Boeing 787 flex wing in flight, an attempt

[scon10]

After putting wing profiles in place, I covered them with strips so that the wing skins can be attached, see pic 1. Then I started to glue strips of sking to the underside of the wing, for they will determine the size of the top skins. Because of the curvature of the wing and the wingprofile, the short sides of the wing skins need to be trimmed so that they will connect properly. The same aplies to the skins on the top of the wing.
The wing tip is the first part I assembled. I put the skins from the tip to the wing root, see pic 2.
The leading edge of the composite wing is metal, to carry the heated air through and deter ice. So I took a strip of alumuminium foil and glued that to the leading edge, see pic 3. In that way I covered the wings and they now start to look like the flexed wings of the 787 in flight.

[croden]

This is all very impressive! I hope the spars you put through the fuselage can keep it such that the wings don’t weigh down, I’m sure they’re pretty heavy with all that internal structure

[dhanners]

If there is any added weight from the spars (they're cardboard, after all) I'm not sure it would be an issue. It's not like the thing is actually supposed to fly.

Excellent work so far!

[N96HBK]

This is a very interesting project, I've never seen anyone try it before!!

I remember as a kid, I used to look out of the window of 777s to see how much the wings flex. They were bending up so much I was actually scared they might snap off!!! Imagine how scared I would have been of I was on a 787...

[Ponytail]

Scon10,
Interesting project.
You do it as a sort of scratchbuild, I presume? Maybe you are an inspiration for the aircraft-designers to make a modelkit of these wings as an option...
Keep on the work!

[Mike1158]

Fantastic adaptation and an inspiring piece.

[scon10]

Thanks all for your interest, it is encouraging.
After covering the wing with all the skins, carefully putting a little double curvature in each strip, after moisting the paper just minimal, the wings were covered.
If you remember from a previous post, the sub spar assembly in the fuselage has splits in them, and the planform part of the wings just slide nicely in place into those splits. Unfortunatlely, I forgot to make a picture of that process, so I can only show you the picture with the dry fitting of the wing into the slits, pic 1.
The sub spar assembly is fixed in the fuselage really tight, so it will carry the wings with the engines without a problem, as you said, Dhanners, it is cardboard, and therefore very lightweight.


The engines are a straightforward building process, so I didn't make any pictures of them. Attaching them to the wings went without a problem, and I then glued the wings in place. The same goes for the vertical and horizontal tail.
I can now show you the 787-10 completed, with its curved wings in flight, see pics 2, 3 and 4.


Finally, getting double curvature is still a very difficult thing to do in a paper model, and my result is by no means perfect; as I said, its an attempt. But from a little distance, the 787-10 does look, as if its wings flex in flight.
Hopefully you better builders develop more effective ideas, and I would very much like to hear your results.

[dhanners]

Looks convincing! Great job....

[N96HBK]

Awesome!! You surely made it look easy.

[joshuajaeseo]

Great execution and a nice looking build!