MEATBOXES AND
BENT-WINGED BIRDS
British and French Gloster Meteors – and Vought Corsairs from the latter country – are the subject of Model Art’s superb new 1/72 decal sheet.
New product from Model Art is always something to celebrate due to the quality of the decals themselves, the varied and eclectic schemes, and the standard of research. This latest release, 72/080, offers a wealth of liveries for Royal Navy and French Armée de l’Air Gloster Meteor T.7s (and some from civilian support/test units), and French Aéronavale Vought Corsairs.
As you might expect, the Corsairs, in AU-1 and F4U-7 formats, all wear gloss Sea Blue (FS 15042) paint, while the ‘Meatbox’ ̶ as it was christened by its pilots and groundcrew ̶ appears here mostly in sprayed aluminium with Day-glo panels or Trainer Yellow fuselage bands, but the anomaly is an overall gloss black Royal Navy airframe.
The T.7 options are:
346-QW/F6, CITT 346, French AF, Tours, 1953
30-MY, ECTT 2/30 ‘Carmargue’, French AF, Tours, 1953
30-FY/F6, EMICN 3/30, Tours, 1953
MK7-228, EPNER (French test pilot school), Bretigny-sur-Orge, 1964
WL335/283, 813 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Ford, 1953
WL332/571/HF, 728 NAS, Hal Far, Malta, 1960
WS103/294, 728 NAS, RNAS Ford, 1953
WL350/044, Airwork Services FRU, Hurn, 1968
WL332/860, 728 NAS, Hal Far, Malta, 1966
And the Corsairs…
AU-1, 129343, Flotille 14F, Bach-Mai, Indochina, 1954
AU-1, 129356, 14F, Dien-Bien-Phu, Indochina,, 1954
F4U-7, 133678/57.S.46, Escadrille de Servitude 57s, Ban Khourigba, Algeria, 1960
F4U-7, 133693/10.S.26, Escadrille de Servitude 10S, BAN Fréjus-Saint-Raphael, France, 1957
F4U-7, 133655/655, 14F, PA La Fayette, 1962
AU-1, 129414/414, 12F, PA Arromanches, 1962
If these schemes are appealing to you, suitable kits are the styrene T.7s produced by Azur-FRROM, MPM, Special Hobby and Xtrakit, and the resin example by PJ Production.
The F4U-7 has been released by Italeri, but simple conversion work is required to portray an AU-1.
For further details, or to order the sheet (which costs £9), visit: www.modartdec.com
