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Meteor F(TT).8, No.85 Squadron


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Gloster Meteor F(TT). Mk. 8

Royal Air Force No.85 Squadron

No.11 Group Fighter Command, RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, 1965

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(Photograph from UK Airshow Review)

The Meteor F(TT).8 was a standard F.8 fighter fitted with a simple target towing hook on the centreline, immediately to the rear of the prominent centreline fuel tank. At least thirty F.8s were converted in this way, and were issued to a number of front line fighter units during the 1960s, as well as to target towing flights within training units and dedicated target facilities units. The hook allowed the aircraft to tow simple target banners or drogues.
No.85 Squadron, formerly a night fighter squadron of many years’ service, and one which had been equipped with Meteor night fighters between 1951 and 1958, was reformed at RAF West Raynham on 1 April 1963 by rebadging the Fighter Command Target Facilities Squadron. Initially an element of the Central Fighter Establishment, it was equipped with Canberra T.11s and moved to RAF Binbrook on 25 April. It received its first Meteor F(TT).8 in September 1964, and operated a number of these alongside various Canberra variants for the remainder of the decade. Its last Meteor sorties took place in August 1970, after which it continued flying Canberras until it was merged with No.100 Squadron at the end of 1975.
Meteor F.8 WH301 first flew in October 1951, and was probably converted as a target tug at No.5 Maintenance Unit, RAF Kemble sometime in 1964-1965. It was issued to No.85 Squadron in February 1965 with the code letter ‘T’ and was operated until November of that year. At this time it was flown back to Kemble and withdrawn from flying duties with a total flying time of 2115 hours. Transferred to the RAF Museum in 1967, it was placed on display at Hendon in 1978, eventually being repainted into No.609 Squadron markings, with which it had flown earlier in its career.
The RAF Museum keeps full service histories of all its aircraft, and the document for WH301 is available here:
The kit
The kit being used for this build is the Xtrakit boxing of MPM/Special Hobby’s Meteor F.8. This kit has been available for a number of years now, in a variety of variants and schemes. Xtrakit’s version features only plastic parts, with no resin or etch. As an example of Special Hobby’s older work the Meteor is quite different from their recent Gnat F.1 and Magister, and is typical of the company’s earlier models. The parts have a chunky feel, there are no pins to line parts up against, and from my experience with another of these Meteors I know that the model filler and the sanding products will get a good workout. I am sure that most other participants in this group build will nod fervently when I say that the market is screaming out for some modern 1/72 Meatboxes, and hopefully Airfix will put the work they have done on next year’s 1/48 F.8 to other use as well.
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The kit will be built pretty much out of the box, and I intend at this point only to add a photo etch seat harness and scratch build the target towing hook and assorted aerials. Decals will be a mix of the kit’s own Aviprint-sourced sheet and Xtradecal’s very nice Meteor dayglo sheet. The No.85 Squadron hexagon badge and prominent red and black chequers will come from the old Matchbox night fighter Meteor kit, with serials and codes from different Modeldecal sheets. By the way, if anyone has a good picture of the F(TT).8's target towing hook I would be grateful of a peep, as images of the installation are not easy to come by.
WH301 retains the small diameter air intakes and, like other F(TT).8s was probably fitted with underwing tanks. A number of photos of this variant shows that the tanks and pylons probably came from night fighters, as in most cases they appear to be painted medium sea grey rather than high speed silver. As a nice contrast to the rest of the aircraft I will follow this pattern.
Now all we need to do is wait for the start date...
Edited by T7 Models
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I've done a little more digging around, and once I realised that the targets were streamed directly from an attachment on the tank, these two bits of metal made more sense:

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74.jpg

The photos are from a walkaround set of the Temora Museum F.8, the former VZ467 Winston, on largescaleplanes.com. Winston too was a target towing conversion. How the banner or drogue was attached I do not know, and whether the aircraft took off with it already streamed or if it was packed and then released with a lever is another unknown.

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Well, we are underway, and as per usual, work starts in the cockpit. A friend of mine in the local club tells me he has a spare Pavla resin seat for the F.8 and will dig it out for me, so the seat parts remained on the sprue as I removed the remainder and cleaned them up for painting.

22174860406_5b78443256_k.jpgMeteor 03 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

As I stated in the GB chat thread, Meteor cockpits are black on black on black, so I gave the parts a coat of Tamiya's XF-85 Rubber Black, which has quickly become my black of choice, and followed it with a thorough drybrushing with Humbrol 11. I'm rather pleased with how well it came out. The top of the control column received something suitably leather-like. I'm sure more could be done, and I look forward to see how others tackle it, but the 'shades of black' appearance of the real thing has made me decide not to spend too much time in the cockpit.

22211295921_e3d94d9440_k.jpgMeteor 04 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

Attention turned to the fuselage halves, and a quick few twists with a pin vice opened up the gun ports. Ironic, as the F(TT).8 had them removed, though Far East-based target tugs had the guns reinstalled at one point when things were looking a bit ropey in those parts.

22188277792_24289074b8_k.jpgMeteor 05 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

The cockpit parts were assembled and glued to the starboard fuselage half. With no location pins it took a good bit of dry fitting, and the cockpit has to assembled with constant reference to the fuselage. There are some raised lines moulded on one fuselage half which help, but it does take great care.

21578206454_0a1ec13f43_k.jpgMeteor 06 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

All lined up well, and the cockpit was soon sitting snug between the two halves. The instrument panel and the upper coaming will be added at a later point.

22211293731_aa1bb3d047_k.jpgMeteor 07 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

Of course, if there is one thing any Meteor model should not be without, particularly if it is standing on its wheels, is nose weight and plenty of it. A mixture of lead strip, plasticine and Deluxe Materials' Liquid Gravity (wonderful stuff) has been shoved into every bit of spare space in the nose. There is a satisfying heaviness to the forward part of the fuselage now, but I am still tempted to put some more in -and perhaps also in the forward nacelles as well to make sure the wretched thing doesn't do what every other Meteor I have ever built has done. Clunk! :doh:

22188275782_6fb3d6039a_k.jpgMeteor 08 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

(Note the guest appearance by my reading glasses, now standard equipment for anything I do at my modelling desk :clif: .)

Filler has come into play quite soon in this build, and most of the fuselage join needed some. The use of a Flex-i-File makes removing of the surplus much easier, and I can wholeheartedly recommend these useful tools, as they do not flatten the curve of the fuselage.

22014096379_0587918b7e_k.jpgMeteor 09 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

So with the fuselage done I will add the instrument panel and coaming before turning my attention fully to the wings and nacelles. So far, build progressing well, morale high :thumbsup: .

Edited by T7 Models
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The use of a Flex-i-File makes removing of the surplus much easier, and I can wholeheartedly recommend these useful tools, as they do not flatten the curve of the fuselage.

Blimey, why didn't I think of that?!

I thought the specs made a rather fancy looking fuselage stand.

bob

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So, time for an update:

The resin seat was painted with the ubiquitous black and drybrushed, with the cushion and harness given an acrylic wash to give the details a bit of 3D. After a little whittling on the sides it was soon snug in the cockpit.

22679721311_225efc4ec6_k.jpgMeteor 10 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

Meanwhile some of the smaller assemblies have received some attention. The engine facings were painted Tamiya rubber black and the details drybrushed with silver.

22045773394_7af434dbaa_k.jpgMeteor 11 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

With the fuselage complete attention turned to the wings. The kit's wings are quite chunky and needed some rubbing down on the insides. Not as much as expected, as looking at head-on profiles of the Meteor the wing really is quite thick. The interior of the engine nacelles were given a squirt from a Tamiya aluminium rattle can before the wings were glued together. With the lack of locating pins I did this job in stages, initially the centre section with tube cement. The outer wings followed with Deluxe Materials' Plastic Magic. The fit was good, with only some minor sanding and filling required.

22655007032_81c9a81c24_k.jpgMeteor 12 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

WH301 was fitted with the smaller intakes, and these were attached along with the rear nacelles. These parts were not as good a fit as the wings, and required quite a bit of shaping and filling to create a smooth run from front to rear. After finishing with rescribing the panel details the wings were complete and ready to be attached to the fuselage.

22045771134_eaf0eef30f_k.jpgMeteor 13 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

Dry fitting showed that the fit was good, much better than the T.7 I had previously done, and all that was required was sanding down of the rear of the wing centre section. Tube cement was used to attach it, and with the exception of the centre section being just slightly wider than the fuselage it is a very good fit. The sleek form of the F.8 is really taking shape now.

22642519826_902c1a4b17_k.jpgMeteor 14 by Martin Schofield, on Flickr

So this is where we are at the moment. The next job is to blend the wings and the fuselage, and to rectify a slight twist in the rear fuselage that means that the fin is leaning to port slightly. Cue hot water and gentle pressure.

Edited by T7 Models
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