Vought XF5U-1 “Flying Flapjack”: Kitty Hawk – 1/48
HISTORY
The XF5U-1 was a WWII Naval fighter designed by Charles H. Zimmerman, an aeronautical aerodynamics engineer working for the Chance Vought company. Zimmerman's near circular wing-body design with large roto-type propellers at the wing tips, something he had been working on during the 1930's, offered excellent low-speed handing yet high-speed maneuvering. This would have been a near VTOL aircraft with projected top speed in excess of 450 mph. This very much interested the Navy and a development contract was issued to Vought.
A small-scale, light-weight demonstrator, made of wood and fabric, took to the air in November 1942 with the Vought designation V-173. It was powered by two 80 hp Ranger engines swinging two three-bladed, 16 ft., counter-rotating props. The aircraft flew very well and proved the concept.
In July 1944, the Navy order two prototypes of the full fighter version, designated XF5U-1, powered by a pair of P&W R2000 engines. Due to war priorities, especially Vought's F4U Corsair production requirements, development of the XF5U lagged. It wasn't until August 1945 that the aircraft was ready for ground tests. But there were still more delays. The special roto-props were slow in coming and early ground tests used Corsair propellers. Finally in February 1947, test pilot, Boone Guyton was able to make high-speed taxi tests at Vought's Connecticut plant.
The complexity of the systems and heavy vibration problems prolonged these tests until the Navy, with the arrival of jets, could no longer see any reason to continue. The project was cancelled on March 17, 1947 before the prototype could take to the air. Both prototypes were scraped. The machine was so well built and so strong it literally took a large wrecking ball to break it up.
THE KIT
I had been aware of “Zimmerman's Skimmer” for some years, but never expected to see a main-stream model of it in 1/48 scale. When Kitty Hawk issued this kit in 2015, I scooped it up. For me, the completely fictional “Uncle Sam” markings was something of a turn-off, but the simple prototype markings were also included. The model comes with 162 pieces on five sprues, including clear parts, a multi-page instruction book with full-color drawings showing the plane in its various markings, a small photo-etched fret of seat belts, and decal markings on two sheets. I don't believe the kit has been re-issued since its first release.
CONSTRUCTION
The construction is pretty straight forward. The entire circular wing-fuselage is a two-piece clam-shell. This captures the cockpit, main gear wells, tail wheel well and two large engine exhaust pipes although no engines. There are separate panels top and bottom over the engine area and it looks like Kitty Hawk was going to include a set but didn't. In any case, there is room to add a pair of resin R2000 if one wanted too.
The first issue for me was the main landing gear. The gear struts are made up of 5 pieces each, most small and delicate. I had trouble getting these to line up correctly in the bays. Even though I added them at the end of the build, I still manage to break one of the thin support braces.
I decided to keep the arresting gear closed. On the real plane, this device come out of the top of the plane and reaches over the back end to grab the arresting wire. It looks like a giant spider's leg. Although authentic, it looked too weird to include. Unfortunately, the doors do not fit well closed and some sanding and filling were in order.
The last issue I had was the roto-props. The hubs are four pieces and each blade is attached individually by a single, small pivot rod. There is supposed to be a notch to correctly lock the blade in place, but it's a little vague and I had trouble get them attached correctly.
All and all, these were somewhat minor and the build went pretty smooth. I decided to show it in its late prototype dress—dark Navy Sea Blue with a single large WWII star & bar on the top left. There is an elaborate set of black walkway makings, out-lined in white, on it back which nicely breaks up the solid blue paint.
CONCLUSION
Finally, something that I usually don't think about: There isn't any way to safely pick this s****r up! If you try picking it up on the side (like a wing tip), you'll probably break a main gear door or worst, a gear leg. From the back, the tail wheel doors. If you hand is big enough, you might be able to stretch and grab across to both wing tips. From the nose is safer, unless you bend or break a prop blade at its single-point attachment. All of the above brought it back to the table for repairs a number of times.
Just looking at the model now in front of me, in the short trip from the display shelf to my writing desk, I manage to nick a prop blade and bent it back. It just fell off as I type this. Oh well, back the repair desk.
REFERENCES
THE AMERICAN FIGHTER by Enso Angelucci, copyright 1965, Crown books
Wikipedia – Vought XF5U
Really nice. I never knew this kit existed
Thanks, George. I was really surprised when it came out and quickly put it in my stash for the later build.
Excellent XF5U, Chuck! Very nice article, as well!
Thanks, Spiros. Your comments are always welcomed.
Very nice build and supporting article, Chuck @charleshorner
Thanks, John. I was originally just going to post some photos, but couldn't resist adding some background information.
Nicely done, Chuck
Thanks, Gary
Nice work! We never see these actually built.
Thanks, John. I always look for something different. I attend many of the New England contests and I see the same things over and over -- good work but boring: P-51s, Bf109s, F-4s, F-16s, F-18s. Other than my N13Yankee racer, I have not even considered building a P-51 or Bf.109 in years.
Very nice finish. For me the nose art really makes the prototype markings work. I was going to do a Korean war "what if", but now may change my mind.
Thanks, Chris. I've created a sort-of "what if". The markings are closer to what it might have looked like if it had achieve flight status.
That is one freakish-looking dude, but you did a bang-up job putting it together! Well done.
Thanks, Greg.
I like the build Chuck, @charleshorner. I have wanted this kit since I saw that it was available, I just think the concept and look is so cool. I would probably do it as a hypothetical, something like a luft '46 but US instead. Well done and liked!
Thanks, Walt. If I did a second one, I would definitely export some "what if" schemes.
Well done, Chuck @charleshorner. That is a fun kit to build and I know what you mean about handling it very carefully so as not to knock those counter weights off.
Kittyhawk goofed up the Flapjack wheels but they can be simply corrected by replacing them with either Hellcat or F4U wheels. There’s also an aftermarket 3D printed set with all 4 wheels in one packaging made especially for this kit I’ve seen online somewhere. The “Flying Flapjack” kit is still available as whoever bought the rights to the defunct Kittyhawk line has re-issued it with slightly updated decals but no other corrections. Squadron carries the current Kittyhawk lineup.
Thanks, Eric, for you kind comments and updated availability info
The walkway markings aren't actually markings. They're sheets taped to the plane's surface to protect it while it was being worked on. So the insignia would not have been painted on top of these temporary sheets, and the sheets would have been removed before flight tests (which never happened).
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Thanks for the information, Tom, I didn't know that. My mistake was following Kitty Hawk's instructions.
Ha, agree. Those pesky kittyhawk instructions! Built two of their jaguars and they are an adventure...
Well done. Interesting to think what might have been if the turbine engines hadn't changed everything.
Thanks, Chas. As a matter of fact, Vought offered the Navy a turbine powered version, but at that time the military services wanted nothing to do with anything with propellers, even if the engines were turbine.
Vought produced concept drawings of a jet powered version. I saw them online a few years ago, but can't find them now. 🙁
Chuck, I really enjoyed your article and the "Flapjack" looks so cool! 👏 I got a good laugh out of your description of the difficulty in picking the model up. 😄 Some of my own builds are that way too. And it doesn't encourage moving them around! Thanks for sharing something out of the ordinary with us @charleshorner! 👍
Thanks, Gary for your kind comments. I've had models that were difficult to handle when built, but this one is the worst to try and pick up.