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TomCatDriver — 2 Bladed Sword
Published: 2008-01-18 08:06:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 663; Favourites: 12; Downloads: 46
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Description
top aft view of Chance Vought F7U-1 Cutlass,showing unusual tailless twin-fin planview of this semi-experimental fighter while in service with the US Navy Blue Angels display team in 1952. the Cutlass was derived from a 1944 German design by Junkers and was the first US Navy jet to use a primitive form of afterburners. primary airframe was constructed of Metalite,a sandwich material of thin aluminum skin bonded to both sides of a core end-grain cut balsa wood,a patented material developed by Vought.Related content
Comments: 94
just don,t take too long,we,re not getting any younger......!
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so am i. if i can,t get a variance here,i may just sell and move to another county.
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That is an alternative.
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somewhere south of EWR,a dollar goes a lot farther for property,lower taxes,and the building codes just aren,t so strict.
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not too far,but within convienient commuting distance.
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and that you can get a bigger and better place too.
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nothing must stand in the way of model-building!
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not even my marriage.....such as it is.
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Well, I have to say the plane is ugly, but the model is excellent.
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depends on which angle you look at it from. from some angles,the Cutlass almost looked like an F-14. way ahead of it,s time!
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Well from the back it is ugly.
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just a bit. but not from all angles.
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From the side and front it is ok...
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might be worth trying again,with modern engines and composite materials........
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Probably with work better.
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it was basically a good design,aerodynamically. just too far ahead of the available engines and structural materials of the late 40s.
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nasty little job to make this one. a major conversion using a vacuform kit.
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tough little bugger to make/convert,but it was used by the Blue Angels in some of their public displays,thus a part of the team.
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Cool
thank you for the info
Tell me more about how you did the convertion
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i had to use some leftover drop-tanks for the forward fuselage,and a lot of filler-putty and sheet styrene to reshape the countours,also had to piece together a totally different set of landing gear. the kit i started out with was of an F7U-3{1956-57},and it needed to be backdated to an F7U-1{1952}version. Lindberg did make 2 earlier Cutlass kits,but they were in the wrong scales{1/48,1/96} needed for this collection.{1/72}
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How unusual. Did 'Metalite' ever (pardon the pun) take off? In other words, was it ever widely used in aircraft?
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only a few Vought designs actually used it as a primary structural material, the Cutlass and the F6U Pirate,their first jet-powered types,also the XF5U Flying Flapjack,a saucer-shaped design that reached prototype stage,but was sadly scrapped before it was ever test flown in 1947. i think Metalite was used for some small parts on other planes as well.
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Flying Flapjack? I assume that saucer-shaped aircraft have some fundamental disadvantage over conventionally shaped planes, or we'd be seeing flying saucers in the sky.
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the XF-5U had a lot of potential,a prewar Vought wood and fabric prototype called the V-173"Zimmer-Skimmer" demonstrated some exceptional flying abilities,and encouraged Vought and the Navy to pursue the concept further with a larger,heavier and far more powerful version,with heavy armament. but WWII ended before the project was completed,also it was a prop-job,and jets were showing far greater promise for the future.
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Also, with the names 'FlapJack' and 'Zimmer-Skimmer' they sound more like jokes than serious projects!
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funny names,yes,but serious projects deep down. if it had been produced,the Flapjack probably would have worked very well too,aboard carriers. very compact,and with a very slow landing speed,almost hanging from it,s propellers,like a helicopter.
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