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1/72 Meteors


Adam Poultney

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I fancy a bit of a break from Vulcans, Victors and Valiants once I've gotten a few WIPs finished, so I'm looking at getting some other kits. 

I was thinking about a 1/72 meteor, so what's the options and which should I avoid? 

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Roughly speaking you have two different kind of options: modern short runs or old mainstream kits... with an exception

Special Hobby/MPM have issued two series of Meteors: a few years ago they did a wide range of single seaters and the T.7. These are all short run kits, and fit is sure not "tamigawa" quality. They are well detailed kits and some also include plenty of resin and PE parts. They are all still easily available and on Special Hobby own website they are often offered at reduced prices. I've managed to get a couple of boxes with all the accessories for £15 in the past while the others can be found for £10-12, so worth trying one for the money. Revell reboxed the Mk.IV and Airfix reboxed the F.8, if you see one of these they are the same SH plastic but with no resin or PE.

These kits look good to me, but I'm not a Meteor expert. IIRC the T.7 canopy is wrong, being more similar to the NF type, however there's little that can be done with this.

The same Special Hobby is now issuing all night fighter variants, I've yet to get me one of these (it's the NF-13 I'm waiting for...) but reviews seem positive enough, apart from the closed canopy and some fit issues. These are more modern kits compared to the previous series

 

Of the older kits the more recent is the Matchbox NF. I found this quite a bad fitting kit and the parts are not as refined as in the SH kits. Detail is Ok for the '80s, raised panel lines, choice of different variants. Should be easy to find and Xtrakits alse reissued the kit.

Airfix did a Mk.III many, many years ago, personally I'd never buy one as it's a bit too ancient for my taste but some may like it. Frog did a Mk.IV.. actually they did two, one in 1955 (collectors stuff) and a more recent in 1970. The latter doesn't look too bad as a kit but it's still a 1970 kit.

 

Then there's the exception... Dragon/Cyber Hobby issued a couple of early Meteors (Mk.I and Mk.III) and these are mainstream modern kits. I've not built it so can't comment first hand but those who did seem to have enjoyed it: nice sharp moulds, good fit, plenty fo details. It would probably be the best option from the box.. however they are expensive kits. And they only cover the early variants, that you may or not be interested in.

 

So which one would I recommend,,,. a lot depends on what kind of Meteor you want: if you want a Cold War Meteor to sit alongside your V-bombers, then Special Hobby allows you to have practically any variant you like, including the recce ones. If you can deal with not perfect fit, they can result in very good models.

If you want an early one, then Cyber Hobby offers the best from the box but at a cost. SH offers the same variants for less money but more hassle.

I should add that there are several builds of all Meteor kits here on the forum, may be worth checking a few of them to get a good idea of the pros and cons of each.

Edited by Giorgio N
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1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

Then there's the exception... Dragon/Cyber Hobby issued a couple of early Meteors (Mk.I and Mk.III) and these are mainstream modern kits. I've not built it so can't comment first hand but those who did seem to have enjoyed it: nice sharp moulds, good fit, plenty fo details. It would probably be the best option from the box.. however they are expensive kits. And they only cover the early variants, that you may or not be interested in.

 

Having made the Cyber Hobby Mk.III, I can say that it was easy to make with minimal fuss. Quality is excellent and my construction required very little fettling or filler.

 

The only issue I had was to do with colours and markings for the Mk.III series as a whole.

Apart from an overall light (white?) colour for some wartime aircraft, it's all boring wartime-style green and grey with no real squadron markings or colours like you see on Mk.4s and later variants. The export aircraft are even more dull - same green and grey, with country-specific (all British style) roundels and no squadron markings.

I made a South African version, just to have a splash of a different colour (orange in the roundel)!

Edited by Blimpyboy
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............and if you want to go the older-fashioned route, Aeroclub made conversion sets for the Matchbox kits to allow you to produce single seaters of most sorts, (injection plastic, vac canopies, white metal seats where appropriate) and a lot of plastic dust from the cutting, filling and sanding. There are also  very nice T.7 and F.8 limited run injection kits from Aeroclub. Al these turn up on Fleabay quite often, usually at reasonable prices. Then there's the Airwaves PE set which provides a lot of useable parts to tart up the Matchbox (later reboxed by Revell)  nightfighters. All of this stuff is great fun if you enjoy process rather than shaking boxes, and with a lot of work can produce nice models, but having built a few of the MPM/Special Hobby kits (also in Airfix and Xtrakit reboxings), they'll give you a better result for the same effort. When MPM started producing other versions of their kit, they (or Special Hobby, who knows) retooled the wings and nacelles, and added locating pins. The pins actually induce misalignment so can go, but the wings are much thinner and nicer.

 

   I've always thought the Matchbox kits were either produced by 2 teams, because there are some parts with locating pins but no matching hole, and vice-versa. Plus the poor fit (different cross sections) of some of the optional parts. Anyone know?

 

    On the other other other hand, if you just want to relax and build something not necessarily that accurate, but not too fussy and looks like the part from a few feet away, the old Airfix kit and Frog F.IV go together quite easily, so long as you avoid the NOVO repop of the latter which usually has too much mismoulding.

 

Paul.

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Meteors, such a large field.

 

Look up here from my collection.

 

Meteor F 1 Dragon with nice different markings:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/27695595045/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsa8S-dpsbn9-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

The good old one from Airfix:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/26912448504/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsa8S-dpsbn9-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

Here a rare special version from Special Hobby:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/49804311093/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsa8S-dpsbn9-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

The old FROG kit, later issued by NOVO:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/16106249106/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsa8S-dpsbn9-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

Here is a conversion to a Trainer (made before a kit was available)

 

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/8141668402/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

 

The new Airfix Mk 8 kit:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/5342823479/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

Here come Matchbox with a MK 12:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/9637292802/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

Matchbox had more possibilities in the kit:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/5323568215/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

And here the final version:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/15944741950/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

Why not a conversion from a Matchbox kit?

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/8141664268/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

These is a very rare Meteor from Special Hobby:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/27820430852/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

And at last a little bit more colour from a FROG conversion:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/27820430852/in/photolist-2iT37wR-JooYQU-Jcnavp-H1akjQ-qhYYgY-qxfJJ7-fFBDoJ-dpsbn9-dpsa8S-dps8SL-998nhc-97qFmT

 

 

modelldoc

 

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I've got the new Special Hobby Meteor NF.11 and NF.12 although I'm yet to make them.  I also have the earlier Special Hobby/MPM based kits and the Matchbox kits in the stash.

 

The new Special Hobby kits are a big leap from the previous Special Hobby/MPM kits.  It's very much a mainstream rather than short-run kit.

 

I suggest you take a look at Rémi's build of the SH NF.12 here:

 

 

Lord Riot is currently building an iteration of the Matchbox kit here:

 

 

It's an interesting comparison between the two kits, you'll see @Lord Riot build that the Matchbox moulding has some fit issues, but likewise @Rémi build isn't a shake and bake either.  Nonetheless, I'll be getting rid of my Matchbox kits, the new Special Hobby kit is so much better all round, generally the fit and surface detail is better as are the detail parts (the SH kits cockpit is miles ahead of the Matchbox kit).

 

One thing to watch out is SH's colour call outs are wrong in the NF.12 kit, the dark grey in the three colour scheme should be dark sea grey, not ocean grey.  Also the colours on the 25 Sqn decals are wrong, SH have them as silver and blue where they should be silver and black.  Modeldecal 88, 92 and 93 offer some alternative markings, you'll have to find the serials though.

 

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2 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

>

Frog did a Mk.IV.. actually they did two, one in 1955 (collectors stuff) and a more recent in 1970. The latter doesn't look too bad as a kit but it's still a 1970 kit.

>

>

Great summary on 1/72 Meteors, Giorgio, but Frog's first Meteor was an F8.   No wheel wells or cockpit, dodgy intake shape and coarse details but overall accurate in shape.  I have one in the stash!

 

David

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I've made two Xtrakit F8s which are a (slightly) better fit than the Xtrakit/Matchbox NF I'm currently building. With putty and more skill than I have they can all be made into nice models though (eg @Rémi's build and others). It depends how much you want to spend; that's why I try and get Matchbox ones on ebay. That SH kit looks great. 

 

As @Wez states, the cockpit in the Matchbox kit is very basic. I usually try and add a few little bits n' bobs in there. 

 

The thing with Meteors is there are so many options for glorious technicolour squadron markings. I've decided to make about ten or more of these, there are so many varieties. 

 

Whichever you make, you need to remember three things: noseweight, noseweight and noseweight. 

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5 minutes ago, David Womby said:

Great summary on 1/72 Meteors, Giorgio, but Frog's first Meteor was an F8.   No wheel wells or cockpit, dodgy intake shape and coarse details but overall accurate in shape.  I have one in the stash!

 

David

 

Thanks for the correction David !

Speaking of older kits, I intentionally omitted a few as I believe the OP is interested in what he can get now. However just for curiosity I may add that Rareplanes offered both the F.8 and the night fighters. A manufacturer from I believe Argentina named Commando 5 also did a series of 1/72 Meteors in resin, including the F.4, F.8 and the T.7. Better known is the later series of resin kits made by PJ.

Personally I would rate all of these as collectors items only today, since the more modern kits available on the market are pretty good

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3 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

A manufacturer from I believe Argentina named Commando 5 also did a series of 1/72 Meteors in resin, including the F.4, F.8 and the T.7. Better known is the later series of resin kits made by PJ.

Personally I would rate all of these as collectors items only today, since the more modern kits available on the market are pretty good

I forgot about the Rareplanes kits, didn't know about the Argentinian ones. I think the PJ resins were very good actually, but they tend to go for silly prices second hand these days. Sometimes to be found in non-Corona virus times at shows for under £10.00 in the UK, I think at that price they're worthwhile. Decals are not very good though, but I'm sorted for life with a large stack of old Modeldecal and Xtradecal sets............

 

Paul.

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44 minutes ago, David Womby said:

What?  Nobody mentioning this gem?

That's because my eyes bleed every time I notice their 1/72nd Spitfire XII in the stash!

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3 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

I've decided to make about ten or more of these, there are so many varieties.

I've got some Matchbox/Revell ones if you're interested.  Just remember, if using this kit to make an NF.14 to use the nose for the NF.12, the kit's NF.14 nose is too long!

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12 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

Airfix did a Mk.III many, many years ago, personally I'd never buy one as it's a bit too ancient for my taste but some may like it. Frog did a Mk.IV.. actually they did two, one in 1955 (collectors stuff) and a more recent in 1970. The latter doesn't look too bad as a kit but it's still a 1970 kit.

The Airfix F.3 and Frog F.4 are both from 1970 and the Airfix kit is VASTLY better than the Frog F.4,  on which the fuselage cross-section is completely wrong, far too wide at the top, and the nose is bulbous as if inflated with a bicycle pump, and the canopy the wrong shape. (It should be the same as the Airfix and Dragon ones, but try placing one of those canopies on a Frog kit and you'll soon see the problem.)  Avoid the Frog kit. get a SH one instead.

 

In general, go with the Special Hobby family for the bulk of your acquisitions if you want a coherent 1/72 collection in these modern time.  The main error on the SH kits is the wings are too thick, so benefit from considerable rubbing down on the mating edges. Apart from that they are pretty nice.

 

For the early ones, I still consider the Airfix F.3 relevant with a bit of rubbing down of the rivets. But the Dragon / Cyber Hobby F.1 and F.3 are more modern and okay providing you fix the moderately glaring error with the elevators (see posts 11 and 12 in this thread).

 

 

Edited by Work In Progress
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So far I have about 21 (Revell, Xtrakit, MPM and Special Hobby ) of all the Marks. Still need a few more Night Fighter versions when they are available. I find the only problem, to me anyway, is the undercarriage being a bit fiddley. The legs in the new NF. versions much better.

 

Steve. 

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The original MPM/SH series derived from the Xtrakit F.8 also have a most odd wing leading edge section and in general the wings need a bit of thinning down. They look nice finished though. Aeroclub did an F. 8 and T. 7 that are not bad kits and certainly look the part. 

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11 minutes ago, Mr T said:

The original MPM/SH series derived from the Xtrakit F.8 also have a most odd wing leading edge section and in general the wings need a bit of thinning down. They look nice finished though. Aeroclub did an F. 8 and T. 7 that are not bad kits and certainly look the part. 

I have the Revell boxing of the Mk.4 almost complete with the Dutch markings from the Frog kit.  While I appreciated that thinning the wings would probably get rid of the step between the engine nacelles and the intake rings, as well as help the belly tank to fit properly, I ended up building mine as was straight from the box because I couldn't be sure I'd get the wings to be the same thickness.

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Dragon Meteor F.III. have mistake with:

- nose part canopy - Pavla vacu canopy may help;

- tail surface, but if You do not reject the surface tail then the error is automatically eliminated!

- Not correct colour insignia, this mistake correct Barracuda decal, but correct decal set from Barracuda decals very rare now.

Also there is no of the front of the engine in the air intake.

There is no imitation of a very complex tread on the main wheels, correct aftermarket also no.

 

In addition to these annoying misunderstandings, this is a very good kit.

Very recommended!

With Pavla cockpit set ( vacuum canopy including) and Eduard photoetched* maybe build   great model F.III.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

_______________

*-An interesting point, a big set of Eduard contains an air brake, but after a while Eduard made a separate set of photoetched only with an air brake .....this leads to suspicions that there is a mistake in large photo-etching, which was then probably corrected by the release separate set of photoetched only with an air brake....

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11 hours ago, Aardvark said:

Not correct colour insignia, this mistake correct Barracuda decal, but correct decal set from Barracuda decals very rare now.

Some Australian and New Zealand options are on this sheet, if you don't like the kit decals: https://www.southernskymodels.com.au/GlosterMeteorMk-3inRAAFRNZAFServicewithStencilData-5082.html

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