Gloster Meteor FIII, 1/72nd Cyberhobby kit, EE286 of 504 Sqn 1945 Finished

[Mr T]

My entry for this GB is the reasonably nice Cyberhobby (Dragon) kit of the Meteor FIII in 1/72nd scale. The kit has nice surface detail and I have heard good reports of it. There are a couple of issues though. The designer has mistaken the balance area of the elevator as part of the fixed area of the tailplane. Not difficult to fix, but annoying. More seriously, is the gaping hole in the engine intakes where there should be the face of a Rolls-Royce Derwent 1.

I intend to finish the aircraft as EE286. This aircraft was flown by the short-lived second Meteor Squadron, 504 'County of Nottingham'. The squadron was equipped with Meteor FIIIs between March and August 1945, before being renumbered as 245. I have yet to find a photo of a 504 Squadron FIII, but EE286 was known to be on the squadron as 'TM Q' and was also coded as 'Q' with 245. It is shown in JDR Rawlings book 'Fighter Squadrons of the RAF', and I assume that the codes were just repainted. When 504 became a RAuxAF squadron again, it received Meteor F.4s after a time on Mosquitos and Spitfires.

Oddly enough, the instructions give no indications as to colours of the cockpit, undercarriage etc. My main references are shown below, although other books etc. have been studied

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome aboard with a nice choice, you've some nice research materials as well. 

[Mr T]

I have managed to move on with the Meteor. After cleaning of some of the parts up and making a start of painting the undercarriage, u/c doors etc. I have addressed what I consider to be the major issues with what is otherwise a nice kit

Engines. Unlike the slightly later F.I kit, there is a big space where the engine should be. To remedy this, I found a set of 'engine' fronts out of an old Matchbox Meteor. Amazingly enough, they are the right diameter to fit the kit nacelles (they should be in theory, but ho-hum) I added a few details to suggest it was a Derwent 1, the front end of which is different to either the Welland or the later Derwent 5. The Derwent 5 being basically a scaled down Nene to fit the nacelle diameter of the Meteor. Basic, but it looks better than a hole.

The kit jet pipes, are the type fitted to the Welland, this only powered the first 15 Meteor III's. I just shortened the jet pipes to fit. I could have left the end bit until I had the wings together, but occasionally I do dumb things.

The one things all the reviews of this kit pointed out was the wrong shape to the elevator. This is an easy fix with a bit of filler to fill the gap where the kit elevator ends and emphasising a line on the tailplane where the balance area of the elevator should be.

The cockpit interior has also been made up and is shown ready to fit into the fuselage.

The plan this evening is to assemble the wings and the fuselage, they look to be a good fit. They will be cleaned up and weight added to the nose before the wings are added.

[Mr T]

Wings and fuselage are together and clean up ready for mating. There is a lot of weight in the nose, as the early Meteors had a lot of mass ahead of the main undercarriage, exacerbated  in the Mark 4 by the need for ballast in the nose for handling reasons.

It feels like not too long before they might be some paint on the kit.

[Mr T]

I now have a completed airframe that has had some filler and has been primed. The Sky band and yellow leading edges have been painted on and they will be masked tomorrow. The canopy needs to go on, which might be a job for tonight.

[Mr T]

Canopy on and masked and undersides painted. There will be a bit of a gap as I want to finish the P1A and I am the middle of stripping and waxing the dressing table from our bedroom, and  belonged to MrsT grandmother's. It is fairly plain varnished wood, but after 103 years it is need of TLC. It was made in the aftermath of WWI, and seems to be partly recycled. If it was made by the family firm, it might even have bit of surplus Short 184 in it!

[Marklo]

22 hours ago, Mr T said:

Canopy on and masked and undersides painted. There will be a bit of a gap as I want to finish the P1A and I am the middle of stripping and waxing the dressing table from our bedroom, and  belonged to MrsT grandmother's. It is fairly plain varnished wood

Wouldn’t do to get the two mixed up, imagine a HSS dressing table and a mahogany meteor  

[Mr T]

Now that's an interesting idea, although I cannot see Mrs T being too keen on a dressing table finished in Day Fighter Scheme. We have a few bits of furniture (as has Mrs T's sister) that originally came from the family business, which was a furniture manufacturer and retailer in Bradford. During WWI, they were a subcontractor to Phoenix Dynamo (later part of English Electric), who built a number of aircraft for the RNAS and RAF. The company still exists, under different owners and now in Leeds. 

[Robert]

Just a heads up, have you done the undercarriage yet ? I would suggest you do and then tack them on the model to check it sits on all 3 wheels.

 

Regards

Robert

[Mr T]

Yes, I checked and hopefully all is well. Single seat Meteors models are notorious for tail sitting. A couple of cast Derwents (or Wellands) ought to be compulsory in kits. 

[Mr T]

After a bit of slow down due to SMW and a non Covid chest infection =, the Meteor is moving forward again. Camouflage applied courtesy of Xtracrylix and varnish on prior to decalling. I put a few on last night and noticed that Dragon/Cyberhobby had them printed by Cartograf. They are going on OK, apart from the walkway markings which have next to no decal film and disintegrate on movement. The decal stash has provided some replacements, so with a bit of luck all will be well. I have a recollection that the roundels may be the wrong size, in which case my diminishing stock of Modeldecals may be to the fore.

The decal sheet does have a fair bit of stencilling, and so it is going to take a couple of days.

[Mr T]

Decals on and undercarriage attached. Fortunately, the Meteor does not tail sit unless you prod the tailplane. For some reason, the nose wheel door has disappeared and so a new one had to be fabricated and painted. Nearly ready now for a final varnish coat, so this will probably be the last entry in this section. It is a nice kit, apart from the lack of anything behind the air intakes and a couple of other little niggles.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking very nice… It should look great in the Gallery. 

[Mr T]

I have had a 504 Meteor FIII in mind for a while, but I have  been inhibited by the lack of photographs. So this is bit speculative based on a photo of a 245 Sqn aircraft taken shortly after renumbering from 504. 

[81-er]

It's shaping up very nicely

 

James

[Mr T]

Sprayed the varnish on, and it going to need a bit more of a touch up, that will probably be done tomorrow, domestic agenda permitting. 

[Wings unlevel]

Looks great, am looking forward to seeing the final result!

[Mr T]

Thanks, I have overthinned the varnish, and so another coat will be required. Annoying, but that is the way things sometimes happen. Going to leave the current coat to harden before I do anymore. 

[Marklo]

1 hour ago, Mr T said:

Annoying, but that is the way things sometimes happen.

Well better too thin than too thick  

[DaveyGair]

Looks good. I notice now that both this and and the old Airfix kit have the small bulge on top to one side of the engine nascelles but my MPM one doesn't, will have to decide whether to add these or not.

 

 

Davey.

[Mr T]

The SH/MPM kit is based around the F.8 which had Derwent 8 engines, these were based on the Derwent 5 which was in effect a down-sized Nene. A different beastie from the Derwent 1 found in the F.III.

The Meteor is now finished and going in the gallery, when the cat has been fed and a cup of tea made.

[DaveyGair]

25 minutes ago, Mr T said:

The SH/MPM kit is based around the F.8 which had Derwent 8 engines, these were based on the Derwent 5 which was in effect a down-sized Nene. A different beastie from the Derwent 1 found in the F.III.

The Meteor is now finished and going in the gallery, when the cat has been fed and a cup of tea made.

 

The kit I'm doing is their F.Mk.III, sorry if I didn't make that clear. They're quite prominent so will have to have a go at doing them 😕

 

Davey

[stevehnz]

On 12/7/2022 at 4:39 AM, DaveyGair said:

Looks good. I notice now that both this and and the old Airfix kit have the small bulge on top to one side of the engine nascelles but my MPM one doesn't, will have to decide whether to add these or not.

 

 

Davey.

Davey, I'm wondering if the difference is in the two engines the early Mk IIIs had, the earliest had the Welland engine with jet pipes protruding from the rear of the nacelle, slightly later ones had the Derwent with jet pipes flush with the rear of the nacelle. A photo of your chose subject might be able to sort that.

I had a furkle around on google & what I'm seeing is Welland engine aircraft, only the 1st 15 Mk IIIs, have no bulge on the top right of the nacelle, its actually a rear facing vent I think. The next 180 with short nacelled Derwent engined aircraft & were like @Mr T has modified his model (very nicely too I might say) with flush tail pipes & the bulge, which carried through into later long nacelled Derwent engine aircraft.  I'll go so far as to say the Airfix kit is likely incorrect in depicting the bulge, great for the sole RNZAF operated Meteor III I want to model but wrong for all those wartime RAF Mk IIIs we've all seen done.

Steve.

[Mr T]

It is a rear facing vent, and I am pretty sure that it only appears on those MkIIIs with Derwent engines. The original Airfix kit is a bit of a mix. It has the canopy and airbrakes of a III, but the Welland tailpipes and ailerons of a the  MkI. The vent comes in the kit. The tailpipes seem to catch people out, I have several models of MkIIIs past the first 15 with Welland tailpipe. The extended nacelles although fitted to last MkIIIs, I think was also retrofitted. It added quite a few knots of airspeed. The Mk3(as it became) survived as a training aircraft into the early fifties. 

[DaveyGair]

I think you guys are more learned than me about the Meteor, I have the 'Flightcraft book number 13 on the subject and what it tells me is the 616 or 74 Sdn. aircraft I want to do has these vents, there is no option in the kit for the 'long' tail-pipe just a short ring glued onto the end of the nascelle. Anyway, I've highjacked your thread for long enough Mr T, I'll get on with my build accurate or not! 😁

 

(Still confused) Davey.