Breakfast of Champions--XF5U-1 Flying Flapjacks anyone?

[LorenSharp]

With time waiting for things to dry and/or set here's my first offering in the Experimental area, Kittyhawk's XF5u-1 Flying flapjack.

Let's see how well I can keep this as much as possible OOB. One thing I won't be using is Ol' Uncle Sam.

[helios16v]

Such a unique aircraft.

[Col.]

What a great subject choice Loren, always thought it a pity this one never got a set of ject engines and a less radically angled undercarriage but that's an aside, this is a rarely seen type and all the more welcome in our GB for that reason.

[LorenSharp]

Thanks Col. I built it's "older" sibling years ago. Seems like a shame not complete the set.

[Courageous]

Just weird but in an interesting way, no nothing of this type.

 

Stuart

[Shorty84]

This GB really unearths more and more interesting subjects. Hope I can manage to follow all threads

 

Cheers

Markus

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome to the build with one of Vought’s  most unique (odd) attempts. 

[Wings unlevel]

Oh wow

[woody37]

Great choice!

[LorenSharp]

On 9/26/2022 at 5:38 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Welcome to the build with one of Vought’s  most unique (odd) attempts. 

 

3 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

Oh wow

 

2 hours ago, woody37 said:

Great choice!

Thanks guys Let's see how well I can flip this flapjack.

[LorenSharp]

I was expecting a much more complicated build but this is a rather simple designed kit.

The cockpit is detailed just enough to look "busy" with out going overboard. Which is good because you can't see a whole lot.

A coat of bronze green with a silver pencil to pick out the highlights. and I used the kit supplied  decal for the instrument panel. I did have to use some setting solution to get it to snuggle down properly.

[LorenSharp]

The wheel wells though are a little sparse. Since there doesn't seem to be any images  online or in my reference material of the wells, I used some artistic license to busy it up some. I used some thread to simulate  wiring and hydraulics. I may go back and add some more. so we'll see.

Had I thought about it earlier I would have opened up one of the engine bays and tossed a P&W R-2000 engine in, but again that would have been a case of doing ALOT of artistic licensing. But this path I'm on is sufficient for now.

Not just a matter to slapping the top and bottom together and like on my other build protecting the plastic detail as much as possible with masking tape along the seams. Now that the seams are filled this will dry for a day then I can sand these down and see where I'm at. So far it's been a walk in the park. I probably just jinxed myself with that statement.

[bigbadbadge]

Nice start on this unusual beastie 

[LorenSharp]

Finally after one thing or another a bit of an update with a lot of stuff.

After getting the top and bottoms assembled I masked off the edges and used my go to of white glazing compound.

I let this dry overnight and sanded everything down smooth. In preparation for painting.

A couple of coats of Model Master Deep Sea Blue and  clear lacquer later It was time to add the landing gear.

 

[LorenSharp]

After the landing gear time to start adding some of the little bits.

Radar,

Wing balances

[LorenSharp]

After that began work on the props. First was a coat of white for the tips then after they dried, I masked them off and painted the center section wood tan. once dried Model Master Rust for the wood grain then a coat of Tamiya Transparent Orange. THis gave the props a mahogany look/ then painted the lower section flat black

Then attached to the hubs.

[LorenSharp]

After letting that setup I began adding the decals, what little there is.

Mostly anti-scuff panels, a single national insignia, and the nose art.

For what ever reason, Kitty Hawk neglected to make the tail number information, so I made my own in Photoshop and printed them out. I probably should have reduced them another 10-15 % But it's in the ballparks.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks good as a model, the oddballish nature of it makes one take a step back though. 

[LorenSharp]

Finally add the most convoluted and delicate looking landing hook I've ever seen. The Flapjack never got a chance to do fight operation tests on a carrier, let alone anything other than a few taxi tests and a couple of hops that weren't really flights. It would have been interesting to see how well  they held up to a deck landing.

Granted if it had a 28 Kt headwind it would take off vertically or just hover. So it may not have needed anything of substance.

 

 

[LorenSharp]

2 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looks good as a model, the oddballish nature of it makes one take a step back though. 

I know, it's so ugly it's almost cute.

[LorenSharp]

And there you have it. Not a super involved build but a pleasant diversion from my normal subjects. The worst of the build would have to be the separating the  parts from the trees. Kitty Hawk went a little over board with the gates which required a lot of trimming and clean up. Forgetting the tail numbers didn't help either, but those were the two negatives to the whole build. Bt one build down and a few more to go I hope before the GB ends. It may be a day or so before I can get updates to my other build posted. New windows are being installed tomorrow and that  will probably end up being a very messy time. So thanks for following along and all the comments. They helped a lot when building wanted to get the better of me, I'll have proper finished images posted in the Gallery shortly. Until next time, Stay safe, stay healthy, and Model on!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well we thank you for building it, looking forward to the rest of your builds. 

[LorenSharp]

I did forget one photo though. I guess one could call it Family gathering. But it definitely ain't no IHOP (International House of Pancakes)

Would somebody pass me the maple syrup. Please?

[TimJ]

Great build, it turned out well. 👍

[Col.]

Nice result Loren