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I think I am starting to become a Meteor buff! Hot on the heels of the SH Meteor F.8 in SyAAF scheme, I started building the Airfix kit. I did not chose one of the schemes proposed in the box but an IAF scheme from the SH Kit: This is a good occasion to compare both kits and, spoiler alert, the Airfix kit is much much better! It is really well designed, the detail is excellent, the fit is top not notch and the moulding quality excellent. The cockpit tub is a 3 part assembly and has the characteristic horseshoe shape that its SH counterpart does not have: It is really easy to position it accurately inside the fuselage: Clever engineering. The seat is decent OOB but misses the harness and can benefit from a few added details: The fuel tanks have the rim that is missing on the SH F.8 and are more correct in shape. Note: the fuel tanks on the SH NF.14 are OK too. The engine heads are more detailed than on the SH F.8 but the SH NF.14 reactor heads are better. The IP, nose wheel leg and cockpit quarterdeck (is that correct?) have better detail: The air inlets in one part are a very good idea: No need to deal with an awkward seam between top and bottom half like on the SH kit. The engineering of the main landing gear bay walls is also really clever: 4 parts, a mortise-tenon system and you're done! The main landing gear bay roof only needs a black wash over the alu paint to make the details pop: I assembled the wings and painted the air inlet lips in black and white: The result can seem weird but the period pictures show they were actually painted this way on the original airframe. The flaps are provided as separate items but I always saw them level on the pictures. So, not really useful IMHO. I also painted the nose in black and white: But I have to re-paint it as I inverted the black and white areas! Doh! The main landing gear legs and wheels are the only letdown on this kit: Two gear leg halves and two wheels halves that have to be glued together. Filler is needed to get something clean. But that is only a minor gripe. So far, this is a fantastic kit and a real pleasure to build.

First finished model of the year for me. The WIP is there: The final pics: I am not entirely satisfied with thekit and the finish but I like the coulourful and original livery. The next Meteor will be the Airfix F.8 in IAF livery.

Hi all, I started this build in August 2022, started losing interest, got distracted by some other kits and left it aside. You know the story... One reason why I lost interest was that the build proved more difficult than I had anticipated for what I wanted a quick and relaxing build. It is not a bad kit but the mould dates back to the MPM age and is not on par with more recent SH productions. It definitely is a short run mould and implies a lot of dry fitting, filling, sanding, priming, filling, sanding... Anyway, I got a KUTA at the beginning of the year and made some progress. Box art: Chosen Scheme: The SyAAF scheme was the reason why I got this kit: I found it was a nice alternative to the more classic RAF and IAF schemes. Build: I started the build with the ejection seat to which I added harnesses and details: It would have been easier to buy an aftermarket item but I enjoyed spending some hours on this... Once painted: Then, I turned my attention to the cockpit. The level of detail is sufficient as the canopy will be closed and this cockpit is rather narrow anyway. I only added the throttle handle. As for painting, well, black is black... The shape of the back of the cockpit and the rear plate are inaccurate. The Airfix cockpit is way better. I used the decal for the instrument panel. As little will be seen under the cockpit coaming, it was not worth spending time painting the dials. The whole thing looks OK once inside the fuselage: Assembling the wings was not really a walk in the park: The trailing edges are on the thick side but I could not be bored to thin them. The adjustment of the top and bottom of the engine nacelles is poor. In spite of a lot of sanding and dry fitting, I still had to use a respectable amount of filler. The instructions call for a small modification of the flaps. Nothing that a blade, a file, a needle and a ruler cannot do: The engine heads are not as nice as on the Airfix F.8 and the SH NF.14 but they are barely visible: More visible is the junction between the top and bottom halves of the nacelles: The Airfix F.8 and the SH NF.14 are much better. Then I glued the fuselage halves and fitted the wings. As there were no locating pins, I had glued some plasticard tabs inside one of the fuselage halves but it did not really help. I tried to have a flush fit on the top and, as a result, there were steps on the belly which I corrected using stretched sprue dipped in glue. The fit of the wings was not ideal either at the junction between the wings and the fuselage and on the underside. I had to force the fit during the drying time, file, sand file and sand a lot and restore the lost panel lines: The landing gear on the other side is really good and even better than Airfix's: Still, it looks OK at the end: Painting: I primed the model using Ammo One Shot sand colour. Of course, it revealed some defects that I had to fill, sand and fill and sand. Then, I painted the underside: I used Mr Hobby Aqueous H332 as per instructions, made some highlights and mottling using highly thinned H311 and shadows using a self-made smoke mix. A thin highly thinned coat of the base colour was sprayed to tone down the effects a little. Looking at the period pictures, it lacks a bluish hue but that'll do. I applied the camouflage starting with the sand. I used a 90-10 mix of H71 middle stone and H11 white. I made some highlights by adding more white to mix and shadows with pure H71. It was masked using panzer putty. The base colour for the green is H330, highlights made with H303 and shadows with H77 tyre black. I tried to keep the effects subtle as the aircraft on the period pictures are really clean: Decals: I never gloss before decals. It often kills the effects and I find it unnecessary for good decal adherence. Having said that, I always buff the paintjob to give it a smoother satin finish. I applied the decals and a myriad of stencils using Daco Strong. They are printed by Eduard and are of the "peelable" type. Though they are really thin and though I hate doing that, I prefer to peel the carrier film off: 1. to avoid silvering / lifting at later stages 2. because they really look painted on once the film is removed It took hours but the result was worth it and there was not too much damage. The sharp eyes will notice a blunder...😳 I faded the decals by airbrushing a highly thinned medium grey and applied a thin coat of VMS satin varnish to protect them. One big advantage of VMS varnishes is that you do not lose the effects, unless you pile up the coats. Their Matt varnish is fantastic. It took me some time to get used to their Satin as you absolutely must wet the surfaces and I do not like that. But now that I have got used to it, I find it really good. Next step will be the washes and it should be this weekend!

Hi Friends I'm doing a little research on RAAF Korean War F.8 "Halestorm" for my upcoming build, in 1:72. My Research indicates that it was common for these Meteors to carry (only) 2 X rockets, one on each inner rail, while on recce tasks, and Hale's Meteor was in this configuration when it achieved it's kill/s. There's a photo here on the Australian War Memorial Website - if you search "AWM JK0656" you will find it. The Airfix Kit does not include rockets and so far I'm unable to locate some aftermarket in this scale. Does anyone have a suggestion for me? Appreciate any guidance.......... Cheers, Alistair

My version of the RAAF’s Meteor F. 8, flown by George Hale of 77 Squadron, stationed in Korea. In 1953, Hale famously shot down two MiG 15s - an opponent that outclassed the Meteor on many levels - earning Hale and his mount the famous sobriquet ‘MiG Killer’. Apparently the Meteor was better-suited to low altitude ground attacks; however, its elongated lines make it look faster, more graceful and more futuristic than perhaps it was. This is the Airfix kit, and it went together like most other recent Airfix kits - easily, for the most part, with an economic parts break-down and some satisfying engineering. No nose weight is called for in the instructions, but it needs a load to stay balanced on its tricycle undercarriage (as did the real plane; the F.4 required 1000lbs of front-end ballast, apparently) . As has been noted, fit of the nose over the front wheel cover is difficult, requiring shaving down both parts to get a satisfying join. There were also annoying sink marks on every missile head and on a couple of other pieces, but these didn’t destroy the fun of the build. I used Tamiya lacquer LP 11 to represent High Speed Silver. I bought a bottle of Mission Model Paints for this, but it was like porridge and had to be binned. The Tamiya paint went on easily, and is opaque even when very diluted. I tried to show restraint with weathering, but nevertheless wanted to give a sense of heft and purpose to the airframe. Also, I was moved by the dismembered parts of an F.8 I saw at RAF Tangmere, beautifully decaying in the car park; it certainly informed some my choices as I painted. Plenty of self-induced errors that hopefully aren’t too obvious. Perfection eludes me every time, but that’s always one motivation to move on to the next one. Thanks for looking.

The old Profile shows 600's squadron leader's aircraft in camouflage, clear canopy, with a white tail. Is this accurate (I can find no photo) and, if yes, can anyone advise me of the serial? Many thanks. Richard in NZ

I have a 19 Sqn RFC SPAD VII over here... I'll let that one sit for a bit while I continue my 'Personal 19 Sq Build' and dovetail it with this GB. I'll start in a a bit, maybe this weekend. I hadn't seen that this GB had even begun! I hope there are not overwhelming airframe differences between the F Mk.8 and the Mk. 8...If there are, please suspend disbelief! 😁 Sprue shots coming... -John

The Airfix 1/48 Meteor 8 is the first 1/48 model I have completed in over 40 years! The build was a kind of commission for a friend, Bob. The model was bought for him as he had an uncle who served in 85 squadron on Meteors back in the day. Although Bob likes to build the occasional model, he is not by his own admission an experienced modeller and he found the contents of the box and the instructions quite daunting. He wanted it to be built by an experienced modeller, and he couldn’t find one of those so he chose me! The brief was simple, straight out of the box, no additions, no super detailing, just the kit as is. Since returning to the hobby around 7 years ago, an OOB build would be a pleasure, as I just can’t stop myself from deviating and adding detail. My first reaction having built almost entirely 1/72 and 1/144 aircraft, was that this was big! I’d like to say construction was straight forward, but it was not. It’s a nice kit, with excellent detail, but this one had some serious warping on the rear fuselage, which took some heavy clamping and superglue to fix. I also found some of the fit of parts not the best, but at least it comes out looking like a Meteor, and I’m certainly intending to build more 1/48 aircraft now, and probably more Meteors, having a Sword NF14 and a Classic Airframes FR9 in the stash, both 1/48. Those will not be OOB..... Although I did not do a WIP for this build, I did keep a reasonable photographic record on the way, so some of that is shown here. I used Vallejo metallic for the first time ever, probably a risky gamble on someone else’s model. They were ok(ish) but needed sealing as soon as possible for handling. They tended to rub off quite easily Dull Aluminium was used for the whole airframe and Dark Aluminium for the U/C internals. Initially the whole airframe was given several light dustings of Ammo Satin Acrylic. This was not a good result for me, remaining sticky and weirdly white slightly white in appearance. I left the model for some weeks deciding what to do, then on some recommendations gave the model a coat of Mr Hobby GX gloss, which hardened the finish and seemed to resolve the white issue. Phew! The Airfix decals are simply superb, if just a tad (hugely) numerous in the stencil area. This process took over a week, doing areas step by step, using the proven Micro set and Micro sol processes. The one area where I did not use the decals was for the yellow rectangles along the cockpit canopy bottom edges. Too many very small shapes to line up, so I masked them off and sprayed them yellow! A final sealing coat of Humbrol Acrylic gloss, followed a few days later by Humbrol Acrylic Satin. So here are some of the build pics, followed by a good few completion shots. And @Fritag @bigbadbadge @keefr22 and @RidgeRunner and any others who made such gracious comments in my glider build, the wait is over, hope you enjoy! So this is the box of parts that Bob gave me to work with: First up, the dreaded warping, easily discovered during test fits. This part looks ok....... But look at the rear! An out of focus shot, but you get the idea... Lots of other clamping needed: Fuselage fixed and wing to fuselage gaps filled with slaters finest: Some primer in the engine bays: Cockpit and seat painted with instrument detail picked out with paint. The internal detail on this is pretty good as it comes, although I would love to have used an aftermarket seat! Bob wanted the Derwents in, to be displayed. I used the basic kit parts, with paint to bring out details. These would be crying out for superdetailing! Primer coat used was Mig Ammo one shot grey. First coat of Dull Aluminum: And finally, much decalling and sealing later, we have a Meteor F8, OOB! Just noticed I need some black pin wash in those gun ejector chuts! And now with engines exposed Thanks for looking. Terry

Quick question; are there any decals to make the 1 TWU Meteor 'Winston' from the 1/48 Airfix kit? I'm assuming this aircraft may have had a few different aerials, etc to the 50's Meteors too.

Straight onto another 50's classic, the glorious Meteor. I'm tempted to do this one all silver, with the solid rear canopy area and small intakes, though it depends how things go and references I can find. However, having found these decals which I'd forgotten about, I'm also tempted to do the 74 sqn jet. I think it'll be a toss up between that in camo or a silver 56 sqn jet. Let's see how it goes.

MiG Killers Part 2 RAAF Korean War Meteor F.8 1:48 Red Roo Models At the start of the Korean war Number 77 Sqn RAAF were flying the CAC Mustang based in Japan as the last RAAF Fighter unit of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces. They then deployed to Korea where they continued to fly the Mustang for nine months of hazardous combat operations. The Sqn returned to Japan in 1951 to re-equip with and train on the new Gloster Meteor F.8. They then returned in July 1951. Initially they carried out Fighter Operations, however the straight winged Meteor proved a poor match to the MiG-15 in combat, and the Meteors went on to excel in ground attack with its four 20mm cannon and eight rocket rails firing British 60lb or US 5" HVARs. On 29th August 1951 the aircraft of the RAAF were attacked by a large flight of MiG-15s while escorting American B-29 bombers. Warrant Officer Guthrie engaged and shot down a MiG-15 before then being shot down himself. W/O Guthrie would then spend 2 years as a POW in Korea. As well as W/O Guthrie's aircraft 3 other serial numbers are provided for this action. As usual with Red Rood there are comprehensive instructions, with 3 double sided A4 pages with information on these aircraft. Conclusion This decal sheet will provide you with the serial numbers for 77 Sqn Aircraft from the Korean War. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Has anybody tried to fit the Meteor FR.9 nose from the Classic Airframes kit, onto the new Airfix Meteor F.8? I have a trashed Classic Airframes Meteor F.8/FR.9 kit, and would like to build the recce version. Larry

Hi, here's the latest completion. Not a bad kit, but I had issues with the under fuselage wing joint. Painted with Tamiya rattle can silver and Gunze for the camo, and used Xtradecals for the 64 Sqn markings. Not my best, but another one for the 1/72 RAF collection that I seem to have embarked upon! Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr

WooHoo!!!!!!! Watch this space for a triple build Jonners, Jonners & Jonners