Wing parts: why the dark borders?

[Azimech]

I love the new wings but when using the wings as panels, I'm never satisfied due to the ugly edges. A selector to turn them the same color would be nice.

[Capt Snuggler]

before they were made stock Porkjet was working on a tweakable heat tiles option. squad did not want to include this in the stock wings but now that re-entry heat is coming maybe we will get the tweakable too?

[Majorjim!]

before they were made stock Porkjet was working on a tweakable heat tiles option. squad did not want to include this in the stock wings but now that re-entry heat is coming maybe we will get the tweakable too?

This would be great! Also necessary. If we are getting heat how can we differentiate between what's protected and what's not.

[Red Iron Crown]

Pretty sure the black edges are meant as an homage to the Space Shuttle, which had heat resistant tiles along the leading edge of its wings (and the underside, but that doesn't work with KSP's reversible parts so much).

[Wolf Baginski]

They're also found in ordinary aviation. One of the measures against icing in an inflatable rubber boot on the leading edge, which cracks the ice so that it falls off before there is too much loss of lift. The look in KSP is consistent with de-iceing boots.

[Tex]

Thermal tiles, such as those on the STS (or Space Shuttle), are made of different materials depending on the area of the lifting body that are designed to resist different amounts of heat.

This figure shows the locations of different materials on the Shuttle. The black edges appear to be made of reenforced carbon-carbon, which is capable of rejecting a lot of heat, and is thusly placed on the leading edge of the wings where the heat generated by re-entry is most intense. The bottom of the spacecraft also appears to be made of that HSRI thingy that is much more heat resistant than the white tiles on the top half of the Shuttle. I believe this is done for weight purposes, because the Shuttle re-enters only on its belly and I assume more heat-resistant materials weigh more. That gives the Shuttle (and Buran as well!) its black color. There is also RCC protection around the windows because, well, you don't want rock-melting plasma leaking into your windshield!

Hope that helped a little, at least.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Maximus97

[dryer_lint]

Has anyone mentioned yet that that is one awesome car right there?

[BudgetHedgehog]

I always thought it was to help limit z-fighting..

[panzer1b]

I dont really mind, looks cooler and not so bland (the original wings are kinda meh, no defining features). really the only time i find it annoying is when im trying to use the wings as a hull of say a carrier or some other capital ship, and u can see the break points too easily. Anyways, its not like wings are intended for use as a hull/structural part, so not that big a deal.

Also, nice porsche or well it kinda looks liek one of those older models.