1:72 Gloster Meteor F.8 - Undercarriage Bays Mask Set (for Airfix Kits)

Meteors over Korea

The best-known combat deployment of the F.8 version does not belong to the Royal Air Force but to the Australian No. 77 Squadron. It acquired Meteors for the Korean War and soon found that against swept-wing MiGs they were not enough in a fight at altitude. The Australians therefore redirected the machines to attacks on ground targets, where the sturdy structure, the four cannons in the nose and the ability to carry rockets under the wings suited them. In this role they flew thousands of hours, and the type thereby earned a reputation as a reliable workhorse.

1:72 scale and its pitfalls

In a small scale every overdone spray looks doubly distracting, because the eye compares the edge over a very short distance. The Meteor meanwhile has spaces for the wheels in three places and all of them have a rounded rim. A die-cut film follows that rim exactly and holds it even where a strip of tape would inevitably go wavy.

Worth watching

• Rid the base of dust with compressed air; a crumb under the film is noticed at once.
• Spray the nacelles separately, before you glue them to the wing.
• Dose the paint sparingly; a heavy coat forms a step at the edge.
• Take the film off by pulling along the surface, not perpendicular upward.

The Australian machines carried conspicuous insignia with a circle and a kangaroo, and some of them had colorful lightning flashes or large numbers on the nose. Anyone looking for a subject with a story has plenty to choose from, and carefully bounded openings will only do such a model good.

The delivery is purely masking. The set does not take in the kit, the shades or supplementary decals and handles only the sharp transition around the landing gear openings.