Meteor U15

[825]

This will be my first contribution to the GB. I’ve had the Alleycat conversion for a while and bought an MPM kit to go with it. I can’t find the MPM kit in the stash, though I did find a Mark3, but I did come across this Revell Mk4 which is a rebox of the MPM kit. 
 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very nice choice, I did a two seater in this scheme for the ANZAC build. 

[JOCKNEY]

Hi @825

Is this 2 kits that are playing hard to get ?

Look forward to seeing you show them who's boss.

Cheers Pat 

 

[825]

Thanks @Corsairfoxfouruncle and @JOCKNEY the schemes are eye catching, although there will be a bit of masking involved. Thankfully the conversion work is simple, really just adding some resin parts onto the existing airframe. 
 

As I haVe the actual Meteor model for this version, I thought it would be prudent to start with this one. There’s two grey plastic spruces which look relatively well moulded. 
 

 

and a small clear sprue with the canopy and another small part. The kit has a nice transfer sheet for a couple of RAF versions, which I won’t be using. Although there are some stencils and cockpit transfers which I will use as appropriate. 

 

Typical Revell instructions. I think they may be better for placement of parts than the original MPM ones. 

 

The Alleycat conversion parts are the wingtip pods and some aerials in resin and a small etch sheet. 
 

Well printed transfers for 5 or 6 aircraft. 

 

And instructions/paint guides for a number of colourful Meteors. As those of you who know my builds, it will be no surprise that I’ll be building the FAA option option based at Hal Far. 
 

 

Now the starter’s gun has gone it’s time to wield the paint brush. 

[825]

Some paint on, mainly aluminium and black. 
 

 

I’ve got some after market, masks and seat belts. Apart from that, and the conversion it’ll be OOB. 

 

[CliffB]

It's good to see this one under way 

[825]

Construction has started with the building of some of the sub assemblies and the cockpit. This conversion is effectively an F3 with some bits added on so there’s no real changes to the build sequence until near the end. 
 

 

The fuselage is cleaned up and the wing centre section built up. The wing centre section looks like a part left over from a Star Wars machine rather than a WW2 designed aircraft. Also some other parts assembled. 
 

 

 

Some more work on the detail parts with transfers added to the cockpit interior. The interior is very dark so after I add seat belts I’ll highlight things with some dry brushing. 
 

[825]

A set of Eduard seat belts on, fiddly and took forever but look good. 
 

 

[825]

Cockpit fitted into the fuselage. Some weight needs to go in, about 10G according to the instructions, but the space is not large and it wont really take my go to Liquid Lead weights. It’s also too small for a container to hold it too. A little bit of thinking needed before we move on and close up the fuselage. 

 

A quick check shows that the fuselage should close up ok. 
 

 

 

[Andwil]

13 minutes ago, 825 said:

about 10G

That’s interesting, I have the MPM boxing and the instructions call for 3g, which I thought looked a bit light on.

 

AW

[Marklo]

Based on where the centre of gravity is on the model and the location of the main gear weight behind the cockpit bulkhead would also work ( although owing to the law of the lever it will be less effective than weights in the nose.

[825]

2 hours ago, Marklo said:

Based on where the centre of gravity is on the model and the location of the main gear weight behind the cockpit bulkhead would also work ( although owing to the law of the lever it will be less effective than weights in the nose.

I was thinking that as well, but might need more. I will see if I can get some liquid led into the nose without it going all over the place, then some more behind the bulkhead. 

[825]

Some liquid lead carefully popped into the nose and fixed with PVA. There’s loads of space behind the lower bulkhead but it’s accessible after closing up so I’ll add some later. 
 

 

Fuselage closed up and taped up to dry. 

 

 

[825]

Wings and empennage on. The fit isn’t that great and will need a bit of tidying up but the shape is good. I’ll leave it a while to solidify up before attacking it with filler and sanding sticks. 
 

[825]

Some filler on and a first clean and polish up. 
 

 

Cleaning up not as bad as anticipated but the nozzles are a little on the small side as are the intakes, compared to the nacelles. I’ve glued them on so the top and outer sides line up and will work on the inner and undersides with some filler to, at least as a minimum, mask the join. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Almost ready for paint, hopefully it wont take too long for smoothing this. 

[825]

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Almost ready for paint, hopefully it wont take too long for smoothing this. 

Your wish is my command CF4U. I’ve started to brush on some Citadel White. Two reasons, first to see if there’s more filler, etc. needed anywhere. And secondly to give a good undercoat for the red and yellow paint. 
 

 

Doesn’t look too bad, and I’m pleased with the nozzles and intakes. Some other bits need a little work. 

[825]

The joints and seams satisfactorily cleaned up and the white undercoat finished. You can also see the resin wingtips painted black. 
 

 

I’ve a canopy mask that needs to be used and the canopy affixed before starting the main paint job. But a bigger issue now is I haven’t got a suitable yellow so will have to sort something out. 

[825]

Canopy masked and glued on and the wingtips trimmed to take the wingtip pods. 
 

 

[81-er]

It's looking good

 

James

[825]

Several coats of yellow to the relevant parts of the upper works. I’ll let it dry for a couple of days and then get it masked for the red. The masking will take a bit of care and patience. Then there will be a fair number of thin coats of signal red. 
 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Good coat of yellow on this

[81-er]

Nice job on the yellow, it's not an easy colour

 

James

[825]

On 11/20/2022 at 9:53 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Good coat of yellow on this

 

On 11/21/2022 at 9:52 AM, 81-er said:

Nice job on the yellow, it's not an easy colour

 

James

Thanks, yellow is a challenge. There’s a fair amount of white undercoat and multiple thin coats of Xtracrylix RAF Rescue Yellow on. I’m currently doing the masking for the red to go on. It’s taking time as there’s curves as well as long straight bits. 

[825]

The masking took a bit of time and I sealed it with a quick coat of the yellow. Then as red can come in a different shade with a yellow undercoat compared to white I then covered up all the excess yellow with some more Matt white. Then a few coats of Xtracrylix Signal Red brushed on thinly. Still a bit more to go but starting to brighten up.