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The Original Airfix Meteor III


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My fascination with Meteors continues.  Having built an NF11 (see thread here), and a PR.10 straight out of the box, the next target was the good old Meteor III from 1972.

 

I have several Meteors in my stash, most dating back to the 1980s and these include a couple in original boxes with a 'Capital Models' sticker and a price tag of £3.25 from when I was collecting them: little did I know back then that there would be a plethora of Meteors to look forward-to in the future - at the time, I thought I would never see any Meteor kits ever again.

 

The original Meteor kit was a product of its time but, while featuring several common 'features' of early-1970s kits, it was dimensionally accurate and most definitely carried-off the appearance of a Meteor very well indeed.  The downside was the habit at that time to provide raised detail, especially in the form of rivets that would not have looked out of place on a steam locomotive!  The cockpit carried minimal detail (but some - I've seen much worse) and the decal sheet was rather Spartan but one major plus-point was the continuous wing under surface, thus capturing the subtle contours that are seldom found when having separate wings,

 

A few months ago I made a few comparisons between the original F.III and the later Airfix / MPM Mk.8;

 

29298962568_43476d5de9_n.jpg

 

In turn, the decal sheet has grown over four decades:

 

29298962108_dd1c4394e5_n.jpg

 

And I did buy the updated Meteor III decal sheet off eBay to give me all the appropriate stencils and walkway markings:

 

41359921140_90e21d2576_n.jpg

 

As mentioned above, the Meteor III is a good model and stands well next to its rather more recent equivalent.  As an aside, both fuselages are lined-up by a common datum point: the transport joint just ahead of the fin.

 

41359930820_29d40ee00b_b.jpg

 

41359930610_73e48f412f_b.jpg

 

So, if you are interested, I shall record my progress with this venerable model over the next few weeks.

 

Kind regards,

 

Neil

 

Edited by neilfergylee
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9 hours ago, Azgaron said:

Looks interesting! Always nice with a Meteor or two! :)

 

Håkan

 

 

8 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Yes please Neil, I'll be keen to watch this taking place. OOB again?

Steve.

 

8 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Sign me up for this one! I have an Airfix one and a Vac in the stash so I will be looking for tips.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks guys!  It's going to be OOB but with a few resin extras and a lot of tidying-up!

 

Neil

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I’ll be watching too Neil. I also have my fair share of Meatboxes including these two plus the latest Special Hobby Yellow Peril / High Speed flight box.  I’d really like to make a start on the SH kit but that 7 piece wing assembly with the need to cut the shorter wingtips off first, always gives me the shivers wheneverI look at it. 

 

Cheers and the best of luck.. Dave 

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I remember it not being a bad kit, although the one piece undercarriage leg and wheels was a bit of a disappointment. The fuselage cross section is reputed to be off, but I do not think it is that noticeable. I thought the kit first came out in about 1969, but could be wrong. The ailerons are also the Mk1 type with a mass balance that needs removing for a 3. Still probably a better fit than the Matchbox kit. 

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40 minutes ago, Mr T said:

I remember it not being a bad kit, although the one piece undercarriage leg and wheels was a bit of a disappointment. The fuselage cross section is reputed to be off, but I do not think it is that noticeable. I thought the kit first came out in about 1969, but could be wrong. The ailerons are also the Mk1 type with a mass balance that needs removing for a 3. Still probably a better fit than the Matchbox kit. 

Yes, I think you're right about the date and I must confess that I was about to see about the ailerons so you have helped me a great deal there.

Edited by neilfergylee
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49 minutes ago, Mr T said:

one piece undercarriage leg

You're lucky, mine all amputated themselves at the knees in quick short time, it almost got the "flaming death" treatment out of the bedroom window but I was just old enough to take a second look at it & think, I should be able to fix those, & there it lingers 40+ years later, ear marked to be reborn as a RNZAF Mk III, the one & only.

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
spelling, what else?
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A bit of an initial update.  Two things to address first, the rivet detail (courtesy of Harland and Wolf) on the fuselage and the chordwise bands on the outer wings, just after the nacelles: you can see them in the comparison shot below.

 

The bands do exist, presumably to cover a transit joint, as one can see from this NF.14 at East Fortune:

 

42448308862_9eac9ffc9c.jpg

 

However, the Airfix version is nearly as thick as this!  Therefore, I started by filing it down, making sure that I had three pieces of masking tape stuck to the nacelle so as to protect it from any errant file action.

 

Below we see one wing in mid-rectification and the other, original version for comparison:

 

41359929810_a0bb4385a6.jpg

 

While I was at it, I wanted to do something about the airbrakes.  As a concession to the toy side of things, Airfix made these as separate items although they had the characteristics of a cast iron grid!  In the real thing, they are visible but not madly prominent, so I used that delightful Vallejo putty to de-emphasise the airbrakes whilst not making them invisible.

 

I also had a pair of Czech Master resin mainwheel bays that I decided to add.  These took a lot of filing-down to ensure that the wings would fit-together.  One thing I did forget to do was to fill the hole left for the landing light.  Yes, there is one on the port wing, but it isn't the size of a searchlight!

 

27629138287_30511e9383.jpg41359926100_77454226c0_z.jpg

 

Finally, before putting the wings together, I filled the front of the nacelles with a combination of lead and Blu-Tack.  Models of early Meteors are notorious tail-sitters and as I was opening-up the nosewheel bay, space for weights was limited and I wanted to take advantage of any available space.

 

41359923720_5708cd40d9_z.jpg

 

I should have done more with the interior of the intakes but I was limited for options, so a bit of black paint and kidology will have to do.  I glued it together and here we get to the end of this episode.

 

41359923400_a94249ac60_c.jpg

 

Cheers for now,

 

Neil

Edited by neilfergylee
The inevitable typo...
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15 hours ago, Jb65rams said:

Nice start.

Will be watching this one with interest. It was the first kit I ever built some 40+ years ago.

Just finished building one for the Airfix Golden Years Group Build.

Thanks - I'll keep you posted!

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bumper update for you all!  I've been away - Anglesey - absolute bliss but dodgy internet: I was in a living hell.  Still, the absence of distractions did give me plenty of time on the Meteor, so here goes.

 

So, we left the Meteor with the wings trussed-up and so I turned to the fuselage and, particularly the cockpit.  I used the Pavla resin cockpit which is designed for the MPM model and this is significant as we shall see.  However, I did make one mistake: painting it without washing it first meant that the matt black paint just bubbled-up, so (bless acrylics), I washed it-off and sprayed it with Humbrol matt black: overkill but it did the job 😳 - it is so matt!  it's a complete light pit, akin to this stuff: Vantablack.

 

41646388490_351ae9b5cf.jpg29583649698_958175d2eb.jpg

 

One small snag: the cover over the ammunition boxes was located rather too low (see above) but this was fixed by accident when I came to glue it all in place and add the inevitable weights.  One problem that did emerge was that the bulkhead behind the pilot was, when lining-up the undercarriage bay, a few millimetres too far forward.

 

Nonetheless, once superglued in, I was able to assemble the fuselage and add the inevitable filler.

 

42738345614_68ecda1cb2.jpg29583314718_20de644390.jpg

 

Note also how I had scribed a very limited number of panel lines.  This is a pig of a job and I definitely need (a) to improve my techniques and (b) invest in some jigs to hold parts firmly in place.  I'd give my efforts a 4/10.

 

Once initial rubbing-down had taken-place, I primed the fuselage and then attached it to the wings.  Not the use of a pot of (aerospace grade) ball bearings as a weight.

 

42737791064_c40ee23275.jpg42549268465_b262f3c42b.jpg43405679362_b61bae5421.jpg

 

Inevitably, a little more filler was required but to be frank, this is a very tidy model.

 

So, just for the moment, I'll leave it there: next episode will cover final fuselage assembly and painting.

 

TTFN,

 

Neil

 

 

Edited by neilfergylee
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So, we have moved on a bit.

 

The fuselage was assembled and horizontal stabilisers attached.  Importantly, the model goes together incredibly well and although I needed some filler to tidy things up underneath, other then the inevitable wing-fuselage joint lines, it was very tidy.

 

A coat of primer resulted in a very tidy model:

 

43446011311_3c3937cf28.jpg

 

From here, I moved to the big question.  What finish?  Well...

 

A post elsewhere recommended Tamiya Bare Metal Silver (86512) as a good colour for unpolished natural metal and this was the finish I wanted to convey: a Mk.III that had been in service with the RAuxAF for several years, rather than something bulled-up for an airshow.  I also had three brushable silver finishes:

 

  • Humbrol No.11 (inevitably);
  • Citadel Runefang Steel
  • Citadel Leadbelcher.

It turns-out that Runefang steel is almost identical to the Tamiya spray, while Leadbelcher is darkest and Humbrol 11 is  tad darker than the Tamiya shade, thus allowing me to have a bash at a multi-tonal finish.  I also had a bash at pre-shading, or at least my interpretation of it.

 

43446011831_518b570f37.jpg42541411565_fa188f2381.jpg

 

Well, the preshading was a waste of time, so I'm obviously doing it wrong: I was very gentle with the Tamiya spray - admittedly in a rattlecan but I was sparing and layered - but all I got was a slight raised patch where the black paint had been.

 

However, overall I was delighted with the finish and I then proceeded to add different tones of silver, partially with mixed results, but I was able to overpaint my mistakes!

 

Staying on the colour scheme theme, I was decided on a RAuxAF aircraft and this particular shot was an inspiration:

 

29575313148_3b838030e4_b.jpg

 

After a lot of umming and aahing, I decided to go with the C1-style roundels and originally I was going to go for RAW-T in the background.  However, as I have an MPM Mk.III (did I tell you how it can only make a Welland-engined version or did you fall asleep?) it does come with a set of markings for EE420, a 500 Squadron machine, marked RAA-B, so being lazy I went for that.  In the meantime, I had acquired a set of late Airfix decals for the Meteor III and so decided to use it for roundels and stencils.

 

41359921140_90e21d2576.jpg

 

I have to say that in applying the Airfix decals, I was very disappointed, not only are they very glossy, they are very thick.  I have stuck with them for now but the fuselage ones in particular may have to be replaced.

 

Meanwhile, I needed to attend to the canopy.  The Airfix canopy is inaccurate: it crowns rather too far forward as you may be able to see in this view when comparing to the one above:

 

42563808575_1c4d9de0c0_c.jpg

 

Fortunately, the Pavla set comes with a vacformed canopy, albeit in three parts so as to allow it to be displayed open.  This led to me having to think very hard about how to cut it out without making a complete hash of things.  In the end, I reinforced the insides with Blu-Tack and used a brand new scalpel blade to cut it out very carefully!

 

In this view below you can see the result.  At the back is the vacformed sheet with Blu-Tack still in place.  In the middle are the parts which, fortunately, came away very cleanly, whilst at the front is the Airfix canopy,  Again, if you look at the reflection of the light, you can see how the vacformed canopy (centre piece) and the Airfix canopy 'crown' in different places: the Pavla part has done it right.

 

42837381374_cb4334d824_c.jpg

 

So, I shall end this update here with a view of the decals mostly complete (wing walkways yet to be applied) and the cockpit area ready to receive the  canopy.

 

43508939642_bf30e47d8a_b.jpg

 

Happy modelling!

 

Neil

Edited by neilfergylee
Clarified the shades of silver.
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9 hours ago, junglierating said:

Yeah I like this# (so good) .....like the resin bits.....im too tight and pieso for that sort if marlarkey but looking good👍

Thank you!  Yes, I must confess that it helps if one can 'throw money' at a model and I guess I'm lucky there.

22 minutes ago, John_W said:

Were Meteors ever NMF, or were they painted in High Speed Silver?

From my experience, both could happen: it's rather difficult to tell from contemporary images but I seem to think that most of the early de-camouflaged aircraft were taken back to bare metal but it was with a dull finish.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, things ground-on a little, not least because fitting the vacform canopy was a swine but I eventually managed to get it more-or-less right.

 

The problem was this: the Airfix fuselage is a little narrow around the cockpit so fitting the replacement canopy wasn't a simple 'drop-and-glue' job, instead I had to resort to using Vallejo filler (wonderful stuff) to build-up the area under the windscreen, while fitting the canopy in a closed position was a non-starter as the rear canopy was rather discontinuous in comparison to the sliding part.  In turn, the prototype had rather prominent runners for the canopy which were absent on the Airfix model.

 

You can see the filler in this image:

 

41900337170_c51f842f55_b.jpg

 

This aside, the only other tasks were:

  1. Complete the decals;
  2. Fit the belly tank;
  3. Find an undercarriage and fit it.

I decided to be a little lazy.  The MPM model has decals for a silver Mk.III of 500 squadron and I decided to use those.  One thing that strikes me is that the decals were far superior to those provided by Airfix: far thinner and without the rather shiny finish.  Tis aside, I was rather pleased with the overall effect.

 

The belly tank was 'borrowed' from an MPM Mk.I, working on the basis that whilst they did carry them, ventral tanks tended to be an experimental or later fit and my Mk.I will be a 616 Squadron machine without one fitted.

 

The undercarriage was a problem: the Airfix Mk.III undercarriage was rather crude and I had, of course, messed-around with the undercarriage bays.  My natural reaction was to dig-out a nice set of Aeroclub mainwheels but (1) I had used them already and (2) much to my shock and disappointment, Aeroclub are no longer in business.  This was an issue!

 

In the end, I decided to use the main undercarriage off the Matchbox NF.11 I made earlier this year, combined with the Airfix nosewheel which isn't bad at all.  Apart from misaligning one of the units (it's superglued so it'll have to stay), with a little judicious nipping and adjustment of height, it worked well.

 

So, here she is in her finished state, excepting for a pitot tube that I promise to fit after this:

 

28925550657_17d901e6e4_h.jpg

 

You will see that she had an open canopy and the sliding part has lengths of phosphor-bronze strip to simulate the runners.  In turn, I drilled-out the guns and camera gun openings and attached the kit aerial plus a trimmed needle as the radio compass aerial.

 

Here she is with my other Meteors:

 

28925549277_8926a1915c_h.jpg

 

In conclusion, Airfix's 1969 model is a product of its time but one that has the potential to stand alongside more recent versions.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and now need to decide which to build next:

 

  1. Airfix / MPM F.8
  2. MPM T.7
  3. Frog F.4
  4. MPM F.4 (long span) as a late Mk.III
  5. MPM F.I

You decide!

 

By the way, I have put all my in-progress images here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26690797@N02/albums/72157698165231754/with/28925549277/

 

Kind regards and thank for your support and interest,

 

Neil

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That came out a treat Neil, gives me some hope for refinishing mine one day. Your Derwents look good to me. :)

Frog F. Mk 4 next? I've got one in stock, sadly minus a canopy but I think a vac late Mk.3 canopy is the same, I'd be keen to see how you get on with it.

Steve.

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12 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

That turned out nice didn’t it! Love the multi tonal finish you gave it.

 

Your next project? Here’s a clue

 

43868294991_20956618b8_z.jpg

Trevor 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That came out a treat Neil, gives me some hope for refinishing mine one day. Your Derwents look good to me. :)

Frog F. Mk 4 next? I've got one in stock, sadly minus a canopy but I think a vac late Mk.3 canopy is the same, I'd be keen to see how you get on with it.

Steve.

Thank you both!

 

OK, a Frog Mk.IV it is: I'm now looking for an interesting colour scheme.  D.15 anybody?

 

Cheers,

 

Neil

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Thank you all for your comments and suggestions - Frog it is!

 

43171671644_e42d56729a_b.jpg

 

I'm not sure about the colour scheme just yet: I must confess to preferring RAF but let me give it some thought!

 

Once I make a start I'll put-up a post.

 

Cheers and thanks,

 

Neil

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