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Into the Jet Age! - 1/72 MPM Meteor F.3


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Can't miss a group build for the centenary, here's the first of hopefully 2 or 3 builds on the subject.

 

My first choice is the 1/72 MPM Meteor F.3. I have a couple of Dragons in the stash but wanted a "test build" of a white Meteor just to get the hang of it. It will be built in that gorgeous white scheme used briefly in the latter stages of WW2.

 

First impressions:

 

The kit is short run and the obvious caveats apply. Fit appears to be good, surface detail is fantastic (arguably even slightly finer than Dragon) but fit of the small parts is a bit iffy, and the plastic is a bit rough around the edges (literally). Looks like there will be some sanding and filling involved but hopefully not as much as other short-run kits. I am not going to build this kit "to my usual standards"; I just want to have a Meteor on the shelf but that doesn't mean I'm going to rush through it. What this means, basically, is I wont be pedantic with minor issues if these seem to be too time consuming to be worth it.

 

The canopy was painted Vallejo Black-Grey in order to emphasize the control panels and dials in black. Seat was painted leather brown to stand out. There is no clear way of attaching the instrument panel which is annoying; I will do this after the fuselage is finished.

 

The fuselage went together with a bit of a struggle, so I used some pieces of plasticard as strengtheners on the inside to ensure that the fuselage would not snap open accidentally.

 

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Okey doke, fit.

 

By short-run standards, it wasn't too bad. There weren't any glaring misalignments. However, the edges on some of the large pieces looked a bit rough when joined together but thankfully the main problem was the underside. The fit between the wing pieces and the fuselage was iffy, as a result of a rather large gap than needs putty (some might even go for some plasticard).

 

The plane is a natural tail-sitter and needs weight. There is room to put some in the nose above the cockpit floor (which extends all the way forward) but I forgot to do this so did it through the cockpit later. More weight can be put between the lower wing and the forward undercarriage bay. I put quite a lot of weight and it *barely* was enough to keep it upright.

 

Note that the instructions don't even mention that it needs weight  😕

 

JXKIhy.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Robert Stuart said:

That’s coming together nicely @Phantome, even with the short run fit problems - it looks like a Meteor.

It certainly does!

 

My last short-run kit was the god-awful Xtrakit Sea Harrier FA.2 which I practically needed therapy for afterward. :P


This is nowhere near that in frustration. Quite a pleasant build so far. I should add though that because I put the instrument panel after gluing the fuselage halves, it was impossible to fit it straight. If I ever ever build another MPM Meteor I will have to find a way to fix it nicely before the fuselages come together, maybe by adding some plasticard tabs. On the plus side, this will not be very noticeable since the cockpit is one-piece.

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Ok went on a mad painting session. The white paint eliminated some of the blackbasing but no worries, the real thing didn't look that dirtied up anyway.

 

The decals came on nicely. Number 239 did not carry any stencils after painted white so that saved some time. Does look a bit barren though, so hopefully after some washes it'll look better

 

QbaTRM.jpg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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