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F200 Gloster Meteor F Mk IV.


PeterB

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20 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Don't you just love it when your other half says "I have been thinking...." or "Could you do me a favour, if you are not too knackered...."

 

Oh yeah!  Especially when you are moving her hobby/sewing stuff which she hasn't dusted in a long time so you end up tightening up with Asthma which you haven't had for ages and then the next day develop a cough that you can't stop and cough so much during the next night that your Chest hurts so much throughout the next day that you think you might be having a heart attack so when your left hand and forearm go numb you head up to the Hospital where in reality you find out you've coughed so hard you've actually popped two Ribs!  

 

Ask me how I know this ... 

 

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1 hour ago, PeterB said:

The Frog Nacelles have the correct intake diameter (though are not exactly circular) but do not have quite the right appearance as the "lip" is too thin. I was considering cutting them back and grafting on some "spares" from my MPM/Xtrakit/Airfix Mk 8 which I will be building with the optional larger intake, but will instead try adding a little Milliput to the insides and then sanding them down.

I pulled my abandoned Frog T.7 with Matchbox bits out. I hadn't done a particularly good job of the fuselage extension and some of my wing parts are a bit warped.

The sharp intake lips are a problem. You could build them up with superglue or perhaps just add a thicker lip from another source and blend it. That would just involve careful work with a big sanding block, taking off just a couple of mm. 

 

I think - when I get back to it - I'll be winding up the CAD machine and the 3D printer.

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On 9/21/2019 at 2:06 PM, Rob S said:

 

Oh yeah!  Especially when you are moving her hobby/sewing stuff which she hasn't dusted in a long time so you end up tightening up with Asthma which you haven't had for ages and then the next day develop a cough that you can't stop and cough so much during the next night that your Chest hurts so much throughout the next day that you think you might be having a heart attack so when your left hand and forearm go numb you head up to the Hospital where in reality you find out you've coughed so hard you've actually popped two Ribs!  

 

Ask me how I know this ... 

 

Hi Rob,

 

Shouldn't laugh really - guess this is to do with your ongoing move? I have not moved for 40 years. but I did move my daughter a few years back. Not much in the way of furniture as it was a furnished let, but ruddy hard work. The only fun bit was driving around in the rental van and mildly intimidating car drivers - childish I know. I was offered a tracked armoured personnel carrier 20 years ago for around £2K and often think it would have been a good buy, given the state of our roads and the number of hills etc. There was a cartoon I saw in a pre war Royal Armoured Corps journal. A small family car had collided with at Vickers Medium Mk II tank and was wrecked. The driver of the tank was berating the car driver - "I will have to report you to the Ministry for scratching my paint". At least in an APC you do not have to worry about minor bumps I guess.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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You should have bought the tracked carrier!!! Just imagine the fun you could have had!

JR

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14 hours ago, PeterB said:

I was offered a tracked armoured personnel carrier 20 years ago for around £2K and often think it would have been a good buy, given the state of our roads and the number of hills etc. There was a cartoon I saw in a pre war Royal Armoured Corps journal. A small family car had collided with at Vickers Medium Mk II tank and was wrecked. The driver of the tank was berating the car driver - "I will have to report you to the Ministry for scratching my paint". At least in an APC you do not have to worry about minor bumps I guess.

 

12 hours ago, jean said:

You should have bought the tracked carrier!!! Just imagine the fun you could have had!

And then see the video for yourself:

😲😁

then the plane* is already better:

🤔but it’s difficult to park the plane at the nearest supermarket ... then a helicopter is better!

😁

 

________________

* - view from other side:

https://rutube.ru/video/621122b94c06401bfab8c7822a30e00c/

 

B.R.

Serge

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Hi Serge,

 

Many years ago I had a similar sort of experience to that in the "plane" video. In my case it was an RAF Tornado flying a little higher and slightly to the left of the road. Interesting!

 

Pete

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Thanks Serge,

 

the tank was the best of the three! Thank you. So you see Pete, what you missed by not purchasing this tracked toy!!!

 

JR

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On 9/20/2019 at 2:11 PM, Rabbit Leader said:

Now I’m just offering up my DH Hornet kit to a set of (inaccurate) plans, my god there’s some work involved to get this thing even remotely close to looking like a Hornet! 

Nah!  Piece of cake.  🙄

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Hi Dave,

 

If you know the plans are inaccurate,you could just errect a mental firewall and forget them! Of course, judging by the high standard of your work that I have seen, I guess you won't be able to do that. In the same vein, if I had any sense then with just under 2 weeks to go I should build the Meteor OOB, but as you will have gathered, common sense goes out the window when I am building kits.

 

Frog provide a cockpit floor, stick and seat (not an ejector seat in the Mark IV) so I will add a crude IP and a rear bulkhead. The nose wheel bay does not need boxing in but I will have to add some lead on top of it. Frog do not specify how much but MPM/Xtrakit say 3g for the Mk 8 which has a longer rear fuselage, but also has more detail in the 'pit so pehaps 4g would be appropriate - I will see when I do a dry fit.

 

As to the wings, the wheel wells will need boxing in and I have decided to improve the engine nacelles As previously mentioned Frog provide a blanking plate for the front but no tail pipes, so I have ordered a pair of Vampire ones which seem to fit. Waiting for them to arrive will slow me down a bit but the paint job will be relatively quick hopefully. The air intake at the front is just not right - the kit version has a very thin lip. I have therefore bitten the bullet and sawn off 3mm as you can see below.

 

 

DSC01930

 

 

The difference in both thickness and profile between the original kit part and the replacement MPM/Xtrakit intake is very clear. I will have to make a slight adjustment to the kit nacelles but the intakes are a pretty good fit, and should blend in with a touch of filler and careful sanding. Of course the problem with silver finishes is that they show the slightest blemish, so this could be a bit obvious, but fortunately I can paint the intake ring in a slightly different shade which should help to mask it.

 

So I have started - all I have to do now is finish it. More pics when I fettle the cockpit which I believe should be painted black so that will hide most of it anyway. Whilst waitng for the tail pipes I might make a start on my F2H-2 Banshee for Dave's "In the year I was born" GB, and take advantage of the lousy weather we are supposed to have for the next few days. Once that is out of the way I will start on my Bv138 "Flying Clog" for Pat's "Floatplanes and Seaplanes" GB - never a dull moment!

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

 

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Those Xtrakit intakes will make a huge improvement to the final look of this Frog Meteor, Pete... that’s a good call using those. Now when it comes to getting a nice surface for silver finishes, I’ve had a fair bit of luck using various grades of wet n dry paper, then going through the micromesh range of products. Yes, it takes time, however it’s possible to get near perfect smooth finishes that won’t look bad under silver paint. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Not got any Micromesh Dave, but I do have wet and dry down to 3000 grade in increments, and a Tamiya "polishing cloth" also in 3000, plus some nail buffing sticks so that will have to do. Couple of coats of rattle can grey primer first, rubbing down after each, and then rattle can silver. I was thinking of Humbrol Metalcote but when I tried it before it did not look much better than normal silver paint - could be me not polishing it enough. Anyway, I don't think a really high shine silver would be entirely appropriate for an RAF plane - USAF maybe, but not the Meatbox.

 

Pete

 

Later,

Looking at pics it seems that Frog might have been confused by the change to the much slimmer "deep breather" intake lip on later Mk 8's which increased the airflow and gave an extra 240lb thrust. Some T 7 seem to have been fitted with this intake as well, but not the one in SB's pic above.

Edited by PeterB
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7 hours ago, smellybeard said:

I'm more of a T.7 fan, myself but they're very alike.

The first time I saw one up close I was surprised by the wooden intake lip but it makes a lot of sense. I wish I could join in with my own but that pesky garden wall syndrome has raised its head.

 

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Hi Sb,

 

I am guessing this is Moorabbin but the location and colourscheme don't match with the current Google view? As to the phallic symbol in the background I am baffled.

 

Pete

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Hello Pete

 

The location is Woomera.    

 

-31.198747, 136.824665  

 

Street View is available by the way.  Some pretty interesting stuff there and the Museum although run down is also worth a visit, as are the Bowling Lanes for a fun game of Ten Pin and then not forgetting to take photos of the Thunderbird Missile outside.  

 

Nice Meals at "The Eldo" Hotel too.  (Now lets see who knows where "ELDO" came from?)

 

I was just looking for my photos of the "Parks" from our time in "Suth Auztralia" but can't find them at the moment.  Pretty sure I took a close up of the timber!  

 

 

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22 minutes ago, PeterB said:

As to the phallic symbol in the background I am baffled.

 

As a proud Englishman you should know what it is - it's arguably Britian's greatest Space achievement on it's own initiative (forget all those silly European Joint Ventures!).  

 

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2 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Blue Steel with a warhead? Only ever seen it with a flat nose and no payload.

 

Funnily enough or perhaps not surprisingly there is a Blue Steel there!

 

-31.198150, 136.825479

 

The Rocket is a mockup of Black Arrow

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow

 

which launched Prospero

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_(satellite)

 

There was a great video somewhere interviewing the actual people years later involved in a lot of the Woomera work including the Poms on Black Arrow / Prospero.  Must try and find it again.  

 

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4 minutes ago, JosephLalor said:

I take it that's the Black Arrow rocket used to launch Prospero.

 

That's right but as above they classify it as a "mockup".  As the Article says the remains of the first stage of R3 are at William Creek.  Sadly we never got out that far.  Maree Camel Races were the only thing that tempted us to venture out that way.  

 

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Not sure I have ever seen a Black Arrow - but I have a vague memory of it - bit like TSR2, cancelled just when it started to work. Ruddy politicians! The  T7 seems to have PR camera windows so I am still a bit confused.

 

Pete

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5 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Not sure I have ever seen a Black Arrow - but I have a vague memory of it - bit like TSR2, cancelled just when it started to work. Ruddy politicians! The  T7 seems to have PR camera windows so I am still a bit confused.

 

Pete

 

Yes it's fitted with a PR9 nose.  Bit of info here

 

http://www.adf-serials.com.au/Woomera Meteors.htm  

 

Good to see that it has recently been repainted so looks like they are trying to look after them as it was a bit dilapidated.  

 

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12 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Not sure I have ever seen a Black Arrow - but I have a vague memory of it - bit like TSR2, cancelled just when it started to work. Ruddy politicians!

 

I could be wrong but I think they actually went ahead with the R3 Launch after they got cancelled and it was just the determination of the Group to achieve success that drove them on in the face of a silly decision.  

 

Edited by Rob S
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8 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

Yes it's fitted with a PR9 nose.  Bit of info here

 

http://www.adf-serials.com.au/Woomera Meteors.htm  

 

Good to see that it has recently been repainted so looks like they are trying to look after them as it was a bit dilapidated.  

 

Here it is recently.

Note that the rotting wooden intake lips have been removed entirely.

 

Meteor_A77_701_Freshly_repainted_Aprl_20

 

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/Meteor-T7-A77-701/Meteor_A77_701_Freshly_repainted_Aprl_2019_Photo_David_Bell?full=1

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10 hours ago, Rob S said:

There was a great video somewhere interviewing the actual people years later involved in a lot of the Woomera work including the Poms on Black Arrow / Prospero.  Must try and find it again.  

 

 

I think this is it

 

 

  

 

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