When Supermarine were designing the spitfire it was originally built with round head rivets rather then flush ones, as these were cheaper
However the additional drag caused by the rivets knocked a couple of mph off the planes top speed and that could mean the difference between life and death.
As previously mentioned flush rivets were too expensive to use across the entire aircraft so to understand where they had to use the flush rivets and where they could get away with using the round head rivets they made a plane with entirely flush head rivets and then glued split peas to every one.

over the course of many test they added and removed split peas to simulate the round headed rivets, until they came across the optimal combination that had a negligible effect on top speed but wasn't too expense to build.

tl:dr -wee wee tapirs
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:14, 1 reply, 11 years ago)

I love this kind of "shed enginering" and problem solving from WW2
it's all computers and lasers and space widgets now
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:16, Reply)

You should go to Bletchley Park & have a look round. Some of the techniques they used for problem solving are fascinating.

( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:18, Reply)

well you know how i love Problematically formula logic

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:20, Reply)

I prefer pynchonesque formula logic.

( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:20, Reply)

hoho

( sporters I’m sincerely gratitude to you, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:20, Reply)

belly like a bowl full of jelly^

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Thu 15 May 2014, 10:21, Reply)