Andy Meade Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 I think this one was born from seeing a large turbine-powered Meteor at one of the LMA Gaydon shows. I always knew the old Meatbox would be a great subject for the slope, and always had my eyes open for a kit, alas they are pretty rare to non existent....so, it was time to break out SolidWorks and get drawing one up. To my mind, the earlier Meteors are the nicest, with the classic shapely fin with curved wing tips (more wing area too!). The Derwent-engined versions with their longer nacelles are also a bit more aerodynamic for the slope, so the version was easy to pick. My plan actually covers most variants, so the later square tails and tear-drop shaped canopies can be used if required. So, the plan then : 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 The fuselage went together quite quickly with the top and bottom crutch with a battery box nose jig. The whole fuselage then needs planking carefully to ensure it is straight - this was fairly easy with the fus upside down on the building board, pinned down to a straight line drawn on said board. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 The longest part of the wing build is gluing the skins together - 3/32" in this case. Birch ply wing braces hold everything together, along with webs to full span for stiffness. I added flaps made from 1/16" ply (close to scale shape) to help get the aircraft in on those tighter slopes (Orme NW, Cloud etc.). These will be internally actuated to keep the underside clean. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Time to start putting things together! I drew up the engine nacelles on SolidWorks, and 3D printed them as I know my planking isn't great and it produces a totally round shape - no 50p piece shapes! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Everything is now glassed and ready for primer and canopy application. The canopy was created by my faithful beta tester Chris Barlow, who also problem solved the initial design errors and put up with my wing re-design. Chris' machine is shown here in primer - a lovely size! Chris also cut his own wing rib set on his CNC laser, my kit and Chris' fuselage parts were cut by SLEC for me at a very reasonable price. Not long now and we'll have two Meatboxes ready to beat up the slopes ? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 It's a great size for the slope, and your plans capture the shapes and character of the original really well - I look forward to seeing you and Chris testing them out this season (and perhaps starting mine shortly too!?) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Gay Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Phil, I'm guessing you expect to have some yellow paint left over from the Sabre. Martin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted April 7, 2021 Author Share Posted April 7, 2021 Chris' model has come along well, now going through final paint. It looks lovely! There's a funny line around the nose, but fear not - that's the removable nose cone that Chris has used to hide the battery and ballast. A cheeky photobomb by a Sabre in the background too. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted April 7, 2021 Share Posted April 7, 2021 Very nice ☝️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted April 7, 2021 Share Posted April 7, 2021 That's one shiney finish, beautiful models. ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Cheers guys! Chris does have some latitude with the shiney on his one, as it was used for world speed record attempts. Twas polished and smoothed, guns removed etc. so should be representative. Mine will be my usual Halford's satin lacquer over acrylics, then decals and weathering, so a bit more grimey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 Well, pretty close to being done now. A few day's worth of spraying, and she's ready for servo mounting, control surface hinging, pushrod manufacture, and then programming and balancing. I might do a little light weathering around the gun ports, but I won't go too mad - I know they weren't used all that much. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan p Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 that's impressive? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Kece 1 Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 ??????? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 Looks fabulous well done Andy ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 Superb result Andy, looking forward to seeing this one on the Orme in May! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Wow! That's nice ?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 The maiden went very well, with minor damage to one of the nacelles where it flexed upon landing and broke around a layer seam. I'd forgotten to put any reinforcement formers around the underside, so that's easy to remedy now. Very happy with the flaps - slowed her to a walking pace on landing with only a slight balloon. C of G slightly further back that it should be too - only 4mm in it, so again an easy remedy. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Looks fantastic Andy, I see all those rocks and cannot understand how the model isn't wrecked on landing? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 It's lovely smooth grass where we land Danny, or at a pinch we can chuck it into the heather if we have a misbehaving model. Even though I got it on the short grass, this still happened - oops! Shona caught this shot at the moment of touchdown. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Great piccy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kettle 1 Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 A good timed shot Shona. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted July 15, 2021 Author Share Posted July 15, 2021 The Meatbox got some more air time at the LleynMAC PSSA meet, off of a slope I'd not flown before - Cim Farm South. It has a lovely landing area but the lift wasn't overly buoyant for the windspeed, which could have been down to meteorological effects I guess. Anyway, she flew well enough and landed without mishap this time! She is now 2 flights old. Many thanks to Phil for the excellent photos as always. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Griff Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Lovely...on the hell's mouth slopes on the other side the Rhiw antenna can still be seen which was part of the aberporth range system with meteor drones operating from Llanbedr, wrong colour for that but still great, looks brill and flies really well I bet. Missed the airliner as well... Anyone making a jyndavic sloper or ducted fan, even jet powered. Theres one in a compound right by the road in Farnborough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Blackadder Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Hi Andy, Nice build blog... thanks... I'm not sure what year this was done, I hope it wasn't that long ago, but I have to ask... I have just finished a P-38 Lightning PSS build and was poking around looking for my next classic WWII PSS build & your Gloster Meteor got my attention.. I'm not a exactly a purerist at scatch builds and do like the laser cut short kits... I noticed that a few of your pics looked like the wing ribs and other bits were laser cut. So here is my question, did you cut these or did you buy them from someone online, like Neil @ iGull... Thanks... BTW I'm in Canberra AU.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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