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Meteor night fighter


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@LostCosmonauts thanks, yes sure that sounds like it could be helpful. I'm planning to make more of these from the decal sheet but not all of them; any unit in particular that you're interested in the decals for?

 

I've decided to hand paint the green as there's not much of it compared to the grey and it'd need far too much masking to spray. 

 

I'm hoping Humbrol 163 'dark green' is close enough?

 

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19 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

I'm hoping Humbrol 163 'dark green' is close enough?

Humbrol 163 should be fine.

 

As others have said, Hu165 is mediums sea grey, earlier Meteor nightfighters were finished in dark green over medium sea grey (as had the Mosquito's which preceded them).  Later some aircraft were painted in dark sea grey/dark green over medium sea grey.

 

Remember, these aircraft were in service during the days of National Service, the RAF had plenty of manpower to keep these aircraft clean, they shouldn't be too shabby.

 

I've just had the Special Hobby Meteor NF.11 NATO Users turn up today, it will be done as an RAF NF.11

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It's very streaky, I don't understand why! I stirred the pot and used a soft brush, plus that grey had all night to dry.

 

Guess I'll just have to try a second coat and if it still looks a mess I'll have to mask it and spray it. 

 

Handpainting seriously sucks. Never been any good at it even first time round as a kid. Don't know what I always do wrong.

 

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1 hour ago, Wez said:

Are the paints the same type e.g. enamel or is one acrylic and the other enamel?

 

Both acrylic; Humbrol 163 green and 165 mid grey aerosol.

 

A second coat has improved it. 

 

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46 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Both acrylic; Humbrol 163 green and 165 mid grey aerosol.

 

A second coat has improved it. 

Good news.

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I'm fairly pleased with the colours now, and next to the dark green that grey really lightens up. Just a bit of tidying up to do and slight sanding of the port wing root.

 

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Strange that some of these Meteors only had the top half of the radome black. Anyone know why?

 

 

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More progress on the Meteor, most of the airframe painted now and the cockpit finished apart from canopies. I'm planning on displaying the canopy open if possible, though side opening ones are harder than normal hinged ones as I prefer not to glue them so they can be closed if possible. Might try a thin piece of wire as a hinge perhaps.

 

As pointed out by @Wez I'm assuming these would have generally been very clean, so no need for dirt wash on this. Still undecided on the squadron or serial. Probably between 141, 151 or 256 ...

 

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I'd been thinking of a way to have the canopy able to open and close, and thought I'd try using a piece of wire glued to the inside then poked through a small hole I made in the rear bulkhead.

 

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Snip the wire the right length to give a centimetre or so inside then bent over a bit so as not to just slide out.

 

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Glued to the inside of the canopy rail. Hoping it'll work! It meant I also had to paint the inside of the canopy frame too which from a few grainy b&w photos appears to be black.

 

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After some deliberation and research I've settled on 141 squadron from Coltishall. 

 

I'll be doing WD644 as that one survived to be scrapped rather than crashing, unlike '770. I found a photo of '644 with black and white rings around the intake rims (not shown on the decal sheet) so careful painting was required! Not sure how to do the white around it yet, may have to find some decals. 

 

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On 13/06/2020 at 10:46, Lord Riot said:

I'm planning to make more of these from the decal sheet but not all of them; any unit in particular that you're interested in the decals for?

I didn't have anything particularly in mind - to be honest I haven't even peeked into the box properly so was mainly posting for the sake of offering the serials. If you happen to have a unit or two spare once you're done then that's a bonus

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1 hour ago, LostCosmonauts said:

I didn't have anything particularly in mind - to be honest I haven't even peeked into the box properly so was mainly posting for the sake of offering the serials. If you happen to have a unit or two spare once you're done then that's a bonus

 

No worries at all. If you have two small letter Ds spare for the fuselage serial that would be very helpful, thanks! I've found the underwing ones and the 'W 644' part of the fuselage ones.

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The rectangle recess in the nosewheel door is the landing lights. Hopefully you can save the decal.

 

Regards

Robert

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1 hour ago, Robert said:

The rectangle recess in the nosewheel door is the landing lights. Hopefully you can save the decal.

 

Regards

Robert

 

Thanks Robert. I did wonder about that, but in the end I thought I'd best go with the photo. What's going on here ...

 Looks like a white 'R' on a black hexagon, would they put it over the light? 

 

Maybe the instructions have the nosewheel door upside down!?

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25 minutes ago, Robert said:

Well l can not argue with a photo, my mistake.

 

Regards

Robert

 

No I think you've opened a very interesting conundrum Robert; it looks like some NF11s have nosewheel door lights and some don't! 

 

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Maybe a later addition?

 

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The decals for the walkway lines on the wings are awful, very thin and break too easily. I just about got them on but I'm considering using the Modeldecal ones instead. Same with the step markings below the cockpit. Not tried the roundels yet.

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I decided to compromise with the nosewheel door, as there's equal evidence for lights and no lights, so I did lights plus code letter decals. 

 

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My models always look so horrible close up!

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