John R Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 When jets started to go fast thoughts turned to ways of helping the pilot to withstand the more extreme ‘g’ loads when manoeuvring. One suggestion was to have the pilot lying down in a prone position and to this end, in 1955, a Meteor F8 was converted to have a cockpit with a prone pilot section grafted on to the nose. Some 55 hours and 99 flights later the idea was abandoned after it was found that whilst the position was very effective in reducing the effects of ‘g’ on the pilot every other aspect of piloting was much worse. The main problem was the pilot’s inability to see behind and also forward when in a steep turn. Other problems concerned the cockpit ergonomics. Quite why it needed an actual aircraft to find this out is not clear. One feels that the same information could have been derived from a mock-up. Even my wife, a renowned technophobe, commented 'How could he see behind?' when first told about it. This was built for the Meteor GB. WIP here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234993470-meteor-prone-pilot/ It seems to be MPM's F8 kit with added parts. The nose and tail sections have to be sawn off and replaced. The replacement sections don't quite fit, the nose being a trifle narrow and the tail cone a bit wide. The wings needed some thinning to fit the fuselage and could have done with a some more on the outer panels, Nose and tail parts of the nacelles are undersize and had to have filler to fair thenm in. The wing root fairings needed some sanding to fit neatly. I did this before glueing the wing in position, something I had not tried before, and found it much easier. Finish is Alclad aluminium for the main airframe, semi matt aluminium for the prone pilot section and dark aluminium for the nose. The decals separate from the backing sheet almost as soon as it is damp. Great care needs to be taken with them as they are very thin and are prone to wrapping themselves around the backing sheet as they are transferred to the model. A Meteor shower! A final thought. I was amazed to find recently that the Americans had an equivalent - a modified Shooting Star John 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jb65rams Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Very nice.Also building one for the GB, if it looks half as good as yours I will be happy. Thanks for the tipoff about the decals, just getting to that stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 Be very careful about the positioning of those around the cockpit. There are a lot, they tend to overlap and I don't think the drawing quite matches the model. I put the ejection seat ones on first and had to move the one on port side (I'm amazed that I got away with it and decided not to risk the starboard one) Thanks for the compliment John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick4350 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Yes, thanks for tip on the decals. Smart looking aircraft and one day I'll get around to building mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdave22014 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 A very strange aircraft, but beautifully executed. Well done sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bod Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Great work. I was at RAF Cosford yesterday looking at the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Nice job and great looking collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Excellent. Particularly like the last shot of the Meteor shower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Cracking build and superb collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eht1418 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Great work! How did the real thing work out? Having experienced Manta at Sea World, I can't imaging it was a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Mollica Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Interesting and odd Meteor, and it makes a fantastic addition to your collection, which is exactly how I would like my Meteor collection to be. Regards Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 GORGEOUS Meteor. . You have gotten a very nice starry collection of WONDROUS looking Meteors. . IMMACULATE Collection. .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis_C Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Fantastic! I must say that prone Meteor is not as ugly as I thought from photoes. And your Meteor shower is incredible! Shows very well how MPM did most out of their F.8 kit. Something to learn by other model producers. Edited December 22, 2015 by Dennis_C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Great work! How did the real thing work out? Having experienced Manta at Sea World, I can't imaging it was a good idea. There is an interesting article about flying it in 'Meteor', one of the Aeroplane Icons series Thank you all for the compliments. I'm glad it was of interest. Merry Christmas all John Edited December 22, 2015 by John R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 You've done a fantastic job on it, your silver finish is spot on in my opinion. I hope mine turns out as good when I eventually get round to it. I first saw the actual aircraft when I was taken on a guided tour around Cosford when it was still really not much more than a holding facility for Hendon way back in the 1970's and I've always been interested in prototypes from the 'golden' age of British Aviation ever since. Duncan B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now