Yet another Airfix Meteor F.8

[Retired Bob]

I want to join this GB with another Airfix 1/48th Meteor F.8, the kit looks very good but to improve it I have some AM in the form of the Eduard Zoom cockpit p/e set and Eduard resin wheels and mudguards.  I am planning to paint this kit in the high speed silver finish and 615 Sqn markings as worn by WH445 as flown by the CO of the Sqn.  Here is the kit, ready for a soapy wash.

 

I don't know too much about the Meteor, so I have bought a book to learn more, pictured here with the AM that I have.

 

Ready to begin this kit, I will get the cockpit started first. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome with a good choice and some nice goodies. 

[Retired Bob]

26 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Welcome with a good choice and some nice goodies. 

Thanks for the welcome Dennis, I realise that I have not taken a photo of the FCM decals that I will be using for the Sqn markings  I'll take one tomorrow, I did get a Pavla Mk 2 ejection seat but it's not as good as the CMK seat that Ray has for his build, in fact I think the kit seat will look better, I'll do them both and see which is best.

[franky boy]

Nice choice Bob

 

Looking forward to seeing some progress shots. 

 

James

[Retired Bob]

I have started cutting plastic, I have cut away the cockpit and engine parts, removed the raised detail from the instrument panel and sprayed a base coat of matt black on all these parts.  I will be closing the engines up in the wings, so I don't need to detail them too much.  Once I have applied the p/e to the cockpit parts I will have something worth taking a photo of.

As promised here is a photo of the FCM decals, kit decals that I will use the stencils and walkway markings from and the reference photo of WH445 that I am using for inspiration.

 

Any advice or comments are always welcome. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Some good looking decals, I was considering there stuff as I want to do some Brazilian aircraft as well. Will pay close attention to see how these decals function. 

[Retired Bob]

Sorry for the delay in me posting anything on my build but ill health has laid me low so apart from some work on my armoured car build in that GB I have finally got some motivation going on this build, at last.  Finished the cockpit parts, painted them with Tamiya NATO black and stuck on the Eduard p/e parts, the instrument panel has come out ok after applying some gloss varnish to the instrument dials.  The cockpit tub halves were dry brushed with some medium grey then some silver to make it look slightly worn.

 

The engines have been assembled and given a lick of Tamiya black then dry brushed silver, not much will be seen through the engine intakes, not even when fitting the deep breather larger ones.  Gun panels have been glued on; I have applied some sprue goo to try and reduce the gap around these panels, they will need tidying up with a scriber to even out the panel lines.

So next job will be to close up the fuselage halves, not forgetting to put in some lead shot as a nose weight.

I also made a start on the wings, gluing in the undercarriage bays, exhaust pipes and engine mounting points.  The engine bays were painted silver and the shrinkage on the top of the wings where an internal raised section is located was filled, sanded and polished.  I have fitted the wing lens and drilled the holes for the ventral tank so now the engines can go in and the wing uppers can be glued on.

So far so good.  Any comments or questions are always welcome.

[81-er]

That's a nice start, particularly the cockpit

 

James

[franky boy]

Nice work Bob. 

 

Look forward to more progress pics. 

 

James

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Sorry for the delay in me posting anything on my build but ill health has laid me low

No worries sir .. Health and life always take precedence. I like to remind people that plastic never expires. You can always come back to things when you're in a better way. The office looks good by the way. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Wings unlevel]

Some lovely detailing there, the engines are terrific.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Wings unlevel

[Celestialsphere]

Those engine intake screens are the bees knees. Marvellous!

[Retired Bob]

 

On 02/12/2022 at 21:14, Wings unlevel said:

Some lovely detailing there, the engines are terrific.

 

On 03/12/2022 at 01:49, Celestialsphere said:

Those engine intake screens are the bees knees. Marvellous!

 

Just a pity they cannot be seen when fitted into the wings.  🙄

 

I have glued the engines into the wing lower half.  As I'm shutting the engine upper panels, I glued these to the upper wing halves before attaching the wing upper and lower sections together.  It makes more sense to do it this way as you can get a better, stronger fit of those engine panels.  The cockpit parts have been glued together, I boxed in behind the cockpit tub and between the canon housings, this was then filled with lead shot and secured with PVA glue, Airfix recommend 15 grams, I added a bit more, just to be sure it sits on all three wheels.

When it's dry, I can glue this assembly into the fuselage and then glue the two fuselage halves together.

[Retired Bob]

Wing upper surfaces have been glued onto the lower wing, looking at the photo I posted earlier of WH445, it looks to me that it has the larger 'deep breather' intakes. does anyone have any thoughts on that photo?  It's date according to the book is 1953.  I will post a photo of my progress tomorrow after I have cleaned up the wing leading edges.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

5 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Wing upper surfaces have been glued onto the lower wing, looking at the photo I posted earlier of WH445, it looks to me that it has the larger 'deep breather' intakes. does anyone have any thoughts on that photo?  It's date according to the book is 1953.  I will post a photo of my progress tomorrow after I have cleaned up the wing leading edges.

Im no expert but think in 1953 that they’d still be smaller intakes. Maybe @Graham Boak might know ? 

[Retired Bob]

6 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Im no expert but think in 1953 that they’d still be smaller intakes. Maybe @Graham Boak might know ? 

Given the airframe serial number and the early date I thought the same Dennis but compared to photos of small intake aircraft those intakes on the photo do seem large to me.  I wonder if it was a case of being the aircraft of the squadron commander he had 'obtained' some improvements besides changing the aircraft letter from L to S.

[Spad]

Nice neat work there, as ever Bob, as I have come to expect from you 😉 Moving along fast as well! I had better get my skates on!

 

[Navy Bird]

Beautiful work so far!   👍

 

In your reference photo, the intakes look like the large mouth versions to me. I just finished WK799, which was used in the Queen's coronation review in 1952 and the one photo I've seen of that aircraft it definitely has the large intakes.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Retired Bob]

14 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

In your reference photo, the intakes look like the large mouth versions to me. I just finished WK799, which was used in the Queen's coronation review in 1952 and the one photo I've seen of that aircraft it definitely has the large intakes.

Thanks for the support Bill, trying to work out what type of intakes or ailerons on these early silver aircraft is a pain.  Looking at various books has shown me that there was some RHP as we called it in the service, Rank Has Privilege, and the Commanding Officer of the Squadron often had the newest modifications to the aircraft.  So I will be building mine with the large intakes and the sprung double tab ailerons.

Superb job with your Meteor, Bill.  Pity it's the wrong squadron, mine will be in blue and white checks as I'm ex-19(F) Sqn ground crew.  

[Retired Bob]

Here is the photo of the wings all glued together and the seams all cleaned up, the fuselage is together with the stretcher pieces of sprue to eliminate any gaps between the fuselage and wings.  I have added the nose wheel leg and painted it silver so now it is ready to attach the nose section.  I had assembled the earlier set of ailerons but I will now go with the later double sprung ones.

The next step will be to attach the wings to the fuselage, fill the recess under the nose then attach the ventral tank.

 

The delay this time in posting was because I had been looking after my sons dog wolf for a couple of days, he's a friendly fella but takes an interest in anything that you do and then tries to eat it.  He is only 10 months old, so still really a puppy.  Here he is looking over a 4 foot fence which has to be replaced now because he can jump over it!

 

[Navy Bird]

Beautiful puppy - the Meatbox is looking pretty good too!

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great looking Dog, the build isnt too shabby either. 😉

[CliffB]

Puppy?  Yikes!

 

[Wings unlevel]

15 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

he's a friendly fella but takes an interest in anything that you do and then tries to eat it

I suspect you’ll need a fair few meat boxes to keep him fed! 😆

[Retired Bob]

5 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

I suspect you’ll need a fair few meat boxes to keep him fed! 😆

You're not wrong, he chomps down a dozen sausages as a snack, then looks for some more things to eat, though he's not a cannibal, he won't eat hot dogs. 

 

Back to the Meatbox, I have glued on the wings, attached the intakes, ailerons and nose.  While the glue dries I can attach the tailplanes and rudder, I have already added a piece of plastic to the rear section of the left hand tailplane as they all seem to suffer from a bit of short shot, (parts C1 & C4)

 

While the airframe is getting ready for some primer I had better start on the ejection seat and undercarriage.  Hope the weather warms up a bit, soon. 🙄