Gloster Meteor F.8 at Försökscentralen
The Försökscentralen (Test & Evaluation squadron) is a lesser known part of the Swedish air force. It tests flying materiel, tactics and equipment. Although it probably got less money in the budge than Pentagon use for paperclips in a year, it seems to perform wonders. Usually it use quite normal aircraft but every now and then a machine from outside the normal air force inventory finds its way into the operations. This model would be a try to imagine the classic Meteor F.8 in Swedish service, it never flew with crown marks on its wings.
The Airfix 1/48 scale Meteor F.8 has been on the market for a few years and a fair number have been built. Some in a pain free fashion and with great results. Others have come to this world under more or less hard work. My Meteor took some effort and had a year or two on the shelf before I actually decided to not be let down by some issues. While most of the build was relatively care free I bumped into some less fantastic moments. The rear wing root sections are separate and didn´t fit too well and created a bit of a gap to the actual wing. The bits fitted nice to the body but took a bit of putty to close a bad gap which ruined all rivets as they had to go while sanding. Also, the front and its intricate "scaffolding" holding the nose gear must be test fitted, fitted and tested again and again to really fit. I managed to carve and snip and get things look sort of OK in the end. Then one has to get the nose cone to fit AND also make sure the front door get in the right position. Well, didn´t happen and I had to take some drastic measures... The hatches to the guns on the sides also didn´t fit 100 % alright. All could of course have to do with me...or was it that this was one of the dreaded boxes from India? The long test probe in the nose is from Maestro and actually for Saab 32 Lansen. The Airfix decals performed flawlessly, a very positive experience, and literally looks painted on since the clear film just disapears with some setting solutions. Just watch out as they are extremely thin and have a habit to fold over itself. To add some colour and hide the empty engine nacelles I scratched FOD covers in PC.
Anyway, after a long time on the shelf I decided to pick it back up on my desk and have a go at it, if for no other reason than have a good paint session to try out a few techniques. In the end I´m happy I never gave it up for dead and gone.
Paints were Vallejo metal colors and Vallejo model air. The black design was painted and masked in a negative way; black paint was shot over primer base then masked the proper width with tape. I then gave the entire model a good cover with aluminium shades before sealing it all with floor polish before decalling and weathering with old school oils. Decals were from Flying colors, Red bolt and Moose republic, all Swedish designed.
