1/48 Airfix Meteor F.8

[Terry1954]

Just picked up on this one Matt. Nice start and will follow with interest.

 

As you know (saw you recently picked it up) I built this just over a year ago. I quite like Meteors and as well as a couple of 1/72 Special Hobby types, I have a 1/48 Classic Airframes FR9 and a 1/48 Sword NF14 all sitting in the stash waiting to be built.

 

Terry

[Back in the Saddle]

On 15/11/2022 at 02:31, Ray_W said:

I love the photos. What a great weathering subject. Seems a shame though to dirty up something with such spectacular markings.

Thanks Ray. I'm not planning much weathering on this one - I think the CO's jet would have been kept quite clean! From the reference photos it looks like some panel line enhancements will be quite sufficient for this build.

 

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

Just picked up on this one Matt. Nice start and will follow with interest.

Thanks Terry, it's an attractive jet, a sensible size and very nicely detailed OOB. Looking forward to seeing your other Meteors too - maybe join in with this GB?!

 

The wings are now glued together and awaiting their engines to be built:

 

 

And here's the underside, showing the rather nice bay detail:

 

 

Finally the intakes. Airfix supply an inner sleeve, along with narrow and wide bore intakes - plenty of options here for different variants:

 

 

I have applied a coat of primer to everything that needed it, so painting can begin in earnest when I get the chance.👍

[Back in the Saddle]

Painting has now commenced! Thanks to @Terry1954 for his guidance on using MRP acrylics - I've opened the bottle of matt black and it worked beautifully. My first task was spraying the cockpit and seat:

 

 

These assemblies are now ready for brush-painting the finer details.👍

 

I then broached the Alclad base coat bottle and sprayed anything destined to be metallic, starting with the cannon and nose gear bays (the cockpit floor section is sprayed matt black):

 

 

The two Derwents also received a base coat of gloss black Alclad:

 

 

Along with the intakes and inner sleeves:

 

 

The oil tanks received a coat of MRP matt black and the cowling supports were painted with Alclad gloss black:

 

 

The engine bays will also be painted with a nmf, so received a base coat of black Alclad:

 

 

As did the undercarriage bays:

 

 

Detailed painting can now begin - I just need some good references for the engines...

 

 

[Terry1954]

Good to see more progress on this one Matt, and glad you like the MRP paints. I'm using them more and more these days.

 

I found plenty of Derwent pics online, and I found it remarkable how colouring and paintwork differed from engine to engine, most likely as many are preserved in museums, which IMHO don't always reflect how they looked in service!

 

Terry

 

 

[AMB]

On 11/12/2022 at 1:26 AM, Julien said:

Those decals are available but take a lot of patience to get right.

Were the tail stripes  painted differently between different squadron aircraft as WH364 has the horizontal tailplane stripes painted diagonally and the tail fin stripes are not the same pattern? 

[Julien]

12 hours ago, AMB said:

Were the tail stripes  painted differently between different squadron aircraft as WH364 has the horizontal tailplane stripes painted diagonally and the tail fin stripes are not the same pattern? 

No idea Adrian, I just used the decal instructions for this one. They did match as far as I could see the photo I found.  @Jon Kunac-Tabinor do you have any more info on this?

[Julien]

On 07/12/2022 at 02:53, Back in the Saddle said:

 

 

 

 

Along with the intakes and inner sleeves:

 

 

 

The oil tanks received a coat of MRP matt black and the cowling supports were painted with Alclad gloss black:

 

 

 

The engine bays will also be painted with a nmf, so received a base coat of black Alclad:

 

 

 

As did the undercarriage bays:

 

 

 

Detailed painting can now begin - I just need some good references for the engines...

 

 

Matt intakes are dark grey in colour inside and wheel wells and airbrake insides will be High Speed Silver not NMF

 

JUlien

[Back in the Saddle]

On 07/12/2022 at 10:42, Terry1954 said:

Good to see more progress on this one Matt, and glad you like the MRP paints. I'm using them more and more these days.

Thanks Terry - I'm already a convert as they are very easy to use and give great results. I'm practicing on this build, then the Vulcan is next! 👍

 

On 07/12/2022 at 10:42, Terry1954 said:

I found plenty of Derwent pics online, and I found it remarkable how colouring and paintwork differed from engine to engine, most likely as many are preserved in museums, which IMHO don't always reflect how they looked in service!

That's the problem I've had; there are many variations out there! I found this image on Wikipedia, which shows the Derwent engine on display at Hendon:

 

 

Many of the other images I've found online are in broad agreement with each other, so I now have something to base my painting upon!

 

Regarding authenticity, I've also been in contact with @AMB, who has researched the schemes worn by 601 Squadron aircraft. He has given me some very helpful information about the scheme worn by WH364 and I'll post more about this another day. My thanks to Adrain for his invaluable advice, it is very much appreciated and will help me greatly when I get to the decal stage of the model.

 

The aluminium has now been painted onto the model, starting with the engine bays:

 

 

And undercarriage bays:

 

 

Both of these still need a flory wash to bring out the details and stop them looking too pristine!

 

The cannon housings were also painted:

 

 

And then treated to some Flory before being attached to the cockpit tub:

 

 

Talking of the cockpit, that too has been painted:

 

 

 

The nose gear recess was missed when I sprayed the black, so it received a brushed coat of dark grey a few days later - I don't think this will be noticed once the cockpit is buried inside the fuselage!

 

The seat has been started but needs a bit more work to get it finished. Here it is, dry fitted into the cockpit:

 

 

For some reason this is touching the rudder pedals. Once the seat is removed, you can see how close they are. The channels in the cockpit floor suggest that in service these could have been adjusted away from the location shown:

 

 

Incidentally, fitting the cannon housings to the cockpit wasn't as straightforward as I expected, as they had room to move about when placed onto their location tabs. The only way to ensure that they were in the right place was to dry fit the cockpit tub into the fuselage and then tightly clamp it into position:

 

 

The next update will show the engines and hopefully some more details about the scheme I need to create for the squadron markings.👍

 

 

[81-er]

Those aren't the rudder pedals, they're part of the seat supports. Have a look at the image Julien posted here

 

Nice work on the cockpit and the internals.

 

James

[Terry1954]

Very nice work on the cockpit Matt 👍

 

Terry

[Back in the Saddle]

7 hours ago, 81-er said:

Those aren't the rudder pedals, they're part of the seat supports. Have a look at the image Julien posted here

Thanks James, that makes much more sense now I’ve seen the picture.👍

 

7 hours ago, 81-er said:

Nice work on the cockpit and the internals.

 

4 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Very nice work on the cockpit Matt 👍

Thank you! There’s a bit more to be done, but it’s getting there.

[CliffB]

This is a really interesting thread to follow Matt, with all its twists and turns (plus great photos).  Keep up the good work!

[Back in the Saddle]

4 hours ago, CliffB said:

This is a really interesting thread to follow Matt, with all its twists and turns (plus great photos).  Keep up the good work!

Thanks Cliff!

As promised, here is some more information about the scheme I'm planning to depict. It's based upon the photos of WH364 provided by @theplasticsurgeon in the reference thread, but with some amendments as suggested by @AMB following his research into the 601 Squadron schemes. Firstly the tail - I believe the photo below is accurate in showing the diagonal stripes on the tailplane (not in the same orientation as the stripes on WK722 earlier in this thread, which are running fore and aft). It also shows the bullet fairing painted red, which matches Adrian's research:

 

 

The squadron markings need amending however, as they are not quite right on the museum example. There should be just two black triangles on each side of the roundel, so the area shown below with the green tint is incorrect:

 

 

This extra red/black section will be removed; at the same time I will also introduce a slight gap, as these markings did not touch the roundel - there should be a small area of HSS between them.

 

One final detail provided by Adrian concerned the nose gear door. This should be red, with a letter 'B' painted on it in in black with a white outline. I've had a little tinker on Photoshop and come up with this, which I hope is correct:

 

 

The black letter is accurate, but I'm not 100% sure about the border... any opinions on this are welcomed!

 

Finally for now, a quick look at the engines. The oil tanks are painted and weathered, but need a few more details to finish them off:

 

 

And the engines themselves:

 

 

These also need a bit more work, including a dark wash to highlight the details on the inlet mesh. I'm hoping these will pass muster once finished!

 

My plan is to install these at the end of the build, so I can fit the engine cowlings into place with blu tack when I reach the painting stage - I believe the fit is not so good if the engines are already in place...? I also need to fill some gaps on the intakes and cowlings which are moulded into the plastic but did not exist in reality. Thanks to @Retired Bob (and others!) for pointing this out in their own build threads.

 

Off now to check for short shot tailplane pieces...🤞

 

[Back in the Saddle]

The tailplane sections look pretty good. If they are short shot, it is only a tiny amount of plastic that is missing. I'll find out for sure once I glue the sections together!

 

I have done some more work on Photoshop to design the squadron markings:

 

 

I will do a test print to see how these look and if suitable, commit them to decal paper.👍

 

I did not bother trying to design decals for the black stripes on the tail as I suspect it will be easier to paint these...

 

I have also glued the wing fillets into place. One went on nicely, but on the other one I used too much glue and had to re-scribe the panel line:

 

 

Almost repaired, just a bit more tidying up to do!

[Back in the Saddle]

I think it's fair to say this one won't get finished before the GB deadline... A busy few weeks both at home and at work have severely limited my bench time!

 

However, a little progress was made from time to time. The engines are now complete and fitted:

 

 

Work on the cockpit is also finished:

 

 

 

And whilst away, I dabbled on Photoshop and came up with some replacement squadron markings and badges for the outer engine nacelles:

 

 

My next job is filling in some unwanted panel lines on the cowlings and engine nacelles (marked with red):

 

 

I will make as much progress as I can during my days off, but will be asking the mods to move this thread at some point in the not too distant future...

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry to see you will need to move the thread. Understand completely that life takes precedence over modeling. I just hope you enjoyed the time you’ve spent here. 

[Back in the Saddle]

14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sorry to see you will need to move the thread.

I have previous form in this regard - my models always take longer to build than I expect...!

 

14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I just hope you enjoyed the time you’ve spent here. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this GB - it's been my favourite one to date. I've seen some great other models come together and this build was a complete pleasure, with some interesting research too. I will hopefully finish it soon!

[Back in the Saddle]

Time for a concerted effort to try to get this one close to completion!

 

Next job was building the canons. Here are the bits:

 

 

Once built, they looked like this:

 

 

 

With the cockpit tub completely finished, it was time for installation. Firstly I glued in onto one side of the fuselage:

 

 

Then the other fuselage half was attached. As warned by others, the fit was snug and both clamps and tape were needed to hold the nose together:

 

 

One of the fuselage sides was warped, so I elected to glue the tail together next - note the gap!:

 

 

The final job was sealing the middle of the fuselage, but despite my best efforts, a gap remains:

 

 

I'm sure some filler will soon fix this - I just hope the canopy fits as expected...

 

Talking of which, by comparison, the transparencies are a joy - beautifully clear with barely any optical distortion:

 

 

Tail feathers next, then some filling, sanding and priming!

 

[Back in the Saddle]

Probably my penultimate update for this GB, as I attempt to complete a bit more before the deadline!

 

There are a few pieces left to build - primarily the undercarriage:

 

 

And flight control surfaces:

 

 

The rudder/elevator sections are sitting on the remains of a lonely sprue:

 

 

As warned, the tailplane pieces were short shot:

 

 

Plan A was to build them up with Milliput:

 

 

And then sand them to the correct profile:

 

 

The job had reached this stage when I snapped the Milliput - it was a bit brittle and thin for this job!

 

Plan B was a similar process using plastic sheet:

 

 

Once sanded it should look good!

 

A quick look at the rudder construction, which is rather cunning:

 

 

The top section glues into the bottom after being inserted through the hinge points - very novel!

 

I'm hoping to get a bit more done before this GB finishes, depending on how busy the weekend is...!

[Back in the Saddle]

On 27/01/2023 at 16:35, Back in the Saddle said:

I'm hoping to get a bit more done before this GB finishes, depending on how busy the weekend is...!

I think it's fair to say I failed! 😆

 

 

After a long hiatus, work on this has now resumed. My motivation is simple - it's almost ready for paint and I want to get this done before the weather turns...

 

The model was left with the tail feathers waiting to be attached. I fixed those into position today:

 

 

And work on the nose cone has begun. The fit wasn't brilliant, but some filler should rectify that:

 

 

Apologies for the poor light quality when I took that shot!

 

I will plug away at this one, finishing off the final bits. Then the spray booth awaits.👍

[Terry1954]

Great to see this back on the go Matt, and remember ......... a good build, is like a fine wine. It takes time to mature, and must never be rushed!

 

A small word of warning. I found the wing to fuselage mating took a bit of encouragement, but on my example, the fuselage was quite warped, so yours may be fine.

 

Cheera

 

Terry

[Back in the Saddle]

On 12/09/2023 at 21:27, Terry1954 said:

Great to see this back on the go Matt, and remember ......... a good build, is like a fine wine. It takes time to mature, and must never be rushed!

Cheers Terry. It sounds a bit like me too - but I still haven't matured and can never be rushed! 😆

 

On 12/09/2023 at 21:27, Terry1954 said:

A small word of warning. I found the wing to fuselage mating took a bit of encouragement, but on my example, the fuselage was quite warped, so yours may be fine.

Funnily enough this was the next task on my list... The wing fitted into place easily enough but there seems to be a noticeable gap along the wing roots:

 

 

I added TET to these areas and gradually the gap was filled. The belly tank was next and that's when the fun really started... Something was warped, so I initially glued the front of the tank into position:

 

 

Note the huge gap at the rear of the tank and the large step between the wing/fuselage sections (between the orange dots).

 

Once the front was secure, I used my big clamps to force the the rear of the tank into place:

 

 

The rear clamp was stopping the other one from sliding off!

 

Once the glue had set it all looked satisfactory. However, there was a moulded ridge on the fuselage which I had inadvertently sanded away when joining the fuselage halves together (shown by the orange dots again), so I built this up again using some filler added between two pieces of tape:

 

 

The next job is spraying the wing leading edges in front of the intakes, so I can then complete the nacelles. I am also finishing the cockpit so the canopy can be glued on too, ready for painting the whole model. After that it's essentially just the undercarriage and custom decals!👍

 

 

 

[franky boy]

Nice to see this one back on the bench Matt. 
 

look forward to more progress. 
 

James

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Good to see this one back in the factory. 

[stever219]

On 12/13/2022 at 4:40 PM, 81-er said:

Those aren't the rudder pedals, they're part of the seat supports. Have a look at the image Julien posted here

 

Nice work on the cockpit and the internals.

 

James

Not quite; they’re footrests that are only used during ejection and are part of the seat itself, rather than part of the aeroplane..  As the seat travels up the guide rails the leg restraint cords, which are anchored to the cockpit floor just in front of the seat pan and secured to garters on the occupant’s flying clothing, pull the occupant’s legs back so that (usually) his heels are drawn into the rests.  Along with the high thigh guards on the front of the seat sides this prevents the legs flailing outwards and upwards as seat and occupant rise into the air stream around the cockpit.  I think that Airfix moulded them a small part of the cockpit floor as a convenience whilst providing as much detail as possible.  I’ve an idea that the seat in the 1/48th Hunter should also have the footrests but I need to check.