By Marcin Matejko
In the beginning was going to be easy, building the Lindberg model out of the box with just a few modifications, at least that was the idea. After closer inspection it turned out that this kit needed a lot of work; new metal and the linen structure on the fuselage as well as scratch building an all-new interior, engine and landing gear.
To make all the modifications I started off with the drawings and pictures and of the plane by Paul Matt. I enlarged these drawings to match scale 1/32, and when I put the model on them I experienced a shock! All big, bad shapes of great simplicity, this model essentially needed to be modified 100%!. Were it not the "Meteor" is such a beautiful machine I for sure would not have started the construction of the model from a Lindberg kit. I thought about the whole thing and came to the conclusion that you can always make a model using less of the kit.
I started by cutting and fitting the parts to match the shape of the plans. Reworking the fuselage took me a few weeks, but after all the modifications it looked much better. At this point Anders Bruun wrote to tell me the proportions of the fuselage of Paul Matts plans are wrong. Anders sent me the correct drawings by W. Kerka, and when I put my fuselage on these drawings it did not match. I decided to start all over again, this time I built the fuselage from scratch.
After that it went much easier; I decreased the size of the wings and improved their shape. Then I made the horizontal stabilizer and all moving surfaces of the wings and ballasts. I made a plug for the engine cowling as the shape is unique after which I vacuformed a new cowling.
The engine itself is a great product by Vector. The landing gear was entirely built from scratch. The propeller is based on a propeller from my spares box. The interior cockpit done from scratch, based on photographic documentation. The dials in the instrument panel are from RB (Radu Brinzan).
I spent a lot of time to construct a new canopy and frame. I painted the model using mainly MR. Hobby Series C paints, Humbrol and more. Decals are designed and made from scratch because the Lindberg decals are wrong. Propeller and landing gear covers shins were covered with aluminum foil.
Looking back it can be said that my model Meteor was made completely from scratch because none of the Lindberg items were used without changes.
Roscoe Turner figure and his ‘pet’ the lion Gilmore were also virtually built from scratch. The base is made of photo frame on which I made imitations of concrete airport.
All in all the construction of this model took me on and off exactly two years. The difference between a Lindberg kit out-of-the-box and what my version I can be seen in the picture. Can you spot the difference?
The whole account of the construction of the model (in Polish) can be found here.