Lockheed XFV-1 Valom 1/72 Kit and Steve Ginter Book No. 32 By Jim Schubert

History

Project Hummingbird, sponsored jointly by the USAF and the USN, was initiated in 1947 to study VTOL fighters. The USAF soon lost interest and the study became a joint USN, NACA and industry effort. Finally, on May 31, 1951 the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics - BuAer - gave contracts to both Lockheed and Convair to develop demonstrators of their VTOL fighter studies. The only precedents for this work were Focke-Wulf's late WWII Triebflugel and Heinkel's Lerch, neither of which got to the hardware stage of development. Both Lockheed's XFV-1 and Convairs XFY-1 were powered by the Allison YT-40, which comprised two T-38 turbo-shaft engines driving through a combining gearbox. The power train was so configured that either, or both, engines could drive the contra-props.

There was a lot of trouble with developing the YT-40 to run properly, with the fine control needed for "back-down" landings. The XFV-1 was, therefore, fitted with an incredibly ugly, long-legged, fixed undercarriage to permit horizontal take offs and landings. The all-wing configuration of Convair's XFY-1 precluded the fitment of such an undercarriage so Convair got the first "vertical-rated" YT-40s. the first flight of the first XFV-1, BuNo 138657, was made on June 16, 1954 and the first XFY-1 flew on August 1, 1954. By then the need for VTOL fighters was deemed to have passed. Both projects were abandoned with the XFV-1 having never taken off or landed vertically.

The Book

The Ginter book, No. 32, gives a fine account of this project with many photos and drawings of great value to a builder of Valom's new kit. His book, No. 27 provides the same degree of help to a builder of the, much better, 1/72 K-P kit of the Convair XFY-1 Pogo. Lockheed's XFV-1 was never given a name. Two XFV-1s were started but only the first was completed. The second, BuNo 138658, survives as a shell in storage at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola. The XFY-1 is in storage with the NASM in Washington, D.C.

The Kit

Unlike the other makers of kits in the Czech Republic, Valom packs their's in very stout, lidded boxes. Kudos to them for that. Inside, said box, one finds a box-size tree of 59 parts injection molded in a softish gray styrene, two very clear vac canopies, a small fret of photo-etched brass, a clear film instrument panel, a decal sheet with markings for the one airplane that was actually built and flown along with an instructions sheet on four sides of A-4 size paper.

The instructions include a brief history in Czech, English and German., a four-view markings and colors drawing, a parts map and a seven step assembly procedure. The instructions also include a two-view drawing of the XFV-1 with its fixed undercarriage fitted. All of the parts required for the fixed landing gear are included in the kit so that you can build it as either a tail-sitter or standing up on its stalky undercarriage.

Nitpicks:

1. There is neither ducting nor blanking inside the main air intakes nor inside the very large exhaust outlet.

2. Detail is soft; especially in the cockpit.

3. The rear fuselage-to-canopy fairing has the wrong contour - see the attached sketch.

4. The decal sheet does not include the full-span red walk lines and stencils that are quite prominent in photos.

5. The color guide drawings present a fictional color scheme with lots of red, which the prototype did not have; the box art duplicates this fiction. Use the color photos in the Ginter book as your guide instead.

Conclusions:

The Book

A typical Steve Ginter book. It's very good value for the money and is absolutely essential if you want to build the Valom kit into an accurate model.

The Kit

It's ok for a short-run kit but is far from the state-of-the-art-of other short-run kits today.

I paid $7.95 for the book and $29.98 for the kit at Emil Minerich's Skyway Model Shop in Seattle; a bit over $40.00 total when Washington State's Sales Tax is included. I reckon you can get, at least, $40.00 worth of entertainmnet from that investment. It sure beats a round of golf.