1/72 Hasegawa XF5U-1 Flying Pancake

[Nigel Heath]

Hi Folks, still no sign of my replacement Osprey decals so I have started on a new project. I've done a Flying Banana and a Flying Stiletto, now its a Flying Pancake (or Flapjack). I got this kit from John Milne's stash, he was a fellow Aberdeen Modeller's Society member who sadly passed away last year. As a club some of us have elected to build some of his kits as a tribute. This is my contribution.

The idea is to have them all finished for presentation at the Scottish Nationals in Perth at the end of this month but I doubt I will achieve that as I have left starting it rather late. (The Flying Stiletto was also his so I can always bung that in). First here is the box art:

Two grey sprues:

The kit hails from 1992 and does have a bit of flash here and there but does feature very fine engraved panel lines.

There are two transparencies and a small decal sheet:

Making a start on the cockpit, the seat pan has a small sink mark and the instruments are provisioned with a decal which is better than nothing:

I dealt with the seat while still attached to the sprue:

This is how the cockpit goes together:

I got the seat assembled and then wanted to see how it fitted in the fuselage so I mocked it up with tape and Blu Tack:

With the top in place there were these ugly gaps:

I'm not sure what, if anything, I should do about those.

Here is the visibility with the canopy on:

The instrument panel sits in front of the coaming:

I was not totally enamoured with that so decided to extend the coaming over it with some 10 thou plasticard:

After a bit of fettling I got the canopy to fit again:

I then applied some filler, ready to blend it in after dinner:

I suspect it will take a couple of applications to get it right.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[milktrip]

You really do like weird and peculiar looking aircraft Nigel. I'm still hooked though

[Col.]

You're off to a good start with this weird beastie Nigel. I'm now wondering if there a survivor still around and if so a walkaround available on-line.

[Noah Greggs]

Ok a weird and cool aircraft + a master builder......I'm in!!!

[Nigel Heath]

I'm now wondering if there a survivor still around and if so a walkaround available on-line.

Sadly no Col., the one prototype was deliberately destroyed in 1947. Apparently it was so strong they had to use a wrecking ball. G-usa and I did a BM walkaround of the first prototype now housed in the Frontiers of Flight in Dallas but this vehicle developed from it is a very different beast so that is not of much use. I have not been able to find any decent images of the cockpit but this cutaway does give some hints of the internals. Note that the intakes that look like jets are in fact cooling fans for two radial engines. By 1947 props and radial engines were obsolete which is why the program was scrapped. It is a shame the aircraft was not preserved though.

[kwaterous]

Another weird and wonderful Nigellous build!

I'm in.

K

[Nomore Shelfspace]

I have a scrap one of these waiting for me to restore it. Rare kit and very strange looking.

[S5 modeller]

Looking forward to this one mate.

Edited April 4, 2015 by S5 modeller

[Tailspin Turtle]

That's the wrong seat for the F5U even though it is on Vought publicity sheet for the airplane. It should be a simple bucket seat, not an ejection seat.

[Jessica]

Once it's all put together it's pretty impressive. Here's mine, accompanied by a couple other Vought aircraft

The gaps around the cockpit disappear when everything is painted and that canopy goes on top. Incidentally, don't expect the usual Hasegawa fit. This one was a short-run mould which Hasegawa acquired the rights to box in their packaging. That's why all the sink marks, too.

[POTKC]

Flying pancakes are...weird. I had a decent look at the one in the Intrepid museum last year. Should be interesting!

[Low flyer]

And we're off, another masterclass in profoundly weird prototypes, this will be interesting to see what comes out the other end and everything in between

[Martian]

This will be one interesting build! I too have this kit, sadly, also from the collection of a recently deceased friend and you are pricking my conscience here. I can see myself building my example sooner rather than later now.

Martin

[Tailspin Turtle]

Little known fact: the V-173 demonstrator was the same size as the F5U. For more see http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2012/07/missed-it-by-that-much.html

The F5U model, which was the Pegasus kit, is really gloss sea blue.

[Nigel Heath]

I cleaned up the filler on the coaming and then gave it a second application:

Here it is finished:

Apart from the cockpit the only parts than need fitting before closing up the fuselage are these fan fronts:

Fitted they do not sit at the centre of the aperture:

I am thinking maybe they should be bedded on some Milliput and jiggled around until there are centralised.

There are also these unsightly gaps:

I think Jessica is right about the cockpit gaps but I'm not sure if these can be ignored as well. I'm sort of thinking they can.

The short run nature of this kit can be seen here with the quite poor fit up:

Back to the cockpit, I made up some seat belts from my Reheat set:

The kit joy stick is pretty feeble and I think its easier to make a new one than try to clean it up:

I did that using some 0.5 mm brass rod and sleeved over some tube for the grip. I had a scoot around the spares box for the gater part and came up with this:

Its a bit clunky but won't be that visible anyway:

This head rest / armour part looked too thick so I thinned it down by 50% on some wet and dry:

Added on top it prevented the canopy from going on so I fitted it like this with some additional detailing:

I masked the upper fuselage joints ready for painting:

I then started work on the propeller hubs, the alignment isn't brilliant:

These are the worst holes and I think they need filling with Milliput and re-drilling:

I can still get on with assembling them though. To hide the slight diameter miss match between the spinner and the central part I broke the sharp edges with a fine sanding stick - it will also give something for a wash to catch in:

The blades are commendably thin and fine edged but have an ejector mark at the base:

The undercarriage doors need splitting which I did with a Trumpeter scriber and finished with a scalpel:

I then removed what I took to be ejector marks on the tail planes:

That may have been a mistake as I have since spotted them in the painting guide as silver dots - lights perhaps?

Well that's where I am for today, bye for now,

Nigel

[modelglue]

Looking mighty fine in spite of the amount of work you've had to put into it! I know nothing of this plane so I won't be much help regarding the dinner plates you just removed. The roto-peller is a really interesting assembly. I'm glad for the test pilots out there that this experiment is behind us.

[Nigel Heath]

That may have been a mistake as I have since spotted them in the painting guide as silver dots - lights perhaps?

I have checked on the cut away and can confirm they are supposed to be formation lights. I am thinking a recessed clear disk with BMF on the back would look better than silver paint. I will have a ponder.

[Martian]

I am enjoying seeing you tackle the issues with this kit; firstly, because it is entertaining and secondly, because I like the idea of Nigel solving my problems for me!

Martin

[Martin Smith]

I am looking forward to watching this build, another unusual subject to get the Nigel treatment.

Martin

[Pete in Lincs]

Well done, Nigel.

Another of my favourite flying machines.

Coincidentally I found some pictures of it

on line the other day and saved them.

Only B & W but they may be useful.

Would you like copies emailed?

[Nigel Heath]

Ohh, yes please. Thanks Pete. I have really struggled to get good reference material for this build.

[Nigel Heath]

Evening chaps, I have filled the errant holes on the spinners with Milliput but they are in need of a bit of clean up and re-drilling:

I will sort that out later.

One thing that has been bugging me are these moulded in features:

They are supposed to represent the exhausts for the radial engines but I am thinking they should be removed and replaced with proper open vent holes. To help in the flap fabrication I made some silicone mouldings:

These can now be sliced to get the correct shape for the the new vent flaps that I think I will make from plasticard:

Here is the sliced open moulding:

I think this should work. Now I just have to remove the original moulded in vents.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Space Ranger]

Hi, Nigel. I have the Ginter monograph on this airplane and will happy to scan extracts from it for you. Just tell me what info you need and I'll see if I can find the info within the book's pages.

[Nigel Heath]

Many thanks for that Michael, any details you have on the cockpit, undercarriage + wells and those engine vents would be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Nigel

P.S. I hope you are still keeping that mottley crew in North Central Texas in check. When I last checked in you were doing a fine job.

[John Laidlaw]

Just found this - another epic build in the making . And I remembered to have some dinner before reading the post...