Vought F6U-1 Pirate model in 1/72 scale by Admiral ( AZ model ) |
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The Chance Vought F6U Pirate was typical one of the earliest jets developed after the Second World War, pioneer of the jet age for the US Navy. Development started during the war and the swept wing concept was still unknown. The Pirate prototype used one of the first American jet engines, the Westinghouse J34. It was quite unreliable and underpowered. The type was by the US Navy ordered in 1947. The Pirate had one of the earliest ejection seats and special were the vertical tail fins fitted on the stabilizer. It also used "metalite" as material consisting of aluminium skin with resin-balsa core. The first
production
F6U-1 had its first flight June 1949, and 20 of the aircraft were
provided
to US NAVY VX-3, an operational evaluation squadron based at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River in Maryland USA. Pilots did not like the type
with
only marginal performance and on hot days it could hardly take-off from
the runway. Pirate production reached only some 35 aircraft
as better other aircraft types became available,
also fitted with a swept wing for higher speed like the Grumman F9F Panther.
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Decals are a bit simple and the stars-and-bars
have not the blue as the basic plane is Gloss Sea Blue.
Inside the intakes a piece of card
was fitted to suggest a duct.
The kit assembly needed quite some
filling with putty but otherwise it is very simple. Some sanding was indeed
needed.
The model got a base coat of grey with the airbrush. Correct any flaws with putty as needed.
Some panellines were re-scribed with
a Olfa P-cutter 450. The ailerons' edges were sawed in with the TIGER razorsaw.
The general colour is Fed. Standard FS 25042 Gloss Sea Blue, for which White Ensign Model WEMCC ACUS 07 enamel was used. (Alternative paints are also widely available for the Gloss Sea Blue). At the tail areas, metal coats were hand painted. A green anti-glare panel was airbrushed after masking the area. The wing tip tanks have no clear englazing, these tanks were not fitted. The decals were applied, picking the
NASA scheme to get some extra colour to the model with TEST markings.
The result....
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References:
Chance Vought Pirate, Naval fighter series no. 9, Steve Ginter/ Koehnen |
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Created this page May 1, 2013 |