by Caz Dalton

Model Subject: Grumman XF5F-1

Kit used: Minicraft, kit number 11626

With the USAAC already having a twin-engine, long ranged pursuit escort fighter on the drawing board and both Germany and Great Britain also testing examples of this type aircraft, the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics approached Grumman Aircraft for a proposal on a twin-engine pursuit escort fighter for fleet operations. Grumman's approach was the G-34 (XF5F-1), which was to be developed through three distinct versions with a short-nose and one with a long nose.

The model I have done depicts the first configuration of the short-nose version, which first flew on April 1, 1940 with R. A. "Bud" Gillis at the controls. Bob Hall, now a retired Grumman vice-president, took over the test program until November 1940, when "Connie" Converse assumed the test pilot role leading to the final Naval demonstrations in the short-nose version. Bob Hall completed a total of twenty-five flights averaging 3/4 of an hour in the first configuration during the one and a half months following the initial flight.

These tests showed excessively high engine temperatures and a second configuration was made using modifications in the oil-cooling duct along with changes in the gear doors. Altogether the XF5F-1 went through four basic modifications after configuration one. During the second modification the exhaust systems was given ejector exhausts, which replaced the exterior exhausts. The third modification was the addition of the fuselage-to-wing fillets and new balanced rudders. The final modification was the extension of the nose past the leading edge of the wing, lengthened engine nacelles with two side opening gear doors which covered the tires, enlarged and revised rudders, and deletion of the canopy side braces. The propellers were also given spinners in the final modification.

The XF5F-1 was last flown on December 11, 1944. Due to an undercarriage retraction failure the plane had to belly land and damage was so extensive that the unique plane was struck off the active list. Although the XF5F-1 never was put into production, it and its USAAC cousin XP-50 served as the testbed for Grumman's F7F series of twin-engine fighters. The XF5F-1 was never really given a name by Grumman, it was said that a newsman viewing the aircraft during 1941 stated that it "climbed like a skyrocket" and the name stuck. One wonders what brand of cat this nimble little aircraft would have been given had it reached production. The test plane had done 211 flights totaling 155.7 hours during its nearly five years of testing.

My model is strictly hypothetical and is done, as the actual aircraft may have appeared had it reached production status during 1942. Since few ever saw the aircraft and it never received a cat motif, I decided to name it the "Hepcat".

Additions, modifications, etc.:

Interior:

Although the fuselage parts were well modeled and accurately represented the XF5F-1, the sidewalls were not molded at all, nor was there a bulkhead to cut off one's view into the rear of the fuselage. Using photos from Steve Ginter's book of the XF5F-1 (a must have for serious modeling enthusiasts of this kit or the long-nose configuration) I scratch build sidewalls and a rear bulkhead from sheet styrene and Plastistrut I-bars and angles. The interior was painted Polly Scale Interior Green with the seat paint bright silver and instrument panel and sidewall controls done in black and Reheat Models instrument decals and control placards.

The barrels to the nose guns were cut and holes drilled in the breeches to except new barrels from 25-gauge hypodermic tubing and perforated gun cooling jackets in the final assembly. The breeches were painted Tamiya Gun Metal, with the ejection chutes painted bright silver, and cemented into position on the upper wing half. The gun scope was drilled out a little at both ends, painted semi-gloss black, and given a drop of Krystal Klear in each drilled hole. I held off attachment until final assembly.

The pilot was culled from my stock of 1/48 scale figures. The figure was primed in neutral gray and hand painted using acrylics. Shadowing and highlights were done with artist's inks and powdered pastels respectively. I held off attachment of the pilot to seat and seat to lower wing until final assembly to facilitate masking the open cockpit for exterior painting.

Engines:

The engines are really well done, but what were those rods coming out of the ignition wiring harnesses? They are certainly not pushrods, because they only go halfway up to the cylinder ends. I removed the wiring harness from the attachment ring, cleaned the ring and cemented it to each engine front as called for. I saved the wiring harnesses, but cut the rods from them and drilled #80 holes for ignition wires made from phono pickup wire. I also drilled eighteen #79 holes in the attachment ring on the engine to accept new pushrods constructed from fine copper wire.

The engine was first painted engine gray, after which the cylinders were painted Polly Scale Oxidized Aluminum and the pushrods black. The ignition harnesses were painted silver and the ignition wiring left in its aluminum finish but given a coat of clear flat. I made exhaust collector rings from non-flux solder and painted these Gunze Burnt Iron. The collector rings were attached to the rear of the engines after the rest of the engine assembly was completed and both engines set aside until painting of the wheel wells and cowlings was completed/

The wheel wells and inside of the cowling pieces were painted Polly Scale Chromate Yellow. I had originally planned to do a gear down version of this kit, but the gear bay was so spartan for this scale and the landing gear struts are very difficult to attach correctly, that I decided to do another in flight. This may be the only true debit to this kit; it could definitely use some aftermarket help in the gear bays. I used the main strut and the wheel only. The wheels were painted Polly Scale Tire Black and the struts silver. They were cemented in the closed position and the wheels masked with strips of masking tape.

Exterior:

The entire model was assembled before painting the exterior, with exception of the vertical tails and canopy. I drilled out the openings of the exhausts and made two exhausts from styrene tubing. These were painted burnt iron and attached in the finals. I also attached the two wing lights after painting the area behind them silver. This made it easier to sand them even with the wing form. I cut and filed out the gun camera position in the port wing and paint this area black before attaching a small Waldron punched disk of Bare-metal foil. This was filled with gel-type CNA and sanded back to the wing edge, then polished and masked. Wing lights were masked with Elmer's, which works very well on small clear areas and comes off very easy after dampened with a little water.

Antenna posts were cut from fine wire and cemented into predrilled holes on top of each vertical tail. Likewise, I drilled two holes for the wires attachment into the fuselage sides where indicated in drawings. The rear landing gear had to be attached before cementing the fuselage halves, but I left if free from glue. The actual aircraft had a fixed rear gear, but I used artistic license since I was doing a hypothetical model and pushed the gear up as it would possibly appear retracted. The tailhook was painted separate but at the same time as the model. It was installed in the final assembly.

After masking after masking off the cockpit and instrument shroud with card stock and masking tape and the engine openings with circular cone masks made from index card stock, I sprayed the entire model with Polly Scale Navy Light Gray, which is correct for the undersurfaces of my hypothetical model. The two canopy pieces were masked with Bare-metal foil on the exterior and masking tape on the interior and first given a couple coats of interior green.

Once the light gray primer was sanded and reprimed where needed, I masked the undersurfaces and gave the upper surfaces and the two canopy pieces two coats of Polly Scale USN Blue-Gray. Masking was removed from all undersurfaces and the model was given two coats of FUTURE to prep it for decals.

The only kit decals I used were vertical tail IDs. I cut the "X" from the XF5F-1, as my hypothetical model represents a production model. National Insignia and the number "9" are from Superscale decal sheets. The vertical tail landing stripes were done with white and dark blue trim film. I made the nose decal in Adobe and run it off on my InkJet printer using the new SuperCal decal film especially made for InkJet printers. It did marvelous and once treated with an Artist's fixative, it went on without any bleeding or hassles. Since I needed white for the eyes and mouth of the figure and did my decal on clear film, I had to first cut a decal from white trim film using a template made from a paper copy of the image used on the decal. This was applied prior to attaching my homemade "Cheshire Cat" image. Wing walks were cut from black trim film using template I made from card stock.

Once the decals were dried and cleaned, I sealed all in a coat of FUTURE before applying a finish coat of Polly Scale Clear Flat. The navigation lights at the top of the fuselage and at the rear of the fuselage were done using Waldron punched disks of bare metal foil and a drop of Krystal Klear. The navigation lights were painted clear red and clear green where indicated, with the rear light remaining clear. 

Caz