A.W. Meteor NF. Mk.12

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Special Hobby’s Mirage F.1B/BE is available online from Squadron.com

The night fighter variants have always been my favourite Meteors. With their conventional mid-mounted straight wings, WWII-style camouflage, chunky framed canopy and two jet engines, they seem to best typify the brief transitional phase between traditional fighter design and the new jet-powered generation.

The prototype Meteor NF.11 flew in May, 1950.

As radar technology developed, a new Meteor night fighter was developed to use the improved US-built APS-21 system.

The NF.12 first flew on 21 April 1953. It was similar to the NF 11 but had a nose section 17 inches (43 cm) longer. The fin was enlarged to compensate for the greater keel area of the enlarged nose and to counter the airframe reaction to the "wig-wag" scan of the radar which affected the gunsighting, an anti-tramp motor operating on the rudder was fitted midway up the front leading edge of the fin.

The NF.12 also had the new Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engines and the wings were reinforced to handle the new engine. Deliveries of the NF.12 started in 1953, with the type entering squadron service in early 1954, equipping seven squadrons (Nos 85, 25, 152, 46, 72, 153 and 64); the aircraft was replaced over 1958–1959.

The night fighter variants remained in service until the early 1960s. Meteor night fighters were also exported to France, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Israel and Syria.*
 

Until now, 1/72 scale modellers have only had one Meteor night fighter kit to build.

Matchbox released their 1/72 scale Meteor Night Fighter kit in the mid 1980s. Mercifully, it was released after the retirement of the famous Matchbox "mad tencher", so surface detail was fine and mostly raised with the exception of recessed control surface hinge lines and speed brakes. 

Typical for a kit of its day, detail was relatively sparse, although the cockpit did feature seats, bulkheads, instrument panels and a control column, and the wheel bay is moulded with structural detail on the roof (not completely boxed in though).

Xtrakit re-released this kit in its own box with three new marking options back in 2007. 

Special Hobby has now released a brand new 1/72 scale Meteor NF Mk.12.

This kit comprises 162 parts in grey plastic, eight parts in clear and markings for three aircraft. A number of the parts are options for other night fighter versions and are not required for the NF Mk.12. These are clearly marked as not for use in the instructions.

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Thumbnail panels:

Moulding quality is very high. There is a little flash on some of the parts, but the mouldings are generally very clean.

Surface textures are mainly quite fine recessed panel lines.

The kit provides small locating pins and holes to assist with alignment of the major parts.

Detail is very good. The front office is well equipped, although the seats do not have harness straps - you'll have to source these yourself. Dials on the instrument panel and the radar operator's panels are raised bezels over flat recessed circles. This will look okay in small scale but I am sure it won't be long until we see some photo-etched replacements available.

Wings are supplied as a full span upper and lower half, so no dihedral problems here! All control surfaces are moulded to the wings and tail planes in neutral positions.

Engine faces, starters and tail pipe detail are all included.

The undercarriage bays are fully boxed in and feature structural detail. Undercarriage legs look good too.

Nose weight is not mentioned but there is plenty of roon in that long, long nose.

Navigation lights and the forward landing gear door are supplied as clear parts. The landing light window may be masked off before the landing gear door is painted - nice touch.

The canopy is thin and clear but it is moulded as a single piece with the windscreen and the irregular shaped rear mount.

Extreme caution will be required if you want to cut this open.

Markings

Three marking options are supplied. A full set of stencils is also included.

The proportions of the roundels does not look right though.

The kit decals are produced to a high standard with very thin carrier film, good colour saturation and perfect registration.

The old 1/72 scale Matchbox Meteor night fighter was a good kit in its day, but this new offering from Special Hobby blows it away. 

A high level of detail, very nice surface textures and three marking options on a quality decal sheet will make this an irresistable package for Cold War aviation fans in general and Meteorophiles in particular.

Thanks to Ali Mfor the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2020 by Brett Green
Page Created 26 February, 2020
Last updated 27 February, 2020

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