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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

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I'll take part with a Meteor F.4 from the (then) Dutch Air Forces, as they were still part of the Royal Army at that time. The Air Force only became the Royal (Netherlands') Air Force in 1953....

 

In any case, the Dutch Meteors weren't the most colorful variants to ever see the skies, but hey...

There aren't many photos of the F.4 around on the internet either, so you have to make do with some early ones, BEFORE the introduction of squadron and base-colors.

 

met23.jpg

www.strijdbewijs.nl

 

met8a3a7baf2504b3a84588671ddd51fef8fa0d9

www.gahetna.nl / fotocollectie Anefo, J.D. Noske

 

The second photo is from September 28th, 1949, showing a Meteor that made a crash-landing near the fishing town of Volendam, showing the squadron code "3P", meaning it was from 324 Sqn.

 

The trigger to start the kit was a scale modeling day, organized by the Aviodrome Aircraft Museum on Lelystad Airport on June 20th.

http://www.aviodrome.nl/dagje-uit-aviodrome?gclid=CjwKEAjwwZmsBRDOh7C6rKO8zkcSJABCusnbJ2GHPWa1iPn7Qk2rK6rPNFwMpY9N3MDpD_AI33QnFhoCtLTw_wcB

 

YBT_4877.jpg

 

Met10440749_495403643943800_401989899358

 

Met11233176_495403120610519_287060067805

 

The first thing to keep in mind is that the sprue attachments are on the contact surfaces of the fuselage halves and have to be carefully removed. If that is don, it's advisable to treat both contact surfaces to a little sanding with a sanding stick as there are some slight irregularities around the aligning pin holes, as you can see.

 

YBT_4875.jpg

 

To be continued.

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Foot? Foot? Oh you mean the bread rolls with cheese? Yeah, Dutchman..... On the penny...... Brought my own food..... :)

 

As for the aftermarket, Jeroen, I'll be using:

 

Fisher's long chord intakes:

fishera3230reviewbg_1.jpg

www.hyperscale.com

 

The Eduard Interior Zoom set:

 

zoom1.jpg

Jeroen Peters

 

http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/3022-eduard-gloster-meteor-f4-interior-and-seat-belts/

 

Brassin wheels & mudflaps:

 

pic1.jpg

Benjamin Summerfield

 

http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/3038-132-meteor-f4-wheels-for-hk-kit/

 

HGW Q-Type harness:

 

98678_0.jpg

 

And I have to scrounge a Hawker Hurricane seat from somewhere. My PCM Hurricanes have made themselves scarce as they don't seem to want to be violated.... ;)

 

In any case, I progressed with a set of ailerons (with "working" trim-tabs) and a rudder..... Photos of this breaking news will follow shortly...

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Welllllllll, in the opening post I remarked that it was quite visible that the mating surfaces of the fuselage benefit from a light sanding before assembly. I didn't vector in the consequences of down-sampling the hi-res image by uploading it to Photobucket so:

 

YBT_5191.jpg

 

As you can see, the mating surfaces are just slightly uneven. Also, the sprue attachment points are located on the mating surfaces. No problem at all if you are aware of it and devote a little bit of time to making sure that the surfaces are correctly levelled.

 

I tracked down one of my PCM Hurricanes and nicked it's resin seat. This one will be the furniture of the Meteor's office:

 

YBT_5190.jpg

 

As written earlier; I have been working on the ailerons and rudder. That's because I have the weird preference of finishing as much sub-assemblies prior to starting building and painting cockpits, wheel wells etc. Maybe it's just  a form of flight to committing to the serious aspects of modelling! ;)

 

In any case, during my flight a made somewhat of a boo-boo with the ailerons. Fitting them together it's readily apparent that a seam will be visible at the aft end. That's because the insides aren't totally flat but seem "sort of" bevelled at the trailing edge. The elevators show the same problem. I lightly sanded the part and the bevelled edge shows up lighter (above the trim tab) because the sandpaper didn't touch the surface there:

 

YBT_5194.jpg

 

The only solution is really to lightly and evenly sand the part on a piece of sandpaper that is fixed to a piece of glass or something flat & straight like that. Somewhat akin to the sanding done on vacuform models! The only drawback is that that could make the ailerons and elevators somewhat too slim for the wing or horizontal tail...

 

Otherwise the consequence is a seam at the trailing edge that needs to be filled. getting the trailing edge of the ailerons and elevators thin enough will prove to be difficult without destroying outside detail. Even if the Meteor was built rather sturdy, it didn't have the 1-inch trailing edges like the Javelin for instance had!

 

YBT_5193.jpg

 

In any case, I wanted to be able to position the trim tabs after assembly, so using Gunze or Tamiya Extra Thin cement between the parts was a definite no-no. I used a VERY small amount of CA gel for the trailing mating surfaces, making sure that no glue could reacht the axles of the trim tabs. The fronts and sides of the assemblies could then be glued with a modest amount of Extra Thin cement.

 

To be continued.

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Hi big guy,

Had the same problems during my build, and the method as described by you works very well. The upper fuselage seam is challenging but the plastic is thick enough to stand some rigourous sanding. Reinforcing the joint with superglue helps too.

Cees

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wellllllll, building the F.4 looks to be rather trouble-free and potentially ;) fast. I'm not convinced by the curvature of the sliding (and fixed aft) hood and still waiting for Paul Fisher's F.4 canopy correction set. But if that shape doesn't bother you, chances are that the shape of the front of the engine nacelle doesn't either. Get one and build it!

 

Converting the F.4 into the F.8 with the Fisher set is somewhat more involved....... ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Fit the canopy last, don't let that slow your Meteor down.

Cees

 

Was nice meeting up with you at the Aviation Megastore yesterday! As we discussed the Meteor too; I WILL let the canopy slow the Meteor down. It may be my own autism-thingy but I can't put my heart and soul in a build if not all the parts are sorted. I then have simply a fear that the whole model would sit almost finished for months in the cabinet, waiting for that last part.... And yeah, even with my track record of finished builds I have that fear....

 

So the Meteor goes on hold for a little while. In the near future, Huub and I are going to try to make a master for a vacform canopy. If that's succesful and I find someone that can form the canopy, the race is on again!

 

In the meantime, since I have also bought HK's Mosquito, I'll start that build! I'm looking forward to extra detail the cockpit on that one!

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Erik,

It would be nice if an accurate canopy can be produced before my retirement and would certainly order one. I liked building my Meteor despite the incorrect canopy. Even with the kit canopy it looks like a Meteor, here is my build.

 

image_zpsaa4460a7.jpg

 

You and Huub Huub Barbatruuk are certainly qualified doing a master.

Cees

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  • 1 year later...

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