Revell 1/32 Gloster Meteor F.3

[MikeC]

9 minutes ago, Kagemusha said:

It's now listed at Hannants, far from a bargain.

Ouch. That's over twice what I paid for my HKM mk4.  I'll pass.

[npb748r]

1 hour ago, Kagemusha said:

It's now listed at Hannants, far from a bargain.

that's massively expensive for a 1/144 kit !!!!!!!   

[Kagemusha]

51 minutes ago, npb748r said:

that's massively expensive for a 1/144 kit !!!!!!!   

 

Especially as you get a free one with the HKM kit.

[Ali62]

On 12/16/2022 at 8:30 PM, LSP_Kevin said:

Someone on Facebook purports to have seen a Revell pricing spreadsheet that lists a Meteor F.4 at £140 in UK. Personally I think he's either misread or mistyped the info.

 

Kev

 

4 hours ago, Kagemusha said:

It's now listed at Hannants, far from a bargain.

Well the price range is now confirmed as being correct, all we need 100% confirmed is what version it will be and what we will get for our money…..

[Kagemusha]

41 minutes ago, Ali62 said:

 

Well the price range is now confirmed as being correct, all we need 100% confirmed is what version it will be and what we will get for our money…..

 

I received the information it's an F.3 from a very reliable source.

[D.B. Andrus]

Wonder if Radu was in on the design?

 

Cheers,

Damian

 

 

[Dpgsbody55]

9 hours ago, MikeC said:

I may be mistaken,  but wasn't the F3 powered by a Welland rather than a Derwent, which powered the mk 4 onwards? Mind you, I don't know if the visible differences were significant,  so it may well be do-able.

 

The very early F.3s were Welland powered (25, I think), and the Derwent 1 went into the rest.  The Welland was a Rolls Royce manufactured version of Rover's W.2B/23C or W.2B/37 engine, as initially Rover were chosen to be Frank Whittle's development partner due to their reputation for quality products.  However, tensions developed between the two when Rover made changes to Whittle's designs.   Derwent was basically a scaled down Nene and a Rolls Royce makeover of Rover's W.2B/500, the plans for which were handed over to RR in exchange for Rover taking on manufacture of the land based version of Merlin, AKA the Rover Meteor engine which powered various tanks.  This arrangement worked for both companies as well as solving the M.O.D.'s headaches due to delays caused by these disagreements.  Incidentally, it was Rover's W.2B engine fitted into the first Mk.1 Meteors.  None of this, however, has much to do with the outward appearance of the Meteor Mk.3.

 

The Meteor F.3 (Mk 3) had the original forty three foot wing span, together with the short engine nacelles.  This wing was also used for the later night fighters.  Here's the box art for Tamiya's Mk.3.  The very early Mk.4's also used this longer span wing.

 

 

The Mk.4 wing was clipped to thirty seven foot two inches and had a more squared off wing tip, as well as the more powerful Derwent 5.  It had longer engine nacelles with bigger intake and exhaust developed at the RAE as the early nacelle produced a lot more parasitic drag.  This was the combination developed for two speed record attempts by modified Mk.3's (EE-454 and EE-455) in November 1945.  Mk.4's were strengthened to cope with the higher speeds generated by the aerodynamic refinement of the nacelles and the improved power of the Derwent 5.  However, the first planes were still capable of shedding wings and for a while it looked like the centre section of the plane would need a complete redesign.  However, shortening the wings by two foot ten inches each side had the same effect as a lengthy redesign, which greatly pleased that powers that were.  There were also no ill effects on the plane's handling or altitude capability.  The Mk.4 was also the first version that was fully tropicalised and as such, more suitable for export too.   Here's my model of a Mk.4

 

 

The Mk.8 was different again in terns of length, being forty four foot seven inches against the Mk.4's forty one foot length.  Most of this was to be found in a longer nose.  Thirty inches was inserted into the nose to make the two seater T.7 and this was found to partly cure the directional snaking that earlier Meteor's were subject too at speed.  The rest of the extra length was due to a re-designed tail which eliminated what was left of that snaking.  Here's a Mk.8.

 

 

If Revell have any hope of developing this kit and marketing a later version, I'd love to know how they're going to do it.  The differences between each variant of the Meteor were vast.  I haven't touched on the differences between Mk.4, T.7 and Mk.8 engine nacelles.  The development of the Meteor was intense, despite it being an airframe that was nothing special by 1941 standards.

 

Hope this throws a little more light on the subject of Gloster Meteors.

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

[MikeC]

It ^^^ does, many thanks, although I'd just add one thing: some Mk 3s did have long nacelles.  I know this from photos, and from the fact that my Chemistry teacher at school had flown Meteor Mk 3s in the RAF as National Service pilot, then the R Aux AF.  The only sure way to tell a long-nacelle 3 from a 4, apart from the serial number, is that the 3 has an intake or "bump" of some description visible on top of the nacelle, the F4 does not.   If you look at it from the front, it can be seen in the 11 o/c position. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by MikeC

[MikeC]

11 hours ago, Kagemusha said:

 

Especially as you get a free one with the HKM kit.

Really?  I didn't get one with mine, which I bought at SMW some time after release.  Was it a limited edition or some such promotion?

[LSP_Kevin]

32 minutes ago, MikeC said:

Really?  I didn't get one with mine, which I bought at SMW some time after release.  Was it a limited edition or some such promotion?

I got one. Built it, too! Could have been a limited edition, I guess. Not sure if my other kits have it as well.

 

Kev

[Kagemusha]

39 minutes ago, MikeC said:

Really?  I didn't get one with mine, which I bought at SMW some time after release.  Was it a limited edition or some such promotion?

 

I got two HKM Meteors, think they were in both, gave one away little realising it was worth £144.

[dennismcc]

I'll have to put a padlock on that kii then in case it goes walkies.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Tony T]

4 hours ago, MikeC said:

It ^^^ does, many thanks, although I'd just add one thing: some Mk 3s did have long nacelles.  I know this from photos, and from the fact that my Chemistry teacher at school had flown Meteor Mk 3s in the RAF as National Service pilot, then the R Aux AF.  The only sure way to tell a long-nacelle 3 from a 4, apart from the serial number, is that the 3 has an intake or "bump" of some description visible on top of the nacelle, the F4 does not.   If you look at it from the front, it can be seen in the 11 o/c position. 

 

If any were painted silver and used Type D roundels and squadron banners this model suddenly becomes attractive.

 

Tony 

 

 

[firefly7]

I also got the 144th model with my Meteor. Nice little kit.  Cheers.

[Rick Griewski]

Will this second rerelease spawn a few more after market items including a nacelle and wing interface fix , nose job

etc. I have the HKM release but was trapped under a rock or similar situation and missed the first round.