Valom 1/72 Lockheed XFV-1 'Salmon' - Mad Tail Sitter

[Dave Ward]

While I am working on my Do 215 Nightfighter, I decided to start on this

This was a bizarre proposal, by the US Navy for a fighter that could take off & land vertically, on a ship, not needing a carrier deck. There were 3 makers interested, Lockheed, Convair ( with the Pogo ), and Ryan ( Vertijet ).
The Pogo & the Vertijet worked ( sort of ), but the Salmon never took off from it's tail - it was fitted with a Heath Robinson ( Rube Goldberg ) undercarriage for it's test flights. Test pilots just about managed to fly these things - on dry land & in good weather. Just imagine an average Navy pilot, on a ship, rolling & pitching in bad weather!
The idea was needless to say, dropped.
The Valom Salmon is a real short run kit - no locating tabs/pins, loads of flash, vacform canopies....................

The wings/tails are all butt joints - so they need drilling for pins to give strength.................
The tails, in an X configuration need a lot of clean up - especially to make sure that the mating faces are flat

After a session with emery paper on flat board, I was able to drill holes in both the fuselage & tails - and remarkably, I didn't break any drills!

You can build this either as the concept - tail sitter, or with the actual lash-up undercarriage. I'm going for the latter, because it looks so bizarre - photo for discussion only!

Dave

 

[papa 695]

Nice one Dave.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

I didn't think that could look any more strange until I saw the last picture!

Good to see the new drills are holding up.

 

[Dave Ward]

The picture looks far worse, as the propeller cowls/cuffs are missing.
They actually did fly! The Salmon is in the second half, the Pogo the first

Dave

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Great video, thanks for that.

I studied aerodynamics a bit as a youth and the transition from horizontal to vertical must have been a tricky one. As the videos says at the end, the skill involved in flying them might have be a reason why the concept wasn't pursued.

 

[Dave Ward]

The joys of short run models! The fuselage isn't a bad fit and the cockpit tub actually sits quite nicely , but the wings & tails are a little 'iffy'
The addition of pins locates them, and gives them strength, when it comes to filling the gaps.


I'll leave this assembly to dry overnight, the plastic is rather soft, and takes a long time to go off.
The propeller blades are all separate - they need careful trimming & dry fitting to the hubs, but don't look bad

The wing tip pods needed a fair bit of work to fit together.
I think tomorrow I'll have to do quite a bit of careful putty work....................
Dave

 

[Jakko]

I thought it was a tail sitter — doesn’t look like it from those pics

 

[Dave Ward]

Due to some minor miscalculations the Salmon lacked sufficient power to take off vertically, hence the oddball temporary undercarriage. An uprated engine was supposed to be fitted, but the project was cancelled before that happened. Some transitions from horizontal flight to vertical, and vice versa were made, in mid-air, but went no further than that
Dave

 

[Jakko]

I was actually referring to the attitude of the model in the photos in your last message

 

[colin m]

This is the strangest looking aircraft I've ever seen. It's mad. This will certainly stand out on the shelf when completed.

 

[Dave Ward]

One of the reasons I decided to build the Salmon, with the jury undercarriage, was that it would be more stable - tailsitting, with all that weight up front would be a recipe for falls ( imagine what it was like on the real thing ).
Dave

 

[Jakko]

One way to do it would be the unusual step of putting lead into the tail instead of the nose, but even then I wouldn’t trust it to stay upright if the model or the shelf is bumped …

 

[Dave Ward]

Puttied up, sanded, and the seams primed - a few areas still needing attention - now it can be seen as a tailsitter!
The spinner is painted in 'feuerrot', which came from the Marks & Spencer/Revell Red Arrows Hawk kit set - I knew I'd use it somewhere!


I'm thinking I will have to pin the undercarriage, like the wings - there's no actual locations marked, and it'll need to be fairly strong...............
Dave