Aeroclub's 1/48 Meteor N.F. 14

By Tom Cleaver

The Aircraft

At the end of the Second World War, the standard night fighter of the RAF was the de Havilland Mosquito, with the N.F.30 in front-line service, shortly to be augmented through postwar production by the N.F.34. Given that at the time there was no credible threat, these aircraft gave good service up to 1950. However, such events as the Berlin Crisis of 1948 focused RAF attention on such Soviet bomber developments as the Tu-14 and the Il-28, aircraft that were far in advance of the Mosquito in performance. The Air Ministry he previously issued Specification F.44/46, which called for a two-seat, twin-engined all-weather fighter. None of the competing designs was considered to meet the requirement, though the Gloster concept and de Havilland DH.110 would later see service as the Javelin and the Sea Vixen, respectively. In the absence of an acceptable design, it was decided to develop the two-seat Meteor T.7 trainer as an interim night fighter under Specification F.24/48.

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was a sister company of Gloster, and had become involved in Meteor production in 1946, when it was subcontracted to build Meteor F. Mk. 4s. The company was also involved in the production of the T.7, the fourth production aircraft of that type becoming the aerodynamic prototype of the Meteor N.F.11. VW413 was rolled out in October 1949 for initial flying tests to determine such things as radome size and shape. The night fighter was an almost completely new design, retaining only the two-seat cockpit and forward fuselage of the T.7 trainer and using an F.8 rear fuselage and tail. The wing reverted to the early long-span wings of the F.1 and F.3, redesigned to take the standard armament of 4 20mm cannon in the wings outboard of the engines since the radar occupied the nose. Deliveries of the N.F.11 commenced in October 1950 and continued until May 1954. The aircraft were also delivered to the French, Danish, and Belgian air forces.

The NF.13 was a tropicalized version of the N.F.11, while the N.F.12 was a progressive development, produced only in small quantities. The final version of the Meteor night fighter was the N.F.14, a further development of the N.F.12, of which the most obvious difference was the fully transparent canopy. One hundred N.F.14s followed the flight of the prototype in October 1953. They remained in first-line service into the very early 1960s. Some also served with the French Air Force.

The Kit (Click on thumbnails for larger image)

Aeroclub has been busy creating a line of the major Meteor sub-types for the past six years, with release of the F.3, the F.4, the F.8 and the T.7. The F.8 is the definitive kit of this important airplane in 1/48, and is still highly recommended to those who want it in their collection. The most recent development in this line has been the night fighter, with the NF.11, 12 and 14 having been released over this summer.

The N.F.14 is primarily a vacuform, with the fuselage halves and upper and lower wing halves being produced as vacuform parts. The surface detail is such that, under a coat of paint, the model should be competitive with any mainstream injection-molded Meteor kit. A venture into resin casting has been made with the cockpit tub and radar instrument panel, and forward sections of the engine nacelles with the intakes. Injection-molded tail surfaces are included.

White metal parts are provided for the landing gear, seats, and other small detail parts. The casting of the difficult-shaped landing gear legs with their mudguards integral is of particular note. These parts will insure that the model is indeed a nose-sitter.

It is interesting that the instructions make note of the fact that almost all previous research on the N.F.14 has incorrectly identified it as having a fuselage extension making it longer than the other night fighters. "Measuring available metal" is cited as the ultimate authority for the fact that this is the only Meteor night fighter kit in any scale (the only other one currently available is the old Matchbox kit in 1/72) that is accurate in overall dimensions. It's this kind of attention to detail that makes one appreciate Aeroclub.

Decals are provided for two aircraft: one flown by 46 Squadron in 1955 with a camouflage pattern of dark sea gray and green uppers with sea gray medium lower, and a 60 Squadron aircraft in 1960 with similar upper surface camouflage and aluminum lower surfaces.

Conclusions

As vacuforms go, this Meteor N.F.14 is one of the easier ones, and could even be a good starter vacuform kit for a modeler looking for a new challenge above and beyond injection-molded kits. If you have successfully completed a limited-run injection kit, this kit would present no difficulties.