Scale aviation modeller international

THE KIT

144th.co.uk’s new kit is presented

as 16 reasonably cast resin parts,

with thin attachments for the

casting blocks. Our sample was

an early production version, so

it suffered from the fuselage

mouldings being attached to their

casting blocks across the joint

faces, making clean up difficult.

Despite the inclusion of a pretty

representative cockpit interior (see

later), the only option for a canopy

in our kit was a solid resin item

with decals for the glass; there was

no mention of the cockpit in the

rather simplified instructions in

our box. However, the upcoming

options do look much better, and

144th.co.uk has informed us that

future kits will include clear resin

canopies, cockpits cast in resin

and metal (to act as nose weight),

improved gating for the fuselage,

and re-written instructions.

The kit’s decals look to

be excellent, and if previous

experience is anything to go by,

should be easy to use (144th already

produce a separate decal sheet

covering a raft of RAF airframes).

The kit we received

offers two schemes:

• 85 Squadron WS593, RAF Church
  Fenton 1958 (dark green/medium
  sea grey/dark sea grey).


• 264 Squadron WS604, RAF
  Middleton St George 1957 (dark
  green/medium sea grey).

CONSTRUCTION

With no set running order, I

started the construction with the

wings. These are provided as a

one-piece central section, plus

lower outer sections containing

the lower halves of the engine

nacelles. Separate outer panels

contain the upper nacelles.

There are two parts to each

engine, including a finely cast rear

jet pipe. However, simply gluing

the engine parts together and

fitting them in the nacelles will lead

to an elementary error, just like

mine! The engine body/jet pipe is

significantly longer than it needs

to be for the nacelle, and used as-is

would put the engine front face far

too far forward. Anyone with much

of an understanding of Meteor

architecture will realise that the

representations of the wing carry-

through on the engine should line

up with the wing leading edges.

I suspect that the engine might

need some reduction in diameter

if it’s to be positioned correctly.

With the error not spotted until

later, the upper wing sections

were superglued on, precluding

any remedial surgery. The fit

isn’t great, and one of the nacelle

fronts was a bit oval, needing

several applications of super glue

to build up the section, and some

careful carving of the mouth to

bring it closer to circular. More

super glue was used to fill the

rather ragged horizontal joints,

and De Luxe Products Perfect

Plastic Putty was used to blend

the wing-to-nacelle joint.

The fuselage halves need some

care in removing them from their

pour blocks, the thin sections

making them somewhat delicate.

The separate nose (to accommodate

The kit contents are well-packed in a

substantial box, which is identical for all three

variants offered

The fuselage halves are actually rather delicate

and need careful removal from their pour blocks,

whose location leaves the joint faces a bit ragged

A late addition to our early-production kit was a cast resin

cockpit tub, complete with seats and instrument panels.

Future kits may have metal cockpits

The hollow nose was filled

with Deluxe Liquid Gravity as

a defence against tail sitting

The wings have reasonable engraved detail, although

the trailing edges are very thick; the one-piece moulding

precludes any thinning without serious loss of detail

There are engine front faces and rather

nice hollow-cast jet pipes. Here I’m about

to commit mistake #1 with the placement

of the front faces too far forward

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • APRIL 2018 • 31

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