RAAF Gloster Meteor F.8, 1/48 by Airfix
According to my references, A77-157 was delivered to the RAAF in Korea in February, 1952 & survived the conflict to meet its fate as a target drone in Woomera, South Australia in September 1969. Late production Meteors were equipped with fully clear canopies & enlarged air intakes & some earlier machines were retrofitted as was -157. Fortunately all the necessary options are provided in the kit, as is the DF aerial cover on the fuselage. The only extras added are the two whip aerials which are stretched sprue. Decals are from the box but serials are from an old sheet of RAAF serials, which went on just fine after about 15 years in the spares box! These Meteors were painted 'High Speed Silver' for which I mixed Valleho aluminium, a dab of Lifecolor medium sea grey & some Future thinned with water.
Finish coat is Hannants clear satin. Weathering is minimal. Hope you like it.
Beautiful build, Tony...a shame it was relegated to drone status.
Thanks Craig. I really enjoyed this one.
Nice looking Meteor.
Thanks Greg
A magnificent looking Meteor! Well done!
Very kind words Morne. I nearly did a camouflaged RAF version, but I'm glad I stuck to my original silver.
Not often that one see a Korean War Meteor. One always here about the exploits of the F86 Sabre in Korea and the role of the Meteor in that conflict is rarely publisized. Thanks for posting this one!
Great model! Panel the effect would be not superfluous.
Thanks Dmitry. Most RAAF aircraft of this period had a high speed silver paint job. It looks a bit boring, I know, but Australian built Mustangs, Vampires, Sabres & Meteors were all painted like this & natural metal finishes only returned with the Mirage. I hope to do another of these & next time I will make it dirty as it appeared in Korea.
Thanks, Tony, I didn't know this fact.
And success in the following model!
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Nice looking build, very clean and authentic looking.
Just as Craig stated ... " a shame it was relegated to drone status ", I am pretty much sure she would be exhibited in a museum surrounded by pictures showing al the viewers her past, especially the youngsters.
Good job Tony as well as the photography.
Thanks for the compliments! There's a gorgeous Meteor still flying at the Temora Aviation Museum in New South Wales (check their website for a treat) plus a few others in Australia.
Good clean build. Nice 'high speed' finish.
Thank you Rob.
I'm reading that Hornby is having some financial troubles and yet Airfix which falls under its corporate umbrella seems to being making some popular new kits which put them in the black. This being one of them. I hope Airfix can weather the times and continue to release some of these superb models. A real stand up model Tony. Very sharp and crisp in its presentation.
Thanks Stephen. Buy up big on Airfix: it's a whole new era with their new kits & so many more candidates still to come.
Good job.
Thanks Robert.
Stephan, is the train side of the house pulling Hornby down? Or just bad choices by management?
Yes it would appear that its the train side and having moved their manufacturing site to China.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/22/hornby-launches-8m-share-placing-to-fuel-turnaround-plan/
I love Meteors, and I love this one, excellent job. Let's hope that Airfix manages to survive whatever happens with the Hornby business.
Thanks George. I completely agree.
Tony, very nice, The more I look, the more I like. A few years ago I wouldn't have touched Airfix, looks like I need to start stocking up.
You had best stock quickly, these new releases are proving extremely popular and the initial runs sell quickly.
Regards,
Thanks Terry. Kent's right especially with this kit as there's a heap of marking options out there.
Very nice Tony, great effort and result.
Regards,
Thanks Kent
Very nice. I've just finished one as a KW bird with the early canopy (very nice of Airfix to get that right with the "bulged" perspex). Certainly beats the "putty monster" CA kits all to hell and gone. I'll definitely do another.
Thanks Tom. Airfix is on a winner here. I'll certainly do another, but I'm hoping there'll be a second release with rockets or an F9 or 10 option.
LIKE!
great work
P.k
Thanks P.k.
Fantastic to see the RAAF Meteor featured!
My father flew 201 sorties in them during the Korean War with 77 Squadron
Thank you. 🙂
Many thanks Owen. I enjoyed this kit so much I went out & bought another...as luck would have it I also found a full set of RPs in my spares box to put on it!