I have a question about Winglets put on a EDF F-16 Jet

JeromeAu

Member
I love Jet planes and prefer to be less military looking and more cervilan look in my design, so instead of using Missile Rail I designed and printed Winglets for the BH XF VIPER F-16 70mm EDF.

Will the Winglets improve the XF VIPER F-16 70mm EDF flying abilities or it just turn out more for the looks of the EDF Jet?

What is the opinions of others about this?

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F-16-Deadpool-Winglet-3.png

F-16-Deadpool-Winglet-1.png F-16-Deadpool-Winglet-2.png F-16-Deadpool-Winglet-4.png
 

leaded50

Legendary member
wiinglets is used for more economy, less drag, and also gives more stability..... thats not what a jetfighter normally are made for. On such plane as yours, i would at least made smaller ones than showed on picture, just without topp-part. (or take away the midsection)
 

JeromeAu

Member
wiinglets is used for more economy, less drag, and also gives more stability..... thats not what a jetfighter normally are made for. On such plane as yours, i would at least made smaller ones than showed on picture, just without topp-part. (or take away the midsection)

Good part about this i can just do what you suggested for this version i try as they are but can cut them down if needed there only 1.5mm thick at the top.

size a the moment 105 length x 35 width x 77mm height
 

leaded50

Legendary member
im soon ready buildt a sportplane, that have winglets... for sure not as high as 77mm.... thats what i used on a business jet type with wingspan over 1000mm.
A tip fence/whitcomb winglet , would suited a lot better in style on such a plane. (like a half X seen fron front/rear

as this
 

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JeromeAu

Member
im soon ready buildt a sportplane, that have winglets... for sure not as high as 77mm.... thats what i used on a business jet type with wingspan over 1000mm.
A tip fence/whitcomb winglet , would suited a lot better in style on such a plane. (like a half X seen fron front/rear

as this
I had knew about that design winglet as Boeing been using that design for some time now. but i more looking about the look of the jet aand why i come up with that design.
 

flyalot

New member
I've been in aviation for over 20 plus years flying everything from BBJs, 10 years military aircraft and not to mention old school things like the Waco UPF-7 for AOPA. Winglets are one of those topics that have weighed in many discussions some of the best are on www.propilotworld.com that I've found. But anyway, they essentially mitigate the high pressure flow from under the wing to the upper wing, thus decreasing the wingtip vortices which will decrease drag and improving all other performance numbers. It improves the aspect ratio, fuel efficiency, some handling factors. The reason you dont find them on many true military aircraft is that they don't worry about many of the same things as civilian operators, such as cost. Many of the airplanes they fly like the C17 and such were developed back in the day where winglets were thought of 'only need them if the wing is poorly designed' era but to retro fit many aircraft with them increases the strain on the spar and overall its not worth the retrofit costs.

Now IF I could buy my own Viper to fly around, I'd put everything I could to save an ounce of fuel. Working with them, it was always having to go get gas from the tankers while I had the helos do all the dirty fun work.

Anyway, I love the topic of winglets and such and if it were my plane I was flying, I'd try making them, at the end of the day youre not out much. Just repost to hear your own findings.
 

telnar1236

Elite member
An F-16 is not an ideal choice for winglets, especially at this scale, from an aerodynamic perspective. A short non-technical answer is that you likely won't notice any major differences in flight, apart from maybe some slight changes in yaw-roll coupling and maybe a slight increase in roll stability. Keep them if you like how they look, but they won't make a huge difference. As mentioned by someone else, wing fences will do a better job increasing lift, but they also incur a drag penalty for doing so.

Going more in-depth, they may very slightly improve drag and lift characteristics, but the F-16 design is not well-suited to this addition for a number of reasons. Most important is the scale of the model. At lower Reynolds Numbers, small winglets basically don't do anything significant. Winglets are also best suited for aircraft with a high L/D ratio and high aspect ratio wings. On any plane with stubby wings, the flow over the wing is going to create a fair bit of induced drag with or without the winglets. On an F-16 this is even more pronounced because the wing root extensions are specifically designed to create powerful vortices (not the same vortices as the ones at the wingtips) over the top of the wing to improve lift at high angles of attack which incurs a drag penalty. As a foam board plane with the folded-over wings and square leading and trailing edges, you'll have even more drag, so the winglets will have an even smaller impact.

Ultimately it's your plane and you know how you want to fly it, but if you don't like military style aircraft, the F-16 is better suited to conversion for high AOA aerobatics. Installing vortex generators close to the wingtips, adding large symmetrical side force generators, and programming in a flaperon mix would allow you to do some pretty insane stuff while also making your plane look a lot less military.
 

JeromeAu

Member
An F-16 is not an ideal choice for winglets, especially at this scale, from an aerodynamic perspective. A short non-technical answer is that you likely won't notice any major differences in flight, apart from maybe some slight changes in yaw-roll coupling and maybe a slight increase in roll stability. Keep them if you like how they look, but they won't make a huge difference. As mentioned by someone else, wing fences will do a better job increasing lift, but they also incur a drag penalty for doing so.

Going more in-depth, they may very slightly improve drag and lift characteristics, but the F-16 design is not well-suited to this addition for a number of reasons. Most important is the scale of the model. At lower Reynolds Numbers, small winglets basically don't do anything significant. Winglets are also best suited for aircraft with a high L/D ratio and high aspect ratio wings. On any plane with stubby wings, the flow over the wing is going to create a fair bit of induced drag with or without the winglets. On an F-16 this is even more pronounced because the wing root extensions are specifically designed to create powerful vortices (not the same vortices as the ones at the wingtips) over the top of the wing to improve lift at high angles of attack which incurs a drag penalty. As a foam board plane with the folded-over wings and square leading and trailing edges, you'll have even more drag, so the winglets will have an even smaller impact.

Ultimately it's your plane and you know how you want to fly it, but if you don't like military style aircraft, the F-16 is better suited to conversion for high AOA aerobatics. Installing vortex generators close to the wingtips, adding large symmetrical side force generators, and programming in a flaperon mix would allow you to do some pretty insane stuff while also making your plane look a lot less military.

I do understand what there for on full size aircraft as my X did work for Boeing, but your help understanding it down at the scale is what i forgot to mention, and if at that size it work at all. but you helped me out and thank you. and yes its more for the looks