FGMM Vought F7U Cutlass Blue Angels Knife Edge Pass Diorama

**Sidewinder81777** · #1 03-10-2010, 12:00 PM

Being here in Jacksonvile which was the original home of the Blue Angels before they moved over to pensacola Ive always loved the team, Ive also always been fond of oddball planes and the cutlass is far and away the oddest looking plane the angels ever flew. So here goes one of my favorite angels moves (the pucker factor has to be high in this one, aerial chicken).

**ct ertz** · #2 03-10-2010, 03:20 PM

COOL, I can hardly wait. I like diagrams anyhow. This should be great.
CT

**Sidewinder81777** · #3 03-10-2010, 04:42 PM

Ok first cutlass is built.

**NOBI** · #4 03-10-2010, 08:46 PM

Beautiful job but I think if you convert tab into connection strip will make join part look smooth... :-)

**Sidewinder81777** · #5 03-10-2010, 09:23 PM

it would but i think that would fall under "improved stock"

**willygoat** · #6 03-10-2010, 10:34 PM

Looking good Sidewinder. That is a strange looking bird. Ah, the good old gutless.

**Sidewinder81777** · #7 03-10-2010, 10:36 PM

Yep very maneuverable but underpowered as hell.

**Wyvern** · #8 03-11-2010, 10:12 AM

Looking good, Josh!

Wyvern

**John Bowden** · #9 03-11-2010, 03:17 PM

Hey a Rob Carleen re-color!

FYI...... the Cutlass was "forced" on the Blue Angels as part of a publicity show by Vought. They ended up not being able to fly it in formation because it was the first Navy operational aircraft to fly a hydraulic control system, and even through it had a mechanical backup system it was not all that fool-proof and the bird would go crazy sometimes. Not a good thing with somebody only 3 feet away in a diamond formation.

They ending up using them in high speed passes using afterburners.

The plane was such a maintenance nightmare, they(Lt. Bob Belt, maintenance office and Cdr. Butch Voris, Boss) ended up "giving" them to the training center at Memphis when they had to do an emergency landing there because of an often happened hydraulic failure....... they never left there and were used to train mechanics.

Another case of a plane ahead of it times and technology............

**Rangerdog** · #10 03-11-2010, 07:19 PM

Very nice. There is an F7U Cutlass at the Delaware Valley Air Museum at Willow Grove JRB north of Philly. It is a surprisingly large aircraft.

It completely exemplifies the second Golden Age of Aviation. New jet propulsion, new swept wing aerodynamics. Speeds doubled form only a few years before in WWII. We probably won't ever see anything like that again.

Some projects worked out - some did not do so well. Vought was always in the forefront of technology with the Pirate, Cutlass, and Crusader.

Neat model!