weathered warbirds
BobH, Yup, that jug looks pretty clean...but I reckon it's doing an absolute minimum of 150 mph in the photo, probably much faster than that...which would make it virtually impossible to see any detail whatsoever. I'l like to see some close ups of that very same bird sitting on the ground...I'd be weilling to wager it wouldn't look so smooth then?
Look at pics of aircraft right out of the factory, even prior to paint...they were not as smooth as you may think. There were bumps and lumps all over the place. It was unavoidable, it was the nature of the methods and materials used at the time. Modern aircraft are much smoother because the materials used today are better, as are methods.
I have seen hundreds of WWII warbirds up close and personal...fully restored, static display where nothing much has been done to them except put them on a pedestal and paint them now and then, in various stages of restoration...and guess what, none of them are smooth! Take a piece of aluminum and try to rivet ...what happens, if you know how to rivet it still dimples, if you don't know how to rivet it get pretty ugly. Then take into consideration the stress factors from flying an manuevering at high speeds. Wings and airframes are not 100% rigid, they flex and twist...add some concussion from flak bursts, maybe a few bullet holes...now try to tell me that all this has no effect on the appearance after even a short time!
When I get home tonight, I'll post a couple of pics to prove my point.
Happy flying,
Rob Bailey / Pickupsticks