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Recapturing my innocence with the help of a Matchbox Meteor


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I have had this problem a few times with kits designed to be released as different marks/versions, the most memorable being the Fujimi Val. Mine was the earlier D3A1 version but to allow it to be reboxed as the later D3A2 with revised cockpit it too had a fuselage insert that was a lousy fit.

 

Pete

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Right, the first lot of sanding has been done on the wings.  The lower wing in this picture has three small sink marks (two of which can be seen) on the intake fairing which will need to be sorted.  All the sanding lines on the engine make it look, in this picture, as if there's a weird distortion of the panels.  In real life this really isn't the case - it's just an optical illusion.  You can also see where the styrene has broken, been filled, sanded and is now back in the correct profile.

 

The AK putty, being water based, dries quickly and can be worked pretty soon after being laid down, but the Humbrol filler is cement based and needs plenty of time to go off, so I'll leave the fuselage sanding for a bit before I make an attempt on it.

 

Thanks,

 

JRK

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1 minute ago, wimbledon99 said:

Hi,

 

Thought I'd drop in and say 'Hello' as I'm building the same kit. Yours is looking good so far!!

 

Cheers

 

Nigel

 

 

Thanks Nigel - I shall stop by your thread directly!

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Not a major update, I'm afraid, but an update nonetheless.  Being stuck at home with Covid seems to have a small upside, which is time to do some kit-ruining.  This morning I got some paint on my Airfix P-40b build and the turned to the wee Meteor.  I did my best to convert the panel lines form being raised to being sunken (is there a correct word for this?!) on the fuselage.  Some of this looks as if it might have been successful; we shall see.  Next I fitted the wings, following the process of correcting the root joints, and I followed this with the sanding of the wing seams.  After that, it was time to attach the tailplanes and make a basic mask for the canopy.

 

It's worth noting that due to the composition of the plastic it doesn't react brilliantly well to TET; the major joints are also so shonkily built that there's not always a lot of contact between the two halves of a joint.  With these two points in mind I regressed to my youth and used more Poly Cement to make the joins.  Now, so far so good, but whether this will prove to be a great move in the long term we shall see.

 

This is what she looks like now:

 

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The next thing to do is to get a primer coat on it and see just how terrible the state of affairs is.  Hopefully it won't be too bad and I can get some proper paint on it soon.

 

Thanks,

 

JRK

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45 minutes ago, wimbledon99 said:

Looks good to me!! I have the joy of filling and sanding mine next :unamused:

 

I've already caved an applied more filler to the wing and tailplane root joints....!

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Progress has been slow; many applications of filler and many sanding sessions have taken place but you can't really tell that, seeing as most of the filler has been sanded off....  Uh, anyway, moving on:

 

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The underside wing joints had cavernous trenches that needed two types of filler to conceal.

 

 

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  As it turned out, so did the topside joints.  Marvellous.

 

 

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As you can see, there was a lot of filler needed on the cockpit insert too.  A lot of work went into the filling and sanding, so much so that there's precious little of the proving coat left...  Ah well.  Maybe I'll put another one on.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

 

PS - apologies to @wimbledon99 - I nicked you method of masking the intakes!

 

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You are doing well with this one.

 

I remember getting this when it first came out, and have had nightmares about it ever since! So, kudos to you getting very much better than I ever did. 

 

Ray

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1 hour ago, jackroadkill said:

Progress has been slow; many applications of filler and many sanding sessions have taken place but you can't really tell that, seeing as most of the filler has been sanded off....  Uh, anyway, moving on:

 

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The underside wing joints had cavernous trenches that needed two types of filler to conceal.

 

 

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  As it turned out, so did the topside joints.  Marvellous.

 

 

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As you can see, there was a lot of filler needed on the cockpit insert too.  A lot of work went into the filling and sanding, so much so that there's precious little of the proving coat left...  Ah well.  Maybe I'll put another one on.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

 

PS - apologies to @wimbledon99 - I nicked you method of masking the intakes!

 


Nick away! Looking at yours, I’m wondering if I’ve done enough filling and sanding. It’s going to look great with primer :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress, if you can give it such a grand title, has been glacially slow.  By now I honestly thought I'd be finished with this kit.  However, the decision to brush paint has slowed me down no end, as apparently bright green plastic and thinned enamels do not make easy bedfellows.  At any rate, I thought I'd better post a picture of the little visible change that has occurred:

 

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At least the underside is coming along nicely now.  I may go for another coat on the under surfaces, but I'll see how it looks when this coat is dry before making a decision.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

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On 1/9/2022 at 2:25 PM, jackroadkill said:

 

 

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I think the TET is responsible for this weird plastic fatigue on the air intakes.  I'm going to wait until everything is 100% dry and then address these.

 

 

That happened with the Mk 11 I started late last year.  It's too far advanced for inclusion in the current GB but I'm looking forward to getting it done along with my Hawker Fury, once I've got the strength back in my right hand.

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2 hours ago, jackroadkill said:

Progress, if you can give it such a grand title, has been glacially slow.  By now I honestly thought I'd be finished with this kit.  However, the decision to brush paint has slowed me down no end, as apparently bright green plastic and thinned enamels do not make easy bedfellows.  At any rate, I thought I'd better post a picture of the little visible change that has occurred:

 

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At least the underside is coming along nicely now.  I may go for another coat on the under surfaces, but I'll see how it looks when this coat is dry before making a decision.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK


She’s looking smoooooooooth!! 😎

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Firstly Fab Story! There is a Film somewhere in that intro!!

 

Build is coming along nicely, I was going to join with one of these, I have about 4 I think so once I get my other over the line I might boost up the Meteor count on this GB.

 

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16 minutes ago, George Norman said:

Firstly Fab Story! There is a Film somewhere in that intro!!

 

Build is coming along nicely, I was going to join with one of these, I have about 4 I think so once I get my other over the line I might boost up the Meteor count on this GB.

 

 

Thanks very much!  It would be great to see your version of this kit, too.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Somehow this build has been sidelined a bit of late; the P-40b that was nearly finished took a lot more finishing than I'd anticipated and a fiddlier-than-expected Eduard Bf110E has take up more of my time than I'd hoped.  There were also paint issues that needed sorting, but we're there now.  I've just applied what I hope will be the last thin coat of Ocean Grey (well, apart from a little more on the wing roots that is covered by masking tape at the moment) and next we'll see a bit of Dark Green on the upper sides too.

 

I've realised that I've forgotten to paint the drop tanks, too, so I'll have to sort that out before too long.

 

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So far I'm enjoying the build but I've been forced to admit that there's an element of turd-polishing about it!  I'm also learning just how much I like my airbrush...

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

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On 1/9/2022 at 3:47 PM, PeterB said:

Maybe my parts were warped, but the biggest problem I had was with the long horizontal seam between the cockpit upper insert and the fuselage.

 

Pete

A lot of people find this.  Would some sort of appropriately sized strut across the width have helped, do you think?

 

Rgds

 

Martin

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  • 3 weeks later...

It seemed like such a good idea at the time - build a kit that I'd made in my younger days, using the same techniques, paints and tools...

 

It turns out that brush-painting years-old Humbrol 30 enamel (un-thinned) is not only very difficult but also delivers a result remarkably similar to the one I achieved over thirty years ago:

 

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I started on the starboard wing, and it shows.  This might need the pattern lines to be made a bit more flowing, but we'll see.  I think (hope?) a gloss coat will hide a multitude of sins, although the stunningly off-piste "dark green" won't be one of them.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

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It has been a long time since I used Hu 30 but I seem to rmember it being a bit yellower than in your pics - probably wrong. Anyway, with a coat of varnish on it should get a bit darker and won't be far off!

 

Pete

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2 hours ago, PeterB said:

It has been a long time since I used Hu 30 but I seem to rmember it being a bit yellower than in your pics - probably wrong. Anyway, with a coat of varnish on it should get a bit darker and won't be far off!

 

Pete

 

One thing's for sure, it's not very close to RAF Dark Green.

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1 hour ago, jackroadkill said:

 

One thing's for sure, it's not very close to RAF Dark Green.

The problem is that according to some sources there are both WWII and post war versions - Gunze do/did at least one post war version  labled Jaguar, Harrier etc and  according to IPMS Stockholm's colour charts the shade of BS 641  changed in around 1975 from a bluish green to a brownish version. Add in the use of BS 285 NATO Green on some aircraft and you can take your pick! I would not worry too much about it.

 

Pete

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58 minutes ago, PeterB said:

I would not worry too much about it.

 

Ha, yes, I'll not be worrying about too much in the way of accuracy with this build; I'm just enjoying re-making one from my younger days.

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