Airfix 1/72 Gloster Meteor FR9

[Hutch6390 1,967]

 

As briefly shown on my "look what I got" post, here is a bit more detail of the kit, which came with my Airfix Club membership renewal.  Despite a flood of requests (well, one), I will not be doing this in rhyme - for which, you really should be grateful...

I apologise in advance that the photos are not brilliant (taken with my phone), but I think they give an impression of what's in the box.

Soooo - box is a decent quality tray type, with removable (and very useful) lid.  No fancy, dramatic box-top art, just a preview of the schemes provided within, as is usual with Club kits -

Decal sheet - beautifully printed & looking nice and thin, with - as previously mentioned - lots and lots of lovely little stencils -

And the plastic, which arrives enclosed in a single polythene bag, within which is another, smaller bag holding the clear parts, again, normal practice for Airfix.  No actual damage is apparent to any of the parts in my kit, although one set of rocket tail-fins had come adrift, but was safely trapped in the poly bag.  There are 5 sprues of grey plastic, labelled "Frame A" to "Frame E".  The plastic is a bit harder than the soft, light grey stuff Airfix have been using for the last few years, and is strongly reminiscent of the Academy-type stuff used more recently, but without the "cut-out" sprue/frame letters -

Two sizes of engine intakes are provided (above left), as the versions presented used different marks of the Derwent engine.

 

The pilot figure (top right in the above picture) is far too small.  I've read that he scales up to 4' 8", which is slightly taller than I was as a cadet!  Really, Airfix?  You were doing better than this 50 years ago.  Good job I don't use 'em!

The sprue attachments are small, and what ejection pin marks there are all seem to be placed where you won't see them when built, but some may still require treatment to avoid fouling the fit of other parts - this will hopefully become clear to the builder before he makes a pig's ear of it.  Mould seams are minimal to non-existent.  Surface detail is fine, panel lines are well done, and will not appear overscale under primer/paint (in my opinion).  The tailplanes are cleverly made so as not to get mixed up - labelled S & P (for Salt and Pepper, obviously), and the overall design looks to produce a sturdy model.  Cockpit sidewall detail is very nice indeed, especially for this scale - 

Shame the cockpit interior is black 

However, the clear parts are a problem, with both canopies provided being badly flawed - 

 

I know that the rear of one of them is meant to be solid i.e. opaque, rather than clear, but the front section of that one is also affected, and it's the clear bubble-type canopy that's needed here.  So, I'll be getting in touch with Airfix soon.

The destructions are the usual Airfix format, helpfully showing in red the bits you stuck together in the previous stage (with a bit of luck ).  There are 150 parts all told, and 82 stages of construction, but some of these apply only to one version, and some are just baby steps, involving one or two parts, so fairly straightforward & not too daunting.

 

As well as the colour schemes shown previously, the instructions also show the locations of all those lovely stencils -

Yippee.

Overall, despite the duff clear bits, I like the look of this a lot.  It seems well-produced, well-detailed, and well-engineered, but, obviously, only building it will tell.  I believe this kit is a re-pop of the F8 released not long ago, and I'm no Meteor expert, so I don't know what similarities or differences there are.  That said, I've always liked the Meteor, and was happy to add this one to my stash.  I'm hopeful that I will receive a nice, problem-free, set of clear parts in the not-too-distant.

 

 

[DC3 3,586]

Airfix are rubbish.

[Long 1,485]

3 hours ago, Hutch6390 said:

However, the clear parts are a problem, with both canopies provided being badly flawed - 

This made me check mine, which are thankfully fine. Cheers

[Paul Brown 7,444]

4 hours ago, Hutch6390 said:

I believe this kit is a re-pop of the F8 released not long ago, and I'm no Meteor expert, so I don't know what similarities or differences there are. 

An FR9 is an F8 fitted with a camera nose. The F8 kit was new tool last year and carries the same transparency frame as the FR9 - you got me checking mine and they're OK.

[mac1677 4,181]

7 hours ago, Paul Brown said:

you got me checking mine and they're OK.

As are mine 

[Hutch6390 1,967]

Just me, then - naturally lucky 

[Gorby 16,290]

Nice review Hutch.

Looks like the quality control at Airfix has still got some way to go.

[DC3 3,586]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:03 AM, Gorby said:

Nice review Hutch.

Looks like the quality control at Airfix has still got some way to go.

What quality control ?