L-40 Meta Sokol, aero klub Zbraslavice -WIP

1
October 18, 2025
The relatively soft box with a side opening has a picture of an L-40 aircraft in Swiss colors on the front and a color scheme for Czechoslovak, Australian, and Swiss aircraft on the back.
The box contains one sprue with 41 parts in gray, a transparent cockpit section, a sheet of decals, and black-and-white instructions. Masks (top right) are sold separately. At the E-day event, the seller added masks to the set for free as a thank you for my purchase.
2
October 18, 2025
All 41 parts of the aircraft are located on a single sprue. Surface details and panel lines are negative. The quality of surface details and lines is not bad, but there is room for improvement. The manufacturer has placed only one landing gear leg cover on the sprue instead of two. This is not such a big mistake. Since the landing gear leg cover is too thick in the kit, it is better to make both covers from thin plastic sheet or sheet metal.
3
October 18, 2025
The transparent cockpit cover is packaged separately in a plastic bag. The part is cleanly molded without scratches and is highly transparent, while the opaque parts of the cover are slightly matte. The cover is made as a single piece; if you want to have an open cockpit, you must cut off the front part.
4
October 18, 2025
The decal sheet contains decals for three color schemes – Czechoslovakian, Australian, and Swiss, a decal for the dashboard, seat belts (but only for two seats), and several small stencils.
5
October 18, 2025
The first page of the manual contains a brief history of the aircraft, and the last page contains a four-view drawing of the aircraft.
6
October 18, 2025
The inside pages of the instructions contain a diagram showing the location of individual parts on the tree and instructions for assembling the model. The diagram showing the location of individual parts on the tree does not correspond to reality. When looking for parts on the tree, you will have to play detective and search for individual parts.

Despite all these minor flaws, this kit is one of the better ones produced by KP Prostějov.
In fact, it is the best 1/48 scale L-40 Meta Sokol kit on the market because no other currently exists.
7
October 18, 2025
Masks for this model will facilitate spraying the transparent cockpit cover and landing gear wheel discs.
8
October 18, 2025
Unfortunately, even the masks have their shortcomings. The sheet of masks is missing a mask for the rear window of the cockpit canopy. Interestingly, this window is also missing from the instructions on the back of the mask packaging.
So, there is no choice but to make the missing rear window mask yourself. This is probably why these masks are intended for experienced modelers. 😉 😄
9
October 20, 2025
The details on the surface of the model are not bad, but basically the kit is comparable to kits from short-run production. Before gluing the parts, it is advisable to try them out to see how they fit together and adjust the contact surfaces. This will save you a lot of unnecessary work. Although I assembled the model several times without gluing and adjusted the contact surfaces of the individual parts, I managed to complete the rough construction of the model in one afternoon. I spent a lot of time assembling and painting the cockpit interior.
10
October 20, 2025
With the help of plastic plates, I deepened the original very shallow space for the rear chassis.
11
October 20, 2025
With the help of plastic plates, I deepened the original very shallow space for the rear chassis.
12
October 20, 2025
On the upper side of the bow, I made one of the small repairs. I added hinges for the opening parts of the engine cover, made from plastic profile. Finally, I used plastic threads pulled from plastic trees to "fill in" the small gaps in the joints between the fuselage and wings and let the joints dry.
13
October 20, 2025
The next day, I sprayed the model with surfacer and, after it dried, sanded down the filled joints. Finally, I sprayed the model with silver paint.
14
October 20, 2025
The next day, I sprayed the model with surfacer and, after it dried, sanded down the filled joints. Finally, I sprayed the model with silver paint.
15
October 21, 2025
The kit offers red and white coloring of the Czechoslovak aircraft. Since I already have several aircraft with red and white paint, I chose the coloring of the aircraft from the Zbraslavice flying club, which received an attractive silver-blue paint job with white registration marks. I will lose the advantage of using decals from the set, but that's not a big problem. I will prepare the correct registration sets as masks and spray the letters.
16
October 22, 2025
I prepared Falcon for spraying blue paint.
(Czech Sokol = English Falcon)
17
October 22, 2025
I prepared Falcon for spraying blue paint.
18
October 22, 2025
I prepared Sokol for spraying blue paint.
19
October 22, 2025
I prepared Sokol for spraying blue paint.
20
October 22, 2025
After spraying on the blue paint and letting it dry, it was time for the striptease. Carefully, step by step, I removed all the masking tape and finally got to see how well the blue paint had been sprayed on. And I can already say that I'm happy with the result.
21
October 22, 2025
After spraying on the blue paint and letting it dry, it was time for the striptease. Carefully, step by step, I removed all the masking tape and finally got to see how well the blue paint had been sprayed on. And I can already say that I'm happy with the result.
22
October 22, 2025
After spraying on the blue paint and letting it dry, it was time for the striptease. Carefully, step by step, I removed all the masking tape and finally got to see how well the blue paint had been sprayed on. And I can already say that I'm happy with the result.
23
October 22, 2025
After spraying on the blue paint and letting it dry, it was time for the striptease. Carefully, step by step, I removed all the masking tape and finally got to see how well the blue paint had been sprayed on. And I can already say that I'm happy with the result.
24
October 22, 2025
After uncovering the model, I assembled and painted the propeller. I stuck stickers with the manufacturer's logo onto the painted propeller. Finally, I glued the propeller to the front of the engine cover. I will glue the front part with the propeller to the model later. Right now, it would get in the way when spraying the black anti-glare strip in front of the cockpit.
25
October 23, 2025
After the second round of gluing masks and masking tape, the model was ready to be sprayed with black paint. First, I sprayed black paint on the nose of the aircraft and then black sidewalks on the wings.
26
October 23, 2025
I also used black paint to spray the license plates. And after the black paint dried, I sprayed the license plates with white paint. I don't know why, but when white paint is sprayed on black, it looks very good. I read about it once in a modeling manual, and since it works, that's what I do. 🙂
27
October 23, 2025
I glued the painted front section with the propeller to the nose of the aircraft.
28
October 23, 2025
The registration plates and decals are in place.
29
October 23, 2025
The registration plates and decals are in place.
30
October 24, 2025
The manufacturers did not do a very good job with the landing gear legs. The extension (in the red elliptical frame) is fictitious, and the suspension struts are greatly simplified.
31
October 24, 2025
The manufacturers did not do a very good job with the landing gear legs. The extension (in the red elliptical frame) is fictitious, and the suspension struts are greatly simplified.
32
October 24, 2025
The kit contains only one cover for the main landing gear legs. But as you can see in this picture, it doesn't really matter. The shape of the cover does not correspond to reality.
(left: part from the kit, right: photo of the actual cover)
33
October 24, 2025
I modified the shape of the landing gear legs and made new covers for them from thin sheet metal.
For comparison, on the right is the landing gear leg cover as supplied by the kit manufacturer.
34
October 24, 2025
I modified the shape of the landing gear legs and made new covers for them from thin sheet metal.
For comparison, on the left is the landing gear leg cover supplied by the kit manufacturer.
35
October 27, 2025
The assembled and painted chassis is in place.
36
October 27, 2025
The masks have been removed from the painted cockpit cover, and handles and a handle have been added to the upper side of the sliding part of the cockpit cover.
37
October 27, 2025
The masks have been removed from the painted cockpit cover, and handles and a handle have been added to the upper side of the sliding part of the cockpit cover.
38
October 28, 2025
After today the model is ready.
39
October 28, 2025
After today the model is ready.
40
October 28, 2025
After today the model is ready.
41
October 28, 2025
After today the model is ready.

Comments

35 18 October, 20:40

Ludvík Kružík Author
The designers of the L-40 Meta Sokol aircraft managed to create a timeless design that has lost none of its charm even today. It is hard to believe that the prototype was created as early as 1950.
At this year's E-day, KP Prostějov presented a model of this aircraft as a new product in 1:48 scale. Since I build models of Czechoslovak aircraft, I couldn't resist and bought the kit. 😄

18 October, 21:27

Alex K
👀

19 October, 12:42

Robert Podkoński
Watching for sure. This is a lovely plane indeed!

19 October, 13:04

Ludvík Kružík Author
Alex and Robert, welcome aboard. 🙂

20 October, 22:17

Ludvík Kružík Author
You probably won't believe me, but it will just be a quick build of the model straight out of the box. I'll just make a few necessary adjustments.

1 20 October, 22:24

Robert Podkoński
This is a surprising decision in fact, Ludviku, taking into account your all other models... 😄

21 October, 06:02

Ludvík Kružík Author
Robert, given that I don't have enough information (not that I have none, but I'm missing a lot of details) about this aircraft, my decision is logical (at least I think so 😄). And besides, it's nice to make a change sometimes.

1 21 October, 09:27

Jakub Fiala
Oh, this is super fast build. Nice work!

21 October, 12:04

Ludvík Kružík Author
Thanks, Jakub! This is really just a quick and easy job. If I manage to finish it, I'll take the model to Křenovice.

1 21 October, 16:50

Ludvík Kružík Author
As of today, Sokol has elegant blue accessories. In my opinion, the combination of blue and silver suits him well.
Tomorrow, I want to continue by spraying a black sun visor strip in front of the cockpit and walkways on the wings. I also want to spray white registration marks on the underside of the wings and fuselage.

22 October, 21:06

Robert Podkoński
Looks beautifully already. Keep it up, Ludviku!

23 October, 05:41

Ludvík Kružík Author
Robert, thank you for your kind words.
Of course, I'm continuing. I'm currently masking the model so that I can spray black sidewalks on the wings and black paint on the engine cover. If all goes well, I should be able to spray the the registration plates by evening.

23 October, 10:24

Ludvík Kružík Author
After today, Sokol is once again closer to completion.

23 October, 22:01

Ludvík Kružík Author
One of the few modifications I made to this kit was to the landing gear. The kit parts for the main landing gear cannot be used without modification.

25 October, 00:21

Alec K
Super fast is right! Taking a belated seat for this show 👍

25 October, 00:57

Robert Podkoński
There is no cure for ASM 😄 😄 😄 I 've been waiting for a symptome, tbh 😉

25 October, 04:53

Alec K
Robert, consider yourself enlightened 👍

1 25 October, 14:36

Robert Podkoński
LOL 😄

1 25 October, 15:04

Ludvík Kružík Author
Welcome, Alec. You are a welcome guest here.

Robert, I apologize for my ignorance, but what does ASM stand for?

1 25 October, 21:58

Ben M
👁️👁️

25 October, 22:02

Robert Podkoński
Sorry, my fault, Ludviku, I have misspelled it. Should be: AMS = Advanced Modeller's Syndrome 😄 😄 😄

26 October, 06:34

Ludvík Kružík Author
Bene, thank you for visiting. This time it's not an exceptional build with many modifications (although I did make a few minor changes), but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

Robert, thank you for the explanation. Now it all makes sense to me. 😄

1 26 October, 10:54

Ludvík Kružík Author
I didn't have much time over the weekend. This afternoon, I was only able to work on the model for a short time.
I managed to make position lights for the wings, handles and latches for the cockpit cover, and a protective arch for the lower part of the tail. I'll add photos tomorrow.

26 October, 22:58

Ludvík Kružík Author
I am slowly approaching my goal. All that remains is to add the last few details and finish the surface treatment.

27 October, 17:37

Alec K
Looks great 👍

27 October, 18:44

Ludvík Kružík Author
Alec, I'm glad you like Sokol. ")

27 October, 19:08

Robert Podkoński
Looks beautiful!

27 October, 19:46

Ludvík Kružík Author
Thank you, Robert, for your kind words.

27 October, 22:12

Rebecca Hayley Polachek
Very nice result from a rather crude kit, great job!

28 October, 07:16

Ludvík Kružík Author
Rebecca, thank you for visiting my album and for your compliment. Yes, you are right, KP Prostějov models are not among the best you can buy. However, this particular model is one of the better ones that KP Prostějov offers. The surface details are good, and if you pay attention to the correct assembly of the parts before gluing, you can assemble the model with minimal filler. For an experienced modeler, building this model should not be a big problem.

28 October, 17:49

Ludvík Kružík Author
Today, I focused on making and adding small parts.
I made the antenna from thin wire and a piece of plastic and glued it to the top of the fuselage between the vertical tailplane and the cockpit.
I added struts and brake cables to the main landing gear legs. I used thin wire to represent the brake cables.
I added open covers to the rear landing gear leg. The original parts in the kit are too thick, so I made new ones from thin plastic sheets.
I made the exhaust pipes from 1 mm diameter brass tubes. After painting them, I glued the exhaust pipes into the holes on the underside of the engine cover.
Finally, I made a few cosmetic adjustments to the surface (I highlighted the gaps in the moving parts, slightly dirtied the fuselage behind the exhaust pipes)...

As of today, the model is finished. Until I have the opportunity to photograph the model in daylight, I am attaching at least a few photos taken under a lamp.

28 October, 18:34

Robert Podkoński
Great job, Ludviku - I cannot wait to see the daylight photos!

28 October, 19:37

Ludvík Kružík Author
Robert, if it's not too cloudy tomorrow, I'll take pictures tomorrow. 😉

1 28 October, 21:59

Ben M
In my experience, the KP models have nice parts, nice details. They just don't fit together.

1 28 October, 23:19

Ludvík Kružík Author
Bene, you're right. That applies to most KP models. The problem, however, is that the quality of KP kits is not always the same. There are exceptions where the overall quality is (surprisingly) above the standard of other KP models. Unfortunately, a good kit release does not mean a permanent improvement in the quality of KP models. The next new model may be released in standard poor quality again. If you buy a new model from KP and cannot inspect it before purchase, it is always a gamble.

1 29 October, 12:27

Ludvík Kružík Author
Thank you all for your affection and support during the construction of the model. Don't forget to check out the album with the finished model:L-40 Meta Sokol, aero klub Zbraslavice | Album by KLuK (1:48)

29 October, 14:25

Project info

L-40 Meta Sokol

56 images

1:48

Completed

1:48 Orličan L-40 Meta Sokol (Kovozávody Prostějov KPM4830)

1:48 Orličan L-40 Meta Sokol (Kovozávody Prostějov KPEX411)

All albums

View all albums »