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Gloster Meteor FR9

Classic Airframes Kit

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This is a short run from Classic Airframes which consists of three sprues of thick soft plastic parts containing 71 parts and three clear sprues consisting of the early and late canopies and the PR nose section. There are also 13 very nice resin bits which are easy to remove from pour stubs. I should point out that my ejection seat had both the delicate sides broken off but the bits were in the bag and it was the work of seconds to glue them back on. Generally the build went smoothly and fairly quickly, but you have to remember this is a limited run, low pressure molded kit. There are no locating pins so extra time should be allocated for test-fitting and aligning parts. Sprue attachment points are a little thick and located in some prominent areas, so extra care is needed when removing and cleaning up parts. And some parts need trimming and test-fitting and trimming some more. But with a little care and patience it goes together very well. Options consist of the distinctive belly tank and wing-mounted drop tanks, which are seen fitted so often they are hardly options at all. So they were fitted. Classic Airframes has supplied both the smaller, early intakes and the larger, later intakes as well as the early and late canopies in this version of the kit. The instructions have you use the small intake and the late canopy, this looks to be right from the pictures I have but it's possible they were retrofitted with the larger intakes at some point. For the painting, I went with the RAF a/c with PRU Blue undersides and used Xtracolor paints throughout. I have to say it was really nice to do something in the RAF green and greys again, it took me back to a time when nearly everything I saw was painted that colour, from Hawks to Vulcans and everything in-between. Ah, the good old days! The decals are from Microscale, so they are good decals. Conclusion? It's a lovely kit and with a little patience it builds into a great looking model. But you have to bear in mind the term "short run" and all it entails and be aware that there's a little more work than you might have thought to make a representative FR.9.