F7F (P-65) Tigercat

[sideshowbob9]

Was thinking of doing a cut and shut job on a F7F to create a slim, V-1710 engined F6F type fighter for the USAAF. I have a donor ready but have to admit to being a little hesitant. How rare are Monogram F7Fs these days?

[The Wooksta!]

Not easy but then again, not difficult to find either.  Revell reboxed them recently, at least within the last ten years.

[sideshowbob9]

Ah, thanks for that. The project has stalled but is very much still on my to do list.

[johnsjunk]

I like your idea of doing an F7F Tigercat with wing tip tanks and SEA camo.
Here is my F7F-3 Junglecat I am almost finished with. Still needs antennas and decals. Its a 1/48 scale AMT/ERTL.

[NARSES2]

Nice Tigercat 

Always liked the aircraft. I have one in the stash which will eventually be BPF.

[rickshaw]

Mmm, just had a thought.  Slim-line nacelles, with mmmm, Griffins?  Interestingly different look, methinks.

[pyro-manic]

Or Merlin 130/131s, a la Hornet.

[The Wooksta!]

I've got one somewhere that'll be a FAA one - cut down fuselage, bubble hood, Centaurus engines (the US were looking at licence building it) and five blade props.

However, it's been sitting there for four years so I doubt it'll get done anytime soon.  At least not for another year...

[ysi_maniac]

Tigercat is quite sleek that's why I think she deserves sleeker engines like RR Griffon. Wings have been a little enlarged too.

[NARSES2]

Nice Griffon Tigercat 

[KJ_Lesnick]

The F7F from what I remember was to be built in parallel with a USAAF concept called the P-65 which was to differ in the following

• Pressurized Cockpit
• Turbocharger

Would the turbocharger alter the shape of the nacelle at all or in any significant way?

[jcf]

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,19302.msg324263.html#msg324263

[KJ_Lesnick]

JCF

That's actually fascinating: I always thought the F7F and P-65's were derivatives of each other. 

I didn't know the design continued to be modified several times over before it would proceed to the F7F

Thanks for the information

[KJ_Lesnick]

I was doing some looking at these pages
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/f7f/F7F-1_80262.pdf
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/f7f/F7F-1_Airplane_Characteristics_Performance.pdf

Honestly some of this data makes little to no sense

• In the first document it seems to list the critical altitude as 23,400' or 23,500' at military power and 24,000 at normal power with both engines running
  
• In the second document I'm kind of puzzled that they would list the performance figures based on a cruise of 15,000 feet: Generally the best performance favors a cruising altitude at or slightly above the critical altitude
  
• The climb performance data specified in the second document seems rather difficult to make sense of: While either set of graphed data indicates an unusually high climb-speed, one seems to show climb figures that are more jet-like (faster you go, faster you climb); Are one of these figures a zoom-climb?
  

[perttime]

I wish they'd made a Tigercat with a bubble canopy. Like the one they put on the Bearcat, or smaller. If a second crew member is needed, he could have a small bubble like on Beaufighter or DH Sea Hornet.