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1-48 Classic Airframes Gloster Meteor NF 11 - redux


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Back in 2015 there was a Gloster Meteor STGB that I participated in but never completed with a 1:48 Classic Airframes kit of a Meteor NF 11 to be done as a 5 Sqn aircraft. You can see the original thread here

 

 

However I will be pulling some material from that into this thread to keep it all together.

 

This will be a side-project of the long running collection I've been working on for a few years called "Aircraft my Father fixed! which you can see here:

 

 

This side project in intended to allow me to build aircraft from 5 Squadron, to which my father was attached in the latter years of WWII in India and Burma, particularly in the post war years. I've already done a Lightning Mk 6 and a Tornado F3, so now its the turn of a Meteor NF 11 which were flown by 5 Sqn from 1959.

 

Box:

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Paint scheme for 5 Sqn

 

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Sprues:

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Now if you look in the middle of that photo you see one of the problem with this particular kit - there are two sets of the same sidewalls for the cockpit rather than having two different sets. I got this kit of eBay back in 2014 and only started it in 2015, so opps!

 

The solution was to resort to scratch building - there were some photos on the net and a set of very nice illustrations in instructions to allow me to get a good idea

 

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and after I'd completed it @trickyrich posted a very handy pic that showed I'd got pretty close - whopeeeeeee!

 

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To be honest when I got the kit out of the stash on Sunday I didn't even realise I'd scratch built these parts as they'd been painted since that pic was taken and it was only when I saw the previous build thread that I realised what a nice job I'd made of them!!!

 

That is pretty much as far as I'd got at the time, then I picked up a chest infection at the 2015 SMW which meant I wasn't able to complete in the time available for the STGB at that time, so the box got packed away into the stash until I finished the Scammell Diorama at the weekend and started looking through the stash to decide what to do next. I really didn't want to go back to sci-fi just yet, I'm quite enjoying building "real" things at present and there is an idea my club has had to celebrate the RAF centenary this year, so adding something to the RAF 5 Sqn roster seemed a good idea!

Edited by Kallisti
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In consideration of the work you’ve done on the rear ‘pit, are you going to replace the horrible intakes with the resin replacement ones from Barracuda? If you want to but are unable to get them in the UK, let me know as I’ve some spares here you can have if it would be of help. Just let me know if you want wide or narrow intakes although IIRC, most NF 11’s had the narrow intakes.

Just PM me if you want a set.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

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Thats a good point, I'd forgotten about the awful intakes...

 

Edit: found a set at a not unreasonable price and they are on their way to me now. Thanks for the offer of help and for the reminder! :beer:

Edited by Kallisti
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So here we go with trying to fit the cockpit tubs into the fuselage with no location guides apart from the crudely drawn instructions! There is the node wheel well as part of the front cockpit which can be used to align the front, so this is what I ended up with:

 

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I had to do a long of sanding down of the outsides of my scratch built rear cockpit sides to get them to fit, but they did in the end.

 

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Tonight I've been gluing the second side of the fuselage on with all the required clamping that involves. Photos of that tomorrow! :)

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On 13/03/2018 at 23:20, Kallisti said:

Thats a good point, I'd forgotten about the awful intakes...

the Airfix F8 kit comes with both types of intakes,  and as such there are plenty floating about, IIRC somone tried them on a CA Meteor and they fitted OK.

The Barracuda ones are very good,  just a FYI for folks as there is now 'free aftermarket'  available if you ask about ;) 

(i got some from a chap at  my club by asking nicely after seeing his built Meteors)

 

You might  also want too look at joining the outer to inner wings before joining the top  and bottom halves.... dim memories of test fitting mine showed this might help. 

 

Neat work so  far.

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Fuselgage gluing...

 

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Before i stipped building before I'd added weight to the nose using 'lead shot'. I bought a couple kg of this stuff years ago and there is still load of it left...

 

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Next will be sorting out those joins...

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Sadly I forgot to take photos of the canopies before I dipped them in Klear but they were very foggy and didn't look good. After dipping in Klear though, big difference!

 

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Painting the control column...

 

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Gluing the top and bottom wing sections together  - the usual poor fit you'd expect from these short-run kits, but nothing insurmountable

 

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Returning to the fuselage, lots of filler applied...

 

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Close up of the bottom where the wing joint will fit, you can see I've scribed a line in the plastic which shows how much needs to be removed to allow the wing middle section to fit in!!

 

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Today, the Barracuda resin intakes arrived, so I can continue with the wing centre section once the glue is cured. Furst will be to add the exhaust sections...

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I've tried a dry fit of the outer wings to the centre and the dihedral seems to be good - big gaps in the joints but that is a different problem :) I've got some time to wait for the filler etc to dry before I can do any more so I might take a look at setting up a frame/jig to guarantee the angle properly

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Been busy yesterday evening and today since the snow is outside, so not going anywhere just at the moment, so nose, engine intakes, wings and tail have all been assembled, along with lots and lots of filler!

 

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Next task is to mask the canopy and glue that to the rest so it can be given its first coat of primer which I'm sure will result in more filling and sanding...

 

Before that, however I need to clear up the dust from so much sanding!

 

 

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I've been working on the undercarriage today and omg what an awful set of moldings! They are covered is flash and its next to impossible to tell where the sprue gate ends and the part begins, so much so that I think I've cut the locating pin for the nose wheel. I think I'm going to give up and get the Scale Aircraft Conversions white metal undercarriage instead.

 

In the meantime, canopy has been masked and attached and primer has been applied... photos to come...

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As evidence of the bad undercarriage I present you with these photos:

 

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The white metal uncercarriage arrived during the week and that has been assembled and painted, her they are having been given a coat of xF-56, Metallic Grey

 

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These will get painted aluminiumm/silver before installation.

 

As promised, here as photos after primer

 

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Edited by Kallisti
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  • 4 weeks later...

I was bidding for one of these on ebay until it got too expensive. Looking at the amount of work and aftermarket parts you're having to put into it I think I may have dodged a bullet. Going purely on the box art I was expecting it to be Hasegawa/current Airfix standard!

 

Having said that, with the work you're putting in it certainly looks superb! 

 

Hopefully Airfix will release a 1/48 NF at some point.

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I've neglected this post a bit recently because I had done the painting, decals and weathering and then had a major disaster with the varnish - it went very very matt and looks terrible. Turns out I thinned down the varnish with the wrong thinner and it turned into a complete mess.

 

I've been trying to summon up the enthusiasm to get the micro mesh out to sand the matt finish down again then apply more clear and re-varnish, but I'm struggling with that motivation, especially as I'd started building the Airfix Javelin as my next project and then my girlfriend was over from Portgual for a week...

 

Thanks for the comments guys, that might help my motivation to sort it out :)

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20 minutes ago, Kallisti said:

and then my girlfriend was over from Portgual for a week...

And this could be the perfect opportunity for her to learn the wonders of micromesh!

 

It looked great in primer and it would be a shame to let it languish on that shelf....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally I have some photos that I am happy to post. I eventually did take the micromesh to the matt surface ans smoothed it out before reapplying matt varnish properly thinned with turps. Its made it look much better, but sadly the paintwork has taken some damage from the previous problems. If I was totally conscientious, I'd strip it back to primer and do it again, but frankly, I've had enough with it. There are persistent rumours that Airfix will release a 1:48 NF Meteor and if that happens I might build another one, but this one is done! :)

 

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If you peer into the canopy you can just see s glimpse of all that work I put into the cockpit...

 

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Oh well, maybe next time will be better...

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Hello Kallisti,

My next 5th Sqdn will be the Javelin too... 

You really did great on the Meteor, Sparking my interest on having one in my collection, But surely for my "Operation Musketeer" Sorry...

Sincerely.

CC

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