Heinkel 162 undersurface panel lines

JonCOlsen

Airman 1st Class
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Mar 14, 2015
Hello everybody,

I'm currently working on a model of a Heinkel 162. I was wondering if anyone has any diagrams or photos of the undersurface fuselage. Particularly, I'm trying to figure out whether there was a long vertical line in the center. My model fuselage has a vertical seam on the bottom and I'm not sure whether there should be a line there or not. I can't tell from looking at internet photos or profiles.

Thank you for your help!

Best regards,
Jon
 
Found 3 drawings from different sources, all pretty much the same.

jon.jpg
 
I would imagine there would be minimal panel lines as the wing was make out of wood (mostly) and not very large, so the wood skinning could be done with only a few large pieces, barring any access panels (if there were any). Just a thought experiment.
 
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The fuselage was metal structure and metal skin. The rivet and panel lines were painted with a kind of paint-putty for making the surface more smooth. Therefore it isn't easy to notice the panel lines there. However the thin panel line on the sides can be noticed. Here the enlarged pics found via the net showing how the layout of the panel lines there looked like..

fuselage2.jpg


fuselage2a.jpg


fuselage2b.jpg


And here the fuelage during assembling. The metal panel sheets can be noticed.

fuselage3.jpg
 
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fuselage4a.jpg


fuselage4.jpg


and here the diagram ..

fuselage5.jpg



Also two additional shots of the underground factory with fuselages ...

fuselage2b.jpg


fuselage2c.jpg
 
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The panel and rivet lines on the 162 fuselage I'd imagine would vary between being visible as normal (prototype/pre-production) and almost non-existent (production). The wings would likely be devoid of lines except for removable panels.

I've seen the Ta152H in person and the workmanship is ... well, hurried looking (actually, kinda unskilled). I believe the seam smoothing was all about eliminating the production caused surface irregularities (excessive rivet gun hammering, quicker to repair than train). Other interesting issues I saw were rivet lines wandering off of panel edges and non-existent panel edge finishing. Oh, there was a "recycled" skin with fastener holes without adjoining structure that had filler fasteners in them. I've always wondered where that skin came from (might simply have been miss-drilled at the factory).

(I will not revisit in this thread --start another if you want-- , but, there is very good evidence this 152 had stammkennzeichen, and there is a reason I don't trust the one ID tag on the plane ... just sayin'. :smirk:)
 
Hi Jon:

Here's my "compilation" drawing (not a EHAG drawing), showing the skin thicknesses:

The top 2 views are EHAG, and the bottom one is from a Russian book.

HTH!

Regards,
James
 

Attachments

View attachment 468687

View attachment 468688

and here the diagram ..

View attachment 468691


Also two additional shots of the underground factory with fuselages ...

View attachment 468683

View attachment 468684
Excellent photos and very clear diagrams!
 

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