1/48 Airfix Meteor F.8

[Lord Riot]

After losing interest in military aircraft kits for a bit, then modelling altogether (briefly), I’m now trying to rekindle my interest for the hobby. I’d been deliberating over what to make from my stash, and considered a 1/72 Victor, Vulcan or Sea King, a 1/48 Lightning, or Canberra with TT.18 conversion, before deciding it’s best to start with a simpler kit. Hopefully this Meteor kit gets me back into the swing of things! 
 

 

A familiar one to most on here, with some great builds I’ve seen. I’ve two in the stash, with plans to do one as ‘Winston’ sometime, and perhaps I’ll buy another to do in 56 Sqn colours. This one, however, I’ll be building out of the box, in its 111 Sqn markings.

 

 

Plenty on the sprues! Very nice decals, both options look good, but I’ll be going for this camo one:

 

 

Some questions, if anyone could be so kind as to let me know please?
 

1). The instructions say Humbrol 56 undersides; shouldn’t it be high speed silver?  
 

2). Did this aircraft fly without the all yellow fin?
 

3). The presentation of the fuselage registration number for WL123 looks to be in an odd font, is it correct? Should it look the same as for WH364?

 

[TeaWeasel]

Nice to see another Meteor. I got the Korea version in the mystery box but decided to go for the green/grey with the yellow as well,

 

For your queries, I did use Tamiya silver for the underside, based on other examples I saw on Scalemates. If you want another green/grey (does this scheme have an official name?) one without the fin, there are a few in the Xtradecal upgrades. I have a set and WA893, WF654 and WH263 don't have the yellow fin. I don't need these particular decals, so if you want them let me know. 

 

[Lord Riot]

Thanks @TeaWeasel, I just had a look at your Meteor WIP, it’s coming along beautifully! 
 

Thanks for the spare decal offer, I reckon I might bite the bullet with the notorious yellow paint and see if I can get it to look ok, but if not … then if the offer still stands! …😂

 

I did say oob didn’t I, but having read your WIP I’m wondering about a cockpit set simply because instrument panel decals are so bad over a bumpy cockpit part. I’ll see how that goes before buying any.

 

Some progress this afternoon, with the gunmetal interior parts painted along with a start on the cockpit. I painted it matt black first, then after drying a few brushes of tyre black, which barely shows. Later I’ll highlight certain areas with dry brushed silver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Graham T]

Xtracolour do RAF High Speed Silver.

[Sturmovik]

The yellow fin was most likely a commemorative design, so you should be fine if painting this Meteor without yellow.

 

Here's a link with a photo of the aircraft with the yellow fin:

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1133549

[TeaWeasel]

1 hour ago, Lord Riot said:

Thanks @TeaWeasel, I just had a look at your Meteor WIP, it’s coming along beautifully! 
 

Thanks for the spare decal offer, I reckon I might bite the bullet with the notorious yellow paint and see if I can get it to look ok, but if not … then if the offer still stands! …😂

 

I did say oob didn’t I, but having read your WIP I’m wondering about a cockpit set simply because instrument panel decals are so bad over a bumpy cockpit part. I’ll see how that goes before buying any.

 

Some progress this afternoon, with the gunmetal interior parts painted along with a start on the cockpit. I painted it matt black first, then after drying a few brushes of tyre black, which barely shows. Later I’ll highlight certain areas with dry brushed silver.

 

 

The Eduard upgrade is definitely worth it IMO, bit fiddly with some of the levers but the decal provided was just awful.

 

The offer's still there if you want those decals, just let me know. For the yellow tail I used Vallejo Dead White as a basecoat, goes on really well and a couple of thin coats give you a lovely bright base for the yellow. 

[Selwyn]

Had a  couple of these, word of warning both kits were smothered in mould release agent, worst I have ever seen, make sure you give the sprues a very good clean before you start your build.

 

Selwyn

[binbrook87]

Another warning...the nose fitment needs some fettling, but apart from that it goes together nicely

[franky boy]

Nice start. 

 

As a said above the nose does need some fettling. Tamiya LP-11 is a pretty good HSS IMHO. 

 

James

[stever219]

2 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Thanks @TeaWeasel, I just had a look at your Meteor WIP, it’s coming along beautifully! 
 

Thanks for the spare decal offer, I reckon I might bite the bullet with the notorious yellow paint and see if I can get it to look ok, but if not … then if the offer still stands! …😂

 

I did say oob didn’t I, but having read your WIP I’m wondering about a cockpit set simply because instrument panel decals are so bad over a bumpy cockpit part. I’ll see how that goes before buying any.

 

Some progress this afternoon, with the gunmetal interior parts painted along with a start on the cockpit. I painted it matt black first, then after drying a few brushes of tyre black, which barely shows. Later I’ll highlight certain areas with dry brushed silver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interior parts should be aluminium, not gunmetal.  It’s an easy mistake to make if you’re using Humbrol paints; gunmetal is 53 and aluminium is 56.  I find that 27001 is a far better match for aluminium than the rather dark and dull 56 and use it as High Speed Silver.

 

As for the colourful fin this was probably the CO’s jet.  My 245 and 257 Squadron Meteors (both with yellow fins) had a couple of thin coats of matt white followed by further thin coats of Humbrol 169 (now made in Unobtania) followed by the final coat of Humbrol 69.  In lieu of H169 any deep, rich yellow will do.

 

[Lord Riot]

Thanks for the interest and excellent input gents, very much appreciated. Apart from the wing spar parts I’ve only painted the gun bays gunmetal so far, so I’ll change them to aluminium.

 

Cockpit sides also painted; a coat of Matt black, then some tyre black, then dry silver.

 

 

Hopefully they’re close enough. I’ll need to add a bit of detail to a few of the levers, pipes, etc.

 

 

 

[exdraken]

Nice start!!

[rgb40]

If you want a good yellow use pink as a primer instead of white. Works great.

George

[Lord Riot]

More progress today, getting the engine components painted. If I can get them looking nice enough I’ll probably display one in the wing with the cowling open and the other engine out on the little trolley included in the kit. I’ve enjoyed painting these parts, it’s nice to have this level of detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Worked on the cockpit tub this afternoon, and painted the bang seat. The kit comes with two options of seat, one without all the belts, but rather than aftermarket on the plain seat I used the kit one with the belts.

 

 

 

 

 

[Winded Penguin]

I'm liking your on-the-spru painting technique for small parts. Kit is already looking very tidy 👍

[Lord Riot]

A bit more on-sprue painting today, it makes it much neater I find, especially when one is hamfisted with a paintbrush as I am! 
 

This time it was the central spar incorporating the rear part of the wheel wells and engine bulkhead, and the other wheel well sides. Overall these were painted in gunmetal, then with a dirt wash applied, and finally a dry brush of silver to hopefully bring out some of the detail and make it look a bit more metallic.

 

[Lord Riot]

Nice wheel well detail by Airfix, it’s certainly good enough for me - no aftermarket ones required for this. 
 

 

Remember to fit the little light from the clear sprue before gluing the wing halves together. I’ve added the jet pipes too.

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Wing halves glued together. The fit of these is good, just need a bit of tape to hold them while the glue sets.

 

 

And the fuselage halves next. This doesn’t fit quite so well, though it may be just mine. It’s good, just needs plenty of squeezing together while it sets so it doesn’t pop apart at the tail end. Need to dry fit that cockpit area before gluing. And remember noseweight.

 

 

 

Once it’s properly set I’m going to sand along the join line, hopefully making it disappear.

 

[Lord Riot]

After a coat of Mr Dissolved Putty and some vigorous rubbing (!) this is where we’re up to now. I’m hoping that the join line will disappear once the paint is sprayed on. I can’t really add more putty or sanding or there’s a risk of losing the panel lines as well as the shape of the fuselage spine. 
 

[Lord Riot]

A bit more progress between the rugby matches! Wings on now, and they needed quite a lot of filler along the roots, particularly around the little fillets between the fuselage and trailing edge. They’re not a good fit at all those. I’ll need to file them down too once the putty has dried as they stick up higher than the trailing edges. It may be more an error with my gluing rather than the kit itself though.

 

 

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Despite the wing root fit issues, this is a lovely kit to build, with all other parts going together really nicely. I dry fitted the engine intakes and they’re a perfect fit, so I'm going to leave them dry fitted whilst spraying without the inside parts so that stays gunmetal silver, while the inner lip of the intake casing will match the camo colour.

 

 

 

[binbrook87]

Great work so far. Yes i forgot about the wing route gaps when i built mine. Just be prepared for the nose joint being difficult. Hopefully yours will be no problem 🤞

[Lord Riot]

Great touch by Airfix having the RR Derwents as separate parts. With the little trolley as well they’re almost a mini kit in themselves. 
 

I painted the components on the sprue first, various parts being silver, gunmetal, tyre black and matt black, then dirt wash over the silver vent parts, and some dry brushing.
 

 

 

 

Nice fit in the trolley, I’ll display one like this next to the model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lord Riot]

And a dry fit into the airframe. I needed to remove the front part first then drop it in after, then drop the pipes section over it after.