How do I thin down a trailing edge?

[Stevepd]

I’m doing the 1/32 Revell Tornado at the mo. Construction of the tail planes has show that one sides trailing edge is lovely and thin, but the other sides trailing edge is vert thick. How can I thin this out without creating a wedge and loosing all the detail.

 

Steve.

[LSP_Kevin]

Here's one potential solution that has worked well for me in the past. The photos in this case are of Monogram's ancient 1/48 scale Wildcat kit, whose trailing edges were not only thick, but a bit wobbly from worn-out moulds. The first thing I did was square up the trailing edge as best I could, and in the process created a bit of a flat spot. I then took some styrene rod of the appropriate thickness (it need to be thicker than the wing), and glued it to the trailing edge with liquid cement:

 

 

Once this was dry enough, I trimmed the length and then backfilled the area behind the rod with CA. Then it was just a matter of filing and sanding it to a sharp edge:

 

 

 

The two main downsides to this approach are that it's not very friendly to surface detail in the area, and it does slightly add to the chord of the wing.

 

Anyway, something to consider!

 

Kev

[thierry laurent]

Another approach is to sand the internal side of the rear edge of the wing. 

[alaninaustria]

1 hour ago, thierry laurent said:

Another approach is to sand the internal side of the rear edge of the wing. 

I agree, this method has served me well too. Just do a lot of test fitting!!

Cheers

Alan

[Shawn M]

if they're one piece you'll have to sand and file it down then restore the detail

if two piece thin from the inside as mentioned.

 

[Alain Gadbois]

I usually shave much plastic from the inside, plus some more from the exterior once the halves are glued together. Check your references, as not all aircraft have thin trailing edges.