Airfix 1/72 Meteor F.8

The first viable Allied jet fighter was the Meteor. Such was the ability of the airframe to accept newer and newer engines that Meteors were flying in the skies of the world for many years and in cases decades after the initial aircraft first flew. Much of the success of the Meteor was that it was a basic aircraft and other than its power plants, did not break any new ground.

Not only that, but the type was easy to fly and easy to maintain, a trait that put it in good staid with the export market, where it sold well. It was also developed into a viable night fighter and even decades after it was out of front line service, there were Meteors flying in specialty roles such as drones and ejection seat testing. I'm not sure if any are in the hands of war bird enthusiasts, but I would be surprised if there was not at least one.

The ultimate fighter version was the F.8. This was the third major production type following the F.3 and F.4. It can be easily identified from the previous variants by the more square tail and longer length, which allowed great fuel capacity.

It was nice to see Airfix release this kit as previously, what was available in this scale was only in short run from Special Hobby as well as the ancient Frog offering or the very difficult Merlin kit. There were also some conversion sets and vacuform kits. Probably missed some, but I'm old and I can do that.

First thing I notice is that the box is crammed with sprues. A quick build kit this is not with 111 parts. There are several options. Unlike the later boxing that I previewed earlier, this one only does the F.8 fighter version. One option is to make it gear up, though you'll have to source the display stand from somewhere. You can choose to leave off the wing and belly tanks. Also optional are open or closed speed brakes and an open or closed canopy. You are given a choice of large or small engine intakes as well.

It is hard to tell where the majority of bits are to be placed, but the cockpit/nose gear well would be an appropriate place to start. 13 of the 79 construction steps are dedicated to this area. Before closing the fuselage halves, you are instructed to place 8 grams of weight under the cockpit. Good luck getting that much to fit under there. However there is room for more in the general area.

Before dealing with the wings, one will have to decide if they want to open holes for the fuel tanks. Then it is time to install the front and rear spars that also serve as attachment points for the main gear wells, exhaust and intake bits. After attaching the wings, the aileron halves are joined and installed along with the intakes of choice and the exhaust fairings.

That brings us to step 38, which starts us assembling and installing the tailplanes. Then we move to the nose and build up the rest of the nose gear attachment points before assembling our choice of nose halves and attaching those. When it comes to landing gear, the wheels are in right and left halves and keyed to fit into slots on each gear half. Gear doors have hinges so no butt joins on this one.

The finishing steps involve attaching speed brakes, some smaller bits like shell ejector cutes, then the windscreen and canopy. Only the later canopy is provided so you cannot really do an early F.8 with the additional metal part on the rear of the glass unless you want to get creative with masking. A pilot is included if you wish to use one.

Instructions are standard fare for Airfix with bits of color included to show previously installed items, a feature I really like. All color information during the build is by Humbrol paint number. Three options are provided, two of them RAF. First is the box art plane in high speed silver and you'll need to paint the tail section to match the blue for 500 Squadron. A 74 'Tiger' Squadron aircraft is next in the standard ground attack camouflage. Finally, a Belgian 350 Squadron plane, also in overall high speed silver.  Decals are nicely printed and there are aftermarket options if you want something different.

CONSTRUCTION

Basically, this is a nice kit. Fit is generally pretty good, but there are exceptions. When building the cockpit, I had to fuss about a bit to get a proper fit. Eventually, I got everything in place as it should be, but it taught me that I have to test fit things. Once the fuselage was closed, I packed the nose with weight. The fit of the tail section pieces is also quite good.

When building the landing gear, I ran into issues closing up the area around the wheels. Getting the wheels glued together wasn't the issue. What was the issue was getting the fenders properly closed. All three of these features have a fairly large gap. I recommend some aftermarket landing gear for this one. I had little issue building the wings, but again, it is wise to test fit everything as many steps in advance as you can. I then attached the wings and after making sure I had enough nose weight, I went to install the nose cap. Fit on this was not good and required filler and sanding to get a fair fit. Finally, when attaching the windscreen and canopy I ran into issues. The instructions are not all that clear on fitting the windscreen, but basically it fits inside the fuselage halves. For the canopy, I had to leave off the section that fits in the back in order to get it to fit on the fuselage.

I painted the aircraft an overall silver using Tamiya rattle can paint. I used an FCM decal sheet for Brazilian Meteor F.8s. I chose one of the more simple schemes as the neat ones (for which the sheet includes a mask), required the nose gear doors to be closed when applying the masks. Still, it turned out well and I'm glad I chose it.

Despite the issues I ran into, I know what to look for next time and so will do better on whatever additional kits I build. This one is considerably easier to build than the Special Hobby version and the one to get.

30 January 2026