Kit # 05208

Background: The research vessel Meteor is another surprising vessel to come out of Revell Germany in the form of a 1:300 scale styrene kit. The real vessel is owned by Federal Republic of Germany, and financed by the Ministry of Research and Technology. She is employed for ocean research, and carries scientists from many countries. She was completed in 1986, in Travermunde, Germany. She is the last of three previous research vessels named Meteor, the first in 1925, second in 1964.

The Kit: It is a recent mold, packaged in a showy box with very eye catching artwork depicting the R/V Meteor at sea. (see below) If there's one thing that influences me into looking at a model on a shelf and catching my eye, it's the artwork on the box. All parts are neatly packaged in a plastic bag, with instruction booklet, 2 piece hull halves, a wet transfer decal, and 5 trees containing the parts of the model. Also included is a rectangular base to mount the model for display.

The Hull: Ah, this is the part we all are interested in! It is molded as 2 parts, attached to a plastic runner. For some reason, Revell decided to mold the hull halves in a dark blue color. (see photos below) At first this seems great, as this should simplify the painting of the hull, but wait. The port half of the hull also includes a large section of the superstructure, molded as one, whereas the other half does not. This is unusual, and will necessitate extra steps to paint over the blue 'superstructure section,' which is white on the real ship. The hull measures approximately 12 5/8 inches, or 324 mm in length. Overall hull detail is average, with raised port and window edges, as can be seen in the photos above. The rudder and frame are all molded as part of the hull halves. There is no waterline mark indicating the Plimsoll line. Anchors are molded into the stowed position, so there isn't much to see there. On my model, there is some roughness along the upper edge of the port half. At the bilges, there is a lightly scribed outline of stabilizers, located amidships.

Hull halves on the runner. Note decal.

Hull close up view, showing raised porthole lines.

The Parts and Trees: These come as a set of five, all molded in pure white styrene, and seem to be molded with good quality. Parts are nicely molded, with some deck scribing in presumably correct areas. Deck machinery seems to be crisply molded, no scratches indicative of an old mold. All windows, ports and doors on the model are simply raised outlines, even the bridge windows. Molded railing is supplied with this model on two separate trees. The railing appears to be out of scale, thick, and only has two rows of rail on the stanchions. They are well molded to the trees, and may be difficult to cut free. The base is a simple rectangular shape, nothing out of the ordinary that's for sure, but serves the purpose. One thing I noticed is the way the propeller attaches to the hull; it has two small raised edges where it mounts onto the shaft. This at first looks like extra waste plastic or flash, but it isn't! Leaving the edges there will aid in gluing the propeller properly later in the building process.

The Instructions: The manual that came with this model measures about 12"x 8" (300mm x 200mm) is multi-language, and is printed on recycled paper. The assembly illustrations are of good quality, and they clearly indicate parts by number, and colors of parts using an alphabet system. A short history of the ship, and a grayscale photo of the finished model appear on the front page. Appreciated is the numerous 'top-view' diagrams of specific assemblies / part fits that are not possible to determine correctly by the isometric drawings alone.

Decals: The Meteor kit comes with one water transfer decal. It appears to be of good quality, but the separate decals on the card are very tiny, and will be a handful (no pun intended!) to trim and handle to place on the model.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I feel that this model will build nicely, and will be a nice addition to one's merchant ship collection. The box art seems to indicate that the model kit is somewhat 'simplified,' in that some features like stern scuppers and other details are omitted. Many of the smaller sub-assemblies on the trees are made up of small parts, thus dry assembly could be a chore as parts will need to be labeled once taken off the tree. The Revell offering, at 1:300 scale is a nicely detailed execution, however it would have been an excellent offering at 1:200 scale, as this would have provided room for additional detail and would be comparable with other 1:200 scale specialty vessels, like Heller’s 1:200 scale SMIT Rotterdam / London.

Rating: Overall, I like what I see for the scale, though the model is a bit rough in some areas, it will still be a very satisfying kit to build, and offers room for those who like to superdetail as well. I am a bit disappointed that ports and other openings are molded solid, but open glass can be simulated well using a black permanent marker. The way the hull and superstructure on one half is molded all in dark blue is another minor complaint. I give this interesting kit a rating of 8 out of 10.

MC ~ 12/03