Special Hobby 1/72 Scale Gloster Meteor T.7 & T.7.5 Trainers in Israeli Air Force Colours

Yoav Efrati
Aug 7
4 min read

Updated: Aug 11

Special Hobby 1/72 Meteor T.7 in October- November 1956 Suez War markings

Amongst the 15 Gloster Meteor jets delivered to the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in 1953, four were T.7 trainers which were absorbed into the 117 "First Jet" squadron.

*Meteor T.7 no.17 in 1953 delivery High Speed Silver finish.*

Royal Egyptian Air Force MiG-15s in formation

With the introduction of the MiG-15 and MiG-17 into Royal Egyptian Air Force inventory in 1955, IAF De Havilland PR.16 Mosquito recognisance flights over Egyptian territory were in grave danger.

Israeli Air Force 115sq de Havilland Mosquito PR.16 alongside a Gloster Meteor T.7 modified for high speed recognisance, on loan from the 117sq.

Lacking other high speed platforms and cameras for the PR Mk.9 Meteors, the IAF converted three two seat airframes to the recognizance role.

*Meteor T.7 no.15 lower fuselage camera opening modification.*

As attrition replacements, the Israeli Air Force obtained a pair of second hand Meteor trainers from Belgium. These trainers were fitted with larger tail surface empennage, as fitted to the Meteor F.8, and were given the unofficial model designation of T.7.5.

Meteor T.7 with an F.8 tail section was given an unofficial T7.5 designation. Two such trainers in Israel after the 1967 war and were identified with tail numbers 19 and 21. Both served alongside T.7 Meteors of the 110sq, serving as lead in trainers for the Vautour bomber.

The new purchased T.7.5 trainers were identified with the tail numbers 19 and 21 and served alongside original T.7 airframes in the 110sq, to serve as two engine conversion trainers to pilots flying the Sud Aviation Vautour of the squadron.

Special Hobby 1/72 scale Vautour and Meteor T7.5 in the markings of the 110sq.

*A June 2015 photo of T.7.5 Meteor on display at the Israel Air Force Museum, Meteors 19 and 21 retained their original deliver "small intakes".*

Meteor T.7 Colors:

Meteor T.7s were seen photographed with a High Speed Silver finish, during the Oct-Nov 1956 "Suez War", with a five band Suez campaign recognition bands applied outboard the engine nacelles and on the empennage, as depicted in the model I completed in this article.

Meteor airframes were camouflaged in BS381c-450 Dark Earth, BS381c633 RAF Blue Grey and BS381c637 Medium Sea Grey prior to the June 1967 "Six Day War". Belgium Meteors 19 and 21 arrived pre-painted in higher contrasting colours, believed to be Brown FS 595b-30145, Blue RAL5008 and undersurface Light Aircraft Grey BS381c627.

Mystere IVs exhibiting the transition from the use of Dark Earth to a red tinted brown in use today.

Building Special Hobby's T.7 and T.7.5 Meteors:

Special Hobby provides a T.7 fuselage and an F.8 empennage section in their Gloster Meteor T Mk.7.5 special release.

A recent reissue of the T.7 kit by Azur/Frrom, includes optional decals to build "Suez Campaign" striped IAF 117sq Meteor no.15.

Since the Meteor T.7 and T.7.5 share the same wing and landing gear parts provided in the F.8/PR.9 Meteor kits, the instructions provide in my previous Meteor F.8 kit review are relevant to the T.7/T.7.5 build.

Special Hobby Meteor T.7 and T7.5 Kit Assembly Tips:

Kit assembly starts with the addition of a multi piece cockpit cemented to the right fuselage half. Once in place, metal fishing weights were flattened and cut to fit into gaps below, forward and aft of the cockpit. Aluminum tubing was inserted into the forward segment of the floor panel to enable a nose gear metal rod insert installation.

The two seat T.7 and T7.5 versions have an open area behind the aft cockpit which was filled with sheet plastic.

Meteor T.7 seats were fitted with seat belts made of 1mm wide strips of Tamiya Tape, affixed in place using cyanoacrylate cement, the rear seat was raised up with 2mm thick strip of evergreen rod.

After removal of the T.7 tail, the F.8 section joint was reinforced with a parts tree segment cemented in place using cyanoacrylate cement.

Meteor versions F.8, PR.9, T.7 and T7.5 share a common wing, which require extending the height of the main landing gear struts by 2mm, for the wheels to clear the nacelles.

2mm square sheet plastic blocks and aluminum tubing were added to the main gear attachment . Paper clip rod reinforced the landing gear assembly and helped in locating the landing gear at a proper height.

To prevent the possibility of part 8 engine faces from falling into the kit's nacelle cavity, each engine face was backed up with plastic tree segments, glued to the aft side.

Landing gear doors required sheet plastic supports added inside the wheel wells.

The kit provide wings have early style ailerons with extended tabs, all IAF clipped wing Meteors had a two piece straight trailing edge ailerons, which were corrected using scale drawings found in Airfix 1:48 Meteor F.8.