taxiing to the deck spot, rather than having to stop & have the wings folded by the ground crew, which makes clearing the landing deck faster.

The A-20 has a high/shoulder mounted wing, like the Tracker, so for your A-20, this is the system I'd use. It's simple & effective. To get the correct cut angle on your wings for the asymmetric fold, simply trace your outer wing onto a piece of cardboard & cut out, then fit/dry-fit the wings to the fuselage & place the cutouts in a folded position over them. Find the angles you like & mark with a Sharpie - remember, closer to the nacelle is better for wing strength. Each aircraft type will be different because of the length of the outer wing, if the A-20's outer wing is short enough you may get a symmetrical fold. Cut (remembering to angle it outward slightly towards the lower surface) & detail to your liking.

I haven't mentioned the hydraulic pins which hold the wings together, because all folding-wing planes have them in one form or another, but remember to add them & the locking teeth to your detailing.



Guy

[GTX_Admin]

Interesting I have considered a carrier version of the Bristol Beaufighter b

You were saying...

[Old Wombat]

With the mid-fuselage, mid-nacelle mounting of the Beau's wings the parallel fold system would be more practical; not much bigger footprint on the deck but a much lower profile.



Guy

[Volkodav]

Interesting I have considered a carrier version of the Bristol Beaufighter b

You were saying...

Although for late 41 early 42 it would be based on the 1C or if accelerated the VIC not the TFX, that would be later 

[Rickshaw]

I think you'll need the TFX's fin extension and high dihedral tail plane on a carrier.  The swing on the Beau was horrendous and claimed more aircraft than the enemy did! 

[elmayerle]

Mechanically, I reckon the asymmetric fold would be the simplest, if a symmetric fold would result in wingtips hitting each other.  After that, I'd go with a parallel fold as the next least complicated.