On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:04:36 -0400, Indrek Aavisto wrote:

It's interesting to see the poor fit and finish of some of the panels.

I remember thinking that same thought about 18 years ago when I first saw
an F-16 close-up. The adjacent panels didn't line up! The forward strake
wasn't lined up with the aft strake and wing. I figured maybe it doesn't
matter enough aerodynamically to invest the extra effort to make it
perfect - although surely shock waves would be forming on those parts
during trans- and super-sonic flight???

Given the effort that's gone into getting the angles just right on the
stealthy F-35 I would guess that it's pretty important to get the
alignment right...