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Supertom's Xtrakit Meteor Mk.8


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Right, time for this Anglophile to add his lot to this group build. I will be building the Xtrakit 1/72 Meteor Mk.8:

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And I will be building this lovely scheme here:

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Initial test fit looks good, except that the wings need to be thinned a bit and there is a bit of a step where the intake ring meets the engines:

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Cockpit assembled except for the bang seat (I have an Airwaves Mk.2 for this) and control stick:

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And now painted with the wheel well stuff at the bottom, nose weight and stuffed into the fuselage:

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Apparently I didn't thin everything enough and when I put the wings together they now mysteriously fit flush with the intake rings! Several hours of cursing, filling in from the inside and outside of the intakes, sanding and resribing later, the front of the wings are ready (still need to do the engine exhausts and wing trailing edges).

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That's it for now. A refreshing cup of Bovril is calling my name....

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I actually slightly prefer the inaccurate kit nose wheel well set-up, because it allows for the room to add the needed noseweight. (Also, hello, fellow yankee running dog.)

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More progress. Started on the engine exhaust last night. And then the rear doesn't fit flush, so I had to sand it down anyway! :banghead:

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After an evening of sanding and rescribing....

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Fuselage is all closed up, sanded and rescribed. Once I get the wing seams taken care of tonight, I can stick the wings on the fuselage.

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While I was at it I also got the tail done. It was a bit too thick, so I had to sand it down a bit.

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Mk.8, F.8... semantics, dear boy!

Remember the bit in Jaws when Roy Scheider's throwing the chum overboard and the shark surfaces? Well, to paraphrase...

"You're going to need more nose weight."

Otherwise, nice job.

Got that taken care of. The putty is epoxy putty with lead shot kneaded into it. There's also a blob of it behind the wheel well, and I'll be sticking in an Aeroclub Mk.2 in the tub.


I actually slightly prefer the inaccurate kit nose wheel well set-up, because it allows for the room to add the needed noseweight. (Also, hello, fellow yankee running dog.)

Hey! Chicago! Are you gonna be at Butch O'Hara?

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Hey! Chicago! Are you gonna be at Butch O'Hara?

I went last year and showed my wife a magic trick where I made $100 disappear in ten minutes, which she was less impressed by than I had hoped. She just had our first a little bit ago, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it -- I live way north -- but I hope to. I liked it a lot. Are you going?

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I went last year and showed my wife a magic trick where I made $100 disappear in ten minutes, which she was less impressed by than I had hoped. She just had our first a little bit ago, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it -- I live way north -- but I hope to. I liked it a lot. Are you going?

LOL nice. I do that trick fairly often. Yeah, for some reason the wife thinks it's a lousy trick. Congratulations, by the way.

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I will be. Butch and the Indianapolis contest are just about the only time I get to see the folks from my college days.

Cool -- a friend and I are trying to make it for at least a little. Maybe we'll run into each other.

LOL nice. I do that trick fairly often. Yeah, for some reason the wife thinks it's a lousy trick.

Congratulations, by the way.

Thanks! I feel like as long as I don't inadvertently turn him into fodder for a ripped from the headlines episode of Criminal Minds, I'll have done my job.

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After a night of valiantly fighting putty, Mr Surfacer, sanding, rescribing, trimming, adding more nose weight.....flight surfaces are done. Finishing up the cockpit then closing up and priming.

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Edited by Supertom
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Wonder what it is with the Meatbox and fit issues? Glad to see you're taming this one!

Michael

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Thanks Michael. For the most part, this is ready for paint. Entire model is sprayed with Tamiya primer, then rubbed down a bit for a smoother finish. Fit on the underside of the wing to the fuselage wasn't that great but I did what I could and called it done. I've come to a personal philosophy that if I start losing enjoyment on a kit due to repeated putty/sand/repeat then I need to move on. The canopy is masked (and another layer of liquid mask will be applied tomorrow morning before I go to work).

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I've started painting the Aeroclub MB.2 seat. I've not been able to get a definitive set of photos of the Meteor variant so I've cobbled together images from Martin Baker's website and ejectionsite to get as close as possible to the right colors (excuse the Yank spelling). So far it's the first layer of paint and a coat of Future. Tomorrow evening it will be dry brushing and washes.

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After drybrushing and washes, the seat is done (sorry for the dark pic, I'm not sure why it's darker all of a sudden. That odd grey bar down the screen is odd too).

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The canopy fits over beautifully. Off to the paint shop next!

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PROGRESS!!! Paint is on, decals are on (bloody tiny stencils!) and a little paint touchup tomorrow.

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Edited by Supertom
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Weathering and landing gear is on. Still need pitot tube, the antenna mast and the whip antenna then a final gloss coat. I'm debating leaving those out as I've spent the last 3 hours putting the landing gear on and making adjustments. Certainly the weakest part of this kit.

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Lookin' good. What did you use for the panel line wash?

Thanks. Wash is a mix of oil paint (Payne's Gray and Burnt Sienna from Windsor & Newton) thinned with mineral spirits, brushed on and then wiped off with a rag dampened with mineral spirits.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Well, I finished this on the third week of November, but I couldn't clear out a space to get the photos done until recently, so they're not in the completed build gallery. Anyway, here it is:

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