meteor f8 wl135- small or big intakes?

[PaulR]

Hallo there,

A bit of obscure question, but does anyone have a period photo of 245 sqn yellow tailed f8 wl135? I recently managed to get a classic airframes kit and the xtradecals sheet, but am at a loss as to what intakes to fit. The xtradecals sheet and the Warpaint monograph profiles show small, but I am also aware that WL and WK serials had the bigger intakes fitted in the production line. I have found a pic of WL113 that shows the larger intakes, so that might indicate that WL135 had them, but having spent 60 quid on the kit and decals I want to get it right. Could anyone advise in this regard?

Many thanks in advance. Paul

Edited July 14, 2013 by PaulR

[Graham T]

I'm fairly certain that most F8 were fitted with wide intakes at some stage of their lives. I believe they were wood & simply sawn off at unit level if not factory fitted!

[scorpiomikey]

Does this help?

[PaulR]

It does if that is Wl135! Would you be able to confirm if it is? Many thanks for your time, Paul

[scorpiomikey]

WK685 sorry. served with the RAAF.

[viscount806x]

A photo in 'Fighter Squadrons of the RAF', Rawlings, shows the a/c in flight in 1956 and though hard to tell exactly, it probably had the large intakes since it also has the the fully transparent hood and was among the final production batch. Taken the year before they re equipped with Hunter 4s in 1957.

[AnonymousAA72]

I've been researching the intake issues for some years now (and happen to be building a few C.A Meteors currently). Meteor F8's (and FR9's) with WKxxx and WLxxx range serials were fitted with the large intake/deep breathers. There has been some suggestions that other F8's had these retro-fitted , that may be so..... BUT if they did, it wasn't a simple matter of lopping off the first few (6" actually) inches at unit level - Sorry Graham!! The whole of the intake trunking was the same diameter (more-or-less) as the intake lip. Lopping off 6' from a standard width intake would not alter the intake diameter.

The fitting of the transparent hood had no bearing whatsoever on whether the aircraft had a wide breather or not!!

Now, if building the CA kit, use the larger width intakes as they are. If using the normal narrower intakes, you'll need to extend them - at the rear - by a scale 6"

Wide breather....

Standard intake (it looks wider than it is due to the angle of the lens....)

Edited July 17, 2013 by Bill Clark

[stever219]

You might want to check the ailerons too: early aircraft had single tabs which projected aft of the aileron trailing edge while later aircraft had two tabs which were inset into the ailerons (I can't post photos, but if you can find any of WH301 (?) at Hendon you'll see, I hope, what I mean). It's possible that early aircraft were fitted with the newer ailerons, but at which point they were introduced I'm afraid I don't know.

[PaulR]

Many thanks for all the info chaps! Large intakes it is!

Paul

[Caerbannog]

Bill,

I have started to convert the CA Meteor to a "Yellow Peril" which has the small intakes. Do I need the extra scale 6'' here as well?

Thanks,

Rene

[AnonymousAA72]

Bill,

I have started to convert the CA Meteor to a "Yellow Peril" which has the small intakes. Do I need the extra scale 6'' here as well?

Thanks,

Rene

Hi Rene,

Yes, all F4's had standard intakes. I add approx 3mm to my extension- which is as near as dammit. For reference the measurements in real life are: as follows. These measurements were taken by a Belgian Modeller , on the F8 and NF11 at one of their museums by 'Henri V' back in 2005 and were posted then on Hyperscale:

"I measured the lenght starting from the leading edge of the wing outside the engine nacelle to the intake lip and came to these results:

small intakes: 112 centimeters (1/48= 23,3 millimeters)

large intakes : 97 centimeters (1/48= 20 millimeters)

small intake diameter: 56 centimeters (1/48= 11,6 millimeters)

intakes: 66 centimeters (1/48= 20 millimeters)

So, how does the Classic Airframes 1/48 Meteor kit compare to these measurements ? Well, as both large and small intakes parts are the same length(20 millimeters), I will say that the large ones are correct and the small ones a good 3 mm too short."

These measurements should therefore be correct for all of CA's models.....

[andym]

Hi Rene,

Yes, all F4's had standard intakes. I add approx 3mm to my extension- which is as near as dammit. For reference the measurements in real life are: as follows. These measurements were taken by a Belgian Modeller , on the F8 and NF11 at one of their museums by 'Henri V' back in 2005 and were posted then on Hyperscale:

"I measured the lenght starting from the leading edge of the wing outside the engine nacelle to the intake lip and came to these results:

small intakes: 112 centimeters (1/48= 23,3 millimeters)

large intakes : 97 centimeters (1/48= 20 millimeters)

small intake diameter: 56 centimeters (1/48= 11,6 millimeters)

intakes: 66 centimeters (1/48= 20 millimeters)

So, how does the Classic Airframes 1/48 Meteor kit compare to these measurements ? Well, as both large and small intakes parts are the same length(20 millimeters), I will say that the large ones are correct and the small ones a good 3 mm too short."

These measurements should therefore be correct for all of CA's models.....

I've measured a set of deep breathers and can confirm the measurements above

HTH Andy

[Caerbannog]

Thanks a lot Bill and Andy!

Cheers,

Rene

[TME3]

I BELIEVE that all a/c in the WL series had the large intakes....

[AnonymousAA72]

I BELIEVE that all a/c in the WL series had the large intakes....

Indeed......see post 7 above....

"Meteor F8's (and FR9's) with WKxxx and WLxxx range serials were fitted with the large intake/deep breathers."