1/48 Meteor F.1 Roundel sizes, replacement decals for Tamiya?

[CharlieNZ]

Today I picked up from a model show here in Adelaide the Tamiya Gloster Meteor F.1, kit # 61051.

Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the decals are slightly out of register, with the red dots being ever so slightly out of centre.

I've been hunting around for decals to use as replacements, and have not found many options for the F.1. Lots of post war F8 options out there, but war era ones, not so much.

Looking at Hannants, I see various sets of roundels, given as type, and size in inches. Does anyone know which size would be correct for the marking options in the Tamiya kit?

Alternatively, I have found an eduard decal set for the Hawker Tempest V roundels early, D48031 ( https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/EDD48031?result-token=Usf75), and they are the correct style when compared to the Tamiya Meteor kit, what are the chances they might be the correct size, being about the same time period?

 

Thanks for any help!

[joew]

Go and see Craig at Aeroworks, he is based in Adelaide and would most likely have been at the show. He has a great range of decals

 

[Troy Smith]

4 hours ago, CharlieNZ said:

Does anyone know which size would be correct for the marking options in the Tamiya kit?

see here 

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Meteor-Whirlwind-Welkin

 

 

upperwings are 54 inch, not dimensions of camo lines edges as well...

 

the whole series are scanned in the link, which are still very good guides.

HTH

[CharlieNZ]

16 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

see here 

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Meteor-Whirlwind-Welkin

 

 

upperwings are 54 inch, not dimensions of camo lines edges as well...

 

the whole series are scanned in the link, which are still very good guides.

HTH

Thank you, this helps a lot. Not least of all because it rules out using the Eduard Tempest decals, as it looks like they had 50in upper wing roundels, not the 54in for the Meteor. I managed to track down a copy of the equivalent book for the Typhoon and Tempest to compare.

I've found a set of Montex masks for the markings for this Tamiya kit, I've never tried these before, but it is cheaper than buying three sets of Xtradecals RAF roundels, which is the other option at this point. This might be a good opportunity to try airbrushing the markings using the masks, rather than decals. What could go wrong!

[Troy Smith]

8 minutes ago, CharlieNZ said:

but it is cheaper than buying three sets of Xtradecals RAF roundels, which is the other option at this point.

think laterally, Mosquito - 54 inch uppers

 

And Mosquito decals are easier to source, the fuselage and underwing are standard sizes, 36inch C1, 32 inch C

[CharlieNZ]

12 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

think laterally, Mosquito - 54 inch uppers

 

And Mosquito decals are easier to source, the fuselage and underwing are standard sizes, 36inch C1, 32 inch C

As far as I can tell most Mossie decals sets don't appear to have the underwing roundels. I've found the Xtradecal roundel sets both locally and from Hannants, now I know the correct size and type it's been a lot easier to know what I'm even looking at when it comes to other decal options. I still might try the masking option with the Montex masks, that will be a whole new skill to try, and I was going to use those for my 1/32 Spitfire IXc, so probably a good idea to try it out on a cheaper show acquisition before risking a disaster on one of my holy grail kits.

Has anyone got any experience with using the Montex masks for roundels and other markings? Any hints would be appreciated!

[OneEighthBit]

Hey Charlie,

I built this exact same kit not so long ago and went through the exact same issue with the registration of the decals being off.

I must admit, I bought the Xtradecal set just to have as I build so many old/second hand kits that almost all the decals are bad or beyond repair so I swap them out as a matter of course. The kit decals for the Meteor were fiddly as hell and caused me all sorts of problems and silvered like heck. The walk way box especially was a PITA.

I didn't use Montex masks for the fuselage markings but did use it on the canopy and it worked out fantastic. They went down firm, weren't hard to peel and re-stick and I had no paint bleed. I got really nice sharp lines.

One thing which I'm sure the modelling God's will smite me for - the Xtradecal set I had was 1:72 and I used the 84" roundel in the set to replace the 54" 1:48 roundel in the kit. When you convert for scale the difference is 0.041"/1.04mm which was visually close enough for me and got me out of a bind.

[Troy Smith]

10 hours ago, CharlieNZ said:

As far as I can tell most Mossie decals sets don't appear to have the underwing roundels.

A Mosquito sheet has the 54 inch, which is what you wanted,  the other roundels I mentioned are standard size for fighter types, and thus are easily sourceable,  and are often surplus, eg a Spitfire kit with type A and c roundels would have spares. 

I said standard,  I forget that what is blinkin' obvious to me is not always the case. 

 

I'm a great believer in knowing what can be used elsewhere, decals, leftover kit bite etc,  so was just trying to make clear that they were easy to get from other decal sheets.

11 hours ago, CharlieNZ said:

I still might try the masking option with the Montex masks, that will be a whole new skill to try

@(ex)Sgtrafman  has just been using masks on his Tempest build, 

 

 Note, I don't know what paint you use, if using Tamiya,  you'll need to mix to get the RAF roundel colours,  

 

HTH

[CharlieNZ]

I believe I do have the Tamiya paint mix for the roundel colours somewhere in my references.