Lockheed L-210-10 by Pepelatz

1/72 scale
Kit No. PPZ7208
Price: $35.00
Decals: One version – U.S. Navy
Comments: Resin kit; engraved panel lines; two-piece canopy; individually mounted propeller blades; optional 20mm cannon gun armament

History

The Lockheed Model L-210 was an unusual fighter design submitted in response to an RFP for the U.S. Navy Fighter Competition of 1950, which called for a high performance turboprop VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) fighter to protect naval convoys from enemy air attack. As the Cold War took shape during the late 1940’s, the Navy grew concerned about the protection of merchant shipping should tensions with the Soviets continue to increase.

With stark memories of the Battle of the Atlantic during WWII, the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics began to focus on the idea of convoys that would carry their own fighter escorts. Tail-sitting VTOL aircraft that could take off and land on convoy vessels would provide them with independent reconnaissance and defense capability, avoiding the need to deploy precious aircraft carriers and possibly reduce the number of naval escorts required to protect them. Lockheed joined Convair, Goodyear, Martin and Northrop in submitting proposals.

Among the specifications for the new fighter was a maximum gross weight of 16,000 lbs. with the ability to take off and land in a vertical position, and a maximum speed of Mach 0.94 at an altitude of 35,000 feet. This performance was deemed sufficient as it equalled or exceeded that of then-existing carrier-based fighters.

Take off from a vertical position was unorthodox but relatively simple to achieve. The biggest challenge with any VTOL aircraft was the means of achieving a safe landing, when pilot visibility was at a minimum. In Lockheed’s prototype, when the aircraft was in a vertical position, the pilot’s seat rotated on an axis just below his elbow, raising his head toward the instrument panel and positioning him in a somewhat more normal attitude in relation to the controls. This provided the pilot with a better side view out of the cockpit and of the landing signal officer.

In addition, the Navy designated a shipboard landing area consisting of a tautly drawn cable net with approximately a six inch mesh. A net was used so that many landing holes would be available for the wingtip and tail spikes, and no obstruction to the airflow past the tail would result from the ground plane effect on the propeller slipstream. This net was mounted on a platform and raised above the deck of the cargo vessel by means of support arms with bearings at each end. The entire platform could be moved in a roll direction and stabilized to suit any roll of the vessel, keeping the platform level even on a rolling sea.

The powerplant was an Allison T-40A-8 turboprop engine. Combat equipment consisted of an APQ-42 radar combined with Mark VI Mod. I gunsight and four 20 mm cannon in wing tip pods. Lockheed also experimented with alternate wing tip pods containing 24 folding fin aerial rockets each. The prototype exceeded the Navy requirements for high speed and combat ceiling, fulfilled the complete desires for the basic radius mission and came close to obtaining the required time to climb to 35,000 feet. The engines, engine accessories and gear box were accessible for repair or removal through the bottom of the fuselage.

Ultimately the products of the competition, Lockheed’s XFV-1 Salmon along with Convair’s XFY-1 Pogo, never made it beyond the prototype stage, for a variety of reasons. Both proved to be very difficult to land, suffered from power plant reliability issues, and were eclipsed in performance by contemporary jet fighters. In addition, Lockheed concluded that significantly more research was needed to overcome the engineering and design challenges associated with building a combat aircraft that could smoothly and consistently transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back. These funding requirements combined with the increasing performance of the traditional jet fighters of the day spelled the project’s demise.

The Kit

Pepelatz’ Lockheed L-210-10 is cast in grey resin and consists of 38 parts, including two very clear, crisply molded clear parts for the windscreen and canopy. The exterior surfaces feature neatly defined panel lines, and locator slots for the wings and tail surfaces are provided. The L-210 design featured a turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers on tandem airscrews, and these squared-off propeller blades are individually mounted.

The cockpit consists of a tub with raised detail on the side panel instrumentation, and clearly identifiable throttle levers. There is also a detailed ejection seat, main instrument panel with raised detail, along with a control yoke accompanied by a spare, just in case. The two-piece canopy provided is crystal clear and will rival any aftermarket vacuform version (which may be hard to find given that this is a limited run kit). The kit also features wing tip pods carrying the L-210’s main armament, four 20mm cannon. Although alternate pod tips are provided, beefing the gun armament up to eight 20mm cannon, four in each pod, there is no record of such armament in the historical information, and in any case packing four 20mm cannon into a single pod would likely have complicated the ammunition feed systems required for each weapon, in a very finite space.

Jet exhausts with exhaust turbine faces are provided, along with individually mounted jet intakes. The airscrew is a four-piece assembly which includes the nose cone, two independent airscrews into which the propeller blades are glued, and a central shaft running through both airscrews that is cemented to the nose cone. No glue or adhesive should touch the airscrews at any time, if they are to rotate freely. Pylons are provided for what appear to be Mk. 77 incendiary “Fireye” bombs, specifically designed for U.S. Navy aircraft. Their presence in the kit is interesting because it is not clear that they were in use in the 1950’s — their predecessor in service, the Mk. 47 bomb, was reportedly in use during the Vietnam era. Finally, paint masks are provided for the canopy.

Markings

The kit decals are manufactured by Begemot of Russia and are provided for a U.S. Navy fighter of the early 1950’s painted in overall Gloss Sea Blue. For those who like an added challenge (at this stage of a build I generally do not), the red stripe bisecting the white bar of the national insignia is a separate marking and will have to be properly aligned. The decals are crisply printed, perfectly in register with an appropriate semi-gloss sheen. Although the L-210 never entered service, markings are provided identifying the fighter as a machine of fighter squadron VF-781, and a few stencils including the aircraft serial number are included.

Conclusion

This looks to be a crisply designed kit that, once properly freed of its resin blocks and cleaned up, looks ready to build into a rather shark-like Navy fighter prototype. The only criticisms are that the Mk. 77 bombs may not be entirely accurate, although something like them may have been in use during the 1950’s and aside from displaying the kit in a nose-up position, no stand is provided for depicting the kit in flight. Highly recommended for its historical interest, crispness and level of clean detail.

Reference

Lockheed Model L-200 Convoy Fighter: The Original Proposal and Early Development of the XFV-1 Salmon – Part 1, by Jared Zichek. Retromechanix Publications. Kindle edition.