1/48 Gloster Jets |
|
Gallery Article by Colin Whitehouse
on July 18 2003 |
|
|
Gloster produced a long line of biplane fighters for the RAF, culminating with the Gladiator. They seemed to miss out on the single piston engined monoplane era during WWII and next put their name to a plane with the Whittle jet development aircraft in 1943. This diminutive little “technology demonstrator” was the first allied jet to fly and gave Gloster a boost in the jet era leading to the development of the Meteor Jet fighter. This flew in many marks and served with many nations well in to the 60s, initially as a fighter but surviving long after in many different roles. Gloster’s next and last Fighter was the Javelin. A real brute of a plane which makes the others look tiny by comparison. It was the first “all weather interceptor” for the RAF as well as the last of the pure gun fighters (Mk5) and the first of the Missile armed jets (Mk 7). The Javelin like so many other British Jets of the era was put into service too soon and only really achieved its potential in the later marks.
I have a real interest in the development of the early Jets and this trio from Gloster really emphasises the huge leaps forward that were being made around that time in 3 generations of aircraft development.
The models were done in quick succession and I am very pleased with the final result. It is great to be able to see the leaps forward made in technology and this is something which is best seen in models. Neither drawings or even the real thing will allow one to appreciate the form of these planes together.
The Kits.
Interestingly these 3 models represent the 3 main forms of kit available today. The Whittle is a limited run resin kit, the Meteor a mainstream injection moulded kit and the Javelin a vacform. Each has its own peculiarities but it is great to be able to build this series in 1/48th scale using good quality kits.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
Gloster
Whittle
1/48th
scale AZUR resin kit
Kit
decals were used to give the later grey scheme to be current with the Meteor
prototype although I don’t know if the 2 ever met.
Gloster Meteor
1/48th scale Tamiya Injection moulded kit
A mainstream kit readily available from Tamiya. The kit is complete with all the detail including nose weight! I wanted to do it from the box but couldn’t quite. I left only one engine bay open and replaced the somewhat clumsy seat with a resin one left over from a Seafire. I also added filler into the rear of the front wing spar as this can be seen from the engine side. All the parts fit was excellent and I couldn't fault the kit other than to say it was not really a
challenge.
The worst part about this kit was however the decals. They are typical good old Superscale, thin, finely printed and out of register. "If you cant get the red dot in the middle guys it doesn’t matter how thin they are, we cant use ‘em". I was going to send them back but gave up and used after market roundels. I think its a shame that Tamya go to all the effort to make such a superb kit and then don’t insist on decent QC for the decals.
I opted to do the prototype as I plan for a couple of other Meteors when Classic Airframes do the deed and I liked the colour scheme to go with the Whittle.