Click for fullsize Image
Click here for OUTDOOR flying video! 11.7mb, shot in Oct 2008
Short 2006 YouTube Video here!
Customer Photos
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35 inch F5F Skyrocket kit
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$ 32.50
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35 inch F5F Skyrocket kit w/ twin 24g Brushless Combo
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$ 125.00
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The kit includes everything you need to build the airframe. Detailed instructions are provided on a CD
included with the kit. To complete the model as shown, you will need:
- two micro-servos (6gm-9gm)
- two 1-ounce brushless motors & appropriate ESCs (included with our motor combo)
- two scale-size 9x7 GWS 3-bladed props (included with our motor combo)
- hobby tools such as foam-safe paint, glue etc.
- recommended 3-cell 1320mah 20C battery and a lightweight radio system
We offer a brushless motor combo package for this kit, a $100 value if the items were purchased separately.
The combo includes the two 24gm brushless motors, two 10-amp ESCs with connectors, two 9x7 props, two aluminum motor mounts, firewalls, and two propsavers.
The Skyrocket is aptly named - with our brushless motors and big props the model will climb vertically (unlimited) like its full-size
counterpart! It's best for outdoor flying. It's not extremely fast but it flies in a scale-like manner. It's a little smaller than our larger models and it's perfect for smaller fields.
This plane looks obviously experimental and will attract a lot of attention from your buddies.
But the Rabid Models Skyrocket is not only really unique and interesting, it flies extremely well too (just like all of our planes).
Yes, with those low-slung motors it does tend to pitch up with the application of full power, but that's controllable and a heck of a lot of fun! Please check out the outdoor video (link located to the left).
As you can see to the left, the Skyrocket can be made in some eye-catching paint schemes, this one in tribute to the classic "Blackhawk" comic book.
Check out the link to see some more customer pictures.
XF5F-1 Skyrocket History
The XF5F-1 Skyrocket was designed in 1938 and first flew in 1940, and had two 1200hp motors with contra-rotating propellers.
Intended to meet the specifications of a new US Navy contract, it was small and lightweight, and outperformed it's competitors (including the F4U Corsair) with superior acceleration and climbing speed.
The Skyrocket could climb at more than 4000 feet per minute, which was completely phenomenal a full year before the beginning of WWII. The contra-rotating props cancelled out torque,
and the up-front cockpit offered unlimited visibility. However, the Navy just didn't like it - probably because it simply looked strange. Understand at that time the US Navy was only just beginning
the transition from biplanes - and along comes this new twin-engine design. Well the record shows that the Navy felt the Skyrocket "didn't offer a significant performance advantage".
Only one XF5F-1 was ever built. Another similar plane was built with supercharged engines and a longer nose in 1942, called the XP-50 Skyrocket.
This plane was lost when one of the superchargers failed and exploded during a flight (the pilot bailed out). The original XF5F-1 was retained
for research purposes and had hundreds of test flights, until it was written off after a landing gear failure - but all that work
directly led to Grumman's superb F7F Tigercat in 1943, which became operational just in time to miss the end of the war.
Interestingly, although the Skyrocket never went into production it lived on in the comics for almost 50 years! The XF5F-1 appeared in several incarnations
of the popular Blackhawk comic book, from it's original flight in Military Comics in 1941 to the last Blackhawk series in 1990. Over that nearly fifty year
time span, the Blackhawks sported several colorful paint schemes and many different versions of the Blackhawk insignia. There was also a Blackhawk film serial, a radio series, and a novel!
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