Vought XF5U-1

well, it made the cover of Mechanics IIllustrated in 1947. see the link:

topside not shown, although "box top" illustrations show overall yellow (insignia yellow?) w/ either grey, natural metal or white vertical tails (can't tell which).

hope this of at least a little use

yahoo found a bunch of v-173 images, some real, some models...

I think that Tom is looking for the final version of the "flapjack". The big blue fella with the 4 bladed props............

Come to think of it, I have never seen anything on this bird other than B&W photos and I have always assumed that it is overall midnight blue?

The Hasegawa kit simply states "Navy Blue".

One of the flight sims allowed the import of this aircraft - if the flight model was correct, the "Flapjack" was very maneuverable at lower speeds but not all that fast in level flight. Since the actual aircraft was broken up before it was ever test flown I guess we will never know?

~Rick

Thank you very much for the effort, I do appreciate it. However, the color photo on the cover is the earlier V-173, the proof of concept aircraft for the XF5U-1. It actually flew many times and survived till today. It's being restored by the Smithsonian as we speak.

The XF5U-1 is shown on the upper right corner of the MI article. It's a bit larger than the V-173 and it never flew. The Navy didn't want prop fighters, choosing to go for jets, so the amazing XF5U-1 was destroyed. :-(

Thank you very much for the MI May, 1947 cover. I was born a month later and it's fun to have that cover. I've almost completed the 1/72 Sword V-173, a nice kit that can be pretty stunning with some added details.

Happy modeling,

Tom

OldSchool wrote:

On Dec 17, 11:39=A0pm, OM wrote:> On Wed,

17 Dec 2008 14:48:03 -0800 (PST), unamodeler> >

wrote:> >Come to think of it, I have never seen anything on this bird other> >than B&W photos and I have always assumed that it is overall> >midnight blue?> > ...If we're talking about the Flapjack, I've heard there were two> color schemes: one midnight blue, the other with a grey underbottom> and a midnight blue top as part of that dual-tone camo scheme.> However, I've never seen photos of the latter, only the B&W's that> appear to show a midnight blue paint job.> > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 = =A0 =A0 OM> --> =A0 =A0] =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D[> =A0 =A0] =A0 OMBlog -

[> =A0 =A0] =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Let's face it: Someti= mes you

*need* =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 [> =A0 =A0] =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0an obnoxious opinion = in your day! =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 [> =A0 =A0]=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D[The wooden moc= k-up was Navy Blue over White. It had three-bladed props and no undercarriage.The actual item started out with F4U-4 Corsair four- bladed props, soon replaced with custom-made articulated four bladed props.No luck so far with the search for color photos. I'm also searching my files and library for cockpit interior photos. The large plasn/photos/details sheet from LTV shows an ejection seat and side consoles with a prominent oxygen bottle. The kit does not have the side consoles or the O2 bottle. I have a huge batch of spares, so the seat shouldn't be a problem. I'll scratchbuild the rest.Thanks everybody for the effort. If anything turns up I'll let you know.Tom

yeah, i figured out the difference between the two shortly after I posted...should have read more thoughly....