Basic Aeronautics

[Celwin]

I have a Waco biplane (competition for the Stearman at the time) which flies very nicely and scale like, but I was always afraid of a dead-stick because of parasitic drag. They apparently have the glide ratio similar to a brick.

I wonder how much difference taping the hinge gap on a Scanner would make. I doubt it would be visibly noticeable but on-board telemetry may show it.

During WW2 aircraft companies were discovering how important it was to reduce parasitic drag. Wing fillets became crucial and very obvious (such as the spitfire) and flush-mounted rivets became standard issue. The aircraft that bucked the trend was the Junkers JU52 Tri-motor. It had a skin of corrugated aluminium. Lots of surface area and associated drag there! (but still a very successful aircraft for many decades).