DesTROYer Dual 1/48 Airfix Gloster Meteor F.8 Build

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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After a recent month long break due to a hospital stay, I got back to the work bench this past wekend and started on my latest build, or should I say builds.I had two 1/48 Airfix Meteor F.8 kits in the stash and wanted to do one in flight and one with the engines and guns exposed, I decided to do the two at the same time.

The inflight model will be A77-854 with rockets and will be 98% OOB with only the seat “enhanced” by photo etch that is left over from the under service Meteor A77-851 Halestorm which will have resin seat & spent shell chutes, as well internal photo etch updates from Eduard.
It felt so good cutting and reshaping the first piece.

Before long I had two tubs well underway. The OOB one fell together in under 10 mins, but even with the little photo etch involved, the other is taking a fair bit longer.

I need to paint the seats, add some dry brushing to the cockpit walls and to apply some placard decals to both tubs and seats. The dials on the OOB IP will come from the kit decals but I think I’ll need to add some extra colour too.

Progress will be slow as I’m still taking it easy after the surgery, as I still have around 120 staples in my thigh, but we’re on the way.

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Hope you get healed up all the way! You picked a neat project(s) to pass the time, looking forward to seeing them complete.

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Hope you heal soon. Does give you more bench time eh. Have fun with the builds.

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Looking forward to seeing how you do those great builds. Will be following your build closely. Hope you have a 100% recovery.

Jim [cptn]

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The appointment at the Hospital yesterday taught me that I was pushing myself a little to hard, nothing serious, but I’m taking it easy for the rest of the week as I still heal. Still I set myself up with the stable table in my Lazyboy recliner today and did some more work on the cockpit tubs.

Firstly, and perhaps strangely as I would usually detail and seal before doing this, I applied the cockpit decals after watching a video on youtube that recommended this and using Micro Sol both before and after applying the decals to non gloss surfaces. Seems to work quite well.

Here is the IP’s of both jets. one with photo etch and the other with a decal. You’ll notice I didn’t get the decal lined up correctly on this first attempt. Good news is I had a second decal and managed to fix this.

The kit seat on the left, after market resin on the right, Again the decals applied before details painted and dry brushing added.

Now these tub sidewalls may look a little over done with the dry brushing, but IRL it looks right. I think its due to the macro lens I used to take the photos. Either way I was getting closer to joining up the second tub.

The two assembled tubs. The seat without belts will have a pilot added which will have the belts added afterwards. Just have to find the correct era pilot that fits to suit. I think I’ll have to replace the photo etch face shield handle on the resin seat. it looks too flimsy.

Last up I did pop out to the garage to fire up the airbrush and put some paint down on some other parts. This done, I may start to assemble the fuselage tomorrow If I’m up to it.

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Back into the office today, and I was able to sit at the bench with no pain, so WINNING!

I started by mixing and matching some pieces of some 1/48 pilots to set something that both fits in the top, but looks the part. The flight suit isn’t quite right, and the head is a bit out of scape, but once he gets a coat or two of paint and is sitting in his office, he’ll look the part.

Then I started on fitting the guns into the gun bays for the under service Meteor. A little touch up is still required but they’re getting there. They will look good once sealed, installed and given a wash I think.

Then it was on to the two sets of wings. One will have the engines exposed and the other will be inflight. Fit is great.

And besides putting the gunboat door covers on the inflight models fuselage, that was it for the day.

Oh and I did a little bit of work getting the display base for the Kiowa done for Expo. Its been on my todo list for a while.

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Your detailing of the offices is very nice Mate, but if you don’t mind me saying so,the drybrushing is a little heavy handed, it seems you have too much paint left on the brush because you’re getting streaks rather than wear marks. Just a little tip from your Uncle Jay.[:)]

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Hey Jay, you’re not wrong. I did that when I was stuck on the couch after surgery, didn’t have easy access to the rest of my brushes and over did it a bit. Not my usual standard I assure you. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

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You’re doing a fantastic job on this WIP, especially with that many staples placed to repair your thigh. I am glad you were able to continue your work at the bench. I also would like to add in that I most definately would like to offer the best healing process ever. Mrs. Toshi and I will be praying for a 100% healing procedure to you!

Your friend, Toshi

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Nice work Troy, look forward to the next instalment.

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Coming along great

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Hi everyone. Between Model Expo last weekend and a busy life, I haven’t been able to build or post as often as I would like to have. Still, last weekend saw me come home with two trophies and a commendation, so I can’t complain too much. This weekend, however, did let me spend some real decent time at the bench, and here is where we’re at.

I got the two fuselages buttoned up. One fought me a bit harder than the other, due in part to the placement of the instrument panel with the photo-etch. This resulted in some of the nice detailing becoming damaged and removed. I will replace some of it where I can, and the resin seat also presented some problems with space between the front of the seat, and the instrument panel. So out came the seat, and the kit supplied seat will end up being fitted instead. This too is very disappointing to me.

I also got the engines assembled, painted, then added some extra detail. Three are being installed in the planes, two will be hidden beneath closed panels but needed to be installed as they can be seen through the intakes.

They still need a gloss coat and pin wash, but they’re really coming together. I’m going to try and add some hoses too, but I must be careful not to overdo it or make them too big.

Wings and control surfaces have been fitted to the in-flight Meteor (Callsign: Meatbox 1) and wings, Landing gear and control surfaces have been added to the second ( Callsign: Meatbox 2)

Meatbox 2 will have more complicated tail markings painted on, so I have left the elevators off for now, but Meatbox 1 is all good for them to be attached.

I’m not sure if it’s my assembly of the kits or Airfix, but the noses on both kits are proving to be a pain to get to fit correctly. Some filler will be required, but as there are seams everywhere that will also need to be filled, there is no reason why the nose shouldn’t too.

That’s it for now. More next weekend.

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Nice work Troy, coming along really well.

I totally forgot the Expo was on during the long weekend, bugger it! I had every intention on going this year due to missing last year!!!

So I will have to wait another 355 days I suppose, in the meantime I hope to produce something worth entering… maybe.

Congrats on your tropies and commendation, well deserved.

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I struggled to find the motivation to do much in the office this weekend. I hadn’t been feeling well Thursday afternoon, took friday off work and spent most of it in bed. Spent a little time in there yesterday and today, and ended up with both planes in their base coat. So over all, not that bad I guess.

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Looking great

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That looks great so far. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out. [:)]

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Yes, looking great thus far!

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I don’t know why, maybe it’s the 1/32 bug making me wish I was building this in Manscale, or maybe it’s post expo blues, but I haven’t been feeling much mojo lately on this build and have been tempted to put them on the shelf for a while and move onto something else. But I don’t work that way, and when I start something, I finish it. That said, the motivation to get into the office on saturday eluded me, and sunday I had to force myself in. For Meatbox 1, I want to try and liven the scheme up a little and decided to try and do this RAAF Meteor. A77-867.

To my knowledge no decent decals exist for this scheme. So it would require me to fire up the old Macbook and cut out some stencils on my portrait cutter. First I masked off and painted the gloss white.

Then I got to work designing the masks. 5mmx5mm squares did the job. I also made up the serial numbers (not shown) as they were not right on the three decal sets I did have, according to my reference photos.

Getting the squares in place was a bit of a task and some weren’t sitting as flat as I would like, So after I had sprated the second coat of green, I was a bit worried that I may have had some bleeding.

There was a little bit, but not even close to what I was dreading. It should not take too much work to remask and touch up. I think maybe that the green may be a little too light. So I may even go the full effort and remask and spray a slighter darker coat, but I don’t want to push my luck, and might just touch up the areas that really need it.

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It was a wet an windy weekend here in Melbourne. Perfect for modelling. After I got all my other tasks underway, back into the office I went and got to work masking and painting up Meatbox 1. After touching up the tail checkers I moved onto the roundels.

The red and blue were next and went down pretty well. The only real drama I find when using masks is they don’t settle into the panel lines to well and when the paint is applied too wet, they do tend to run. Nothing too bad with this lot though. This was followed by the serial numbers which again went on ok, with only some minor bleeding. A little touch up here and there was required and some more will be required over the next few days, but I’m pretty happy with how it’s looking.

The airbrushes are now cleaned, the lights in the office are switched off, and dinner has been eaten. Here is we sit. One of the best investments I’ve made in this hobby is my Silhouette Curio Portrait Cutter. It allows me to do schemes that are not as readily available otherwise and lets you whip up solutions to problems you may come across pretty quickly.

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Alright, another weekend down and here is where we stand. Meatbox 2 now has its wheels, landing gear and most antennas on and as of today has been gloss coated so I can begin the decals over the next week.

Meatbox 1 now has had the hole for the stand cut out and the stand test fitted. It has also been clear coated ready for decals.

The engines have been clear coated too and I have painted up the stand. The stand needs some more details painted and a clear coat, and both will get a wash applied.

Finally, I wanted to build a rack to hold the covers from the engines and gun bays of Meatbox 2. I have no references to base this on and basically just pulled it out of my… head. Still, it does the job and needs only a little more work and a coat of paint and it will do the job nicely.

That’s it for now, more soon, thanks for following.