diff --git a/example/serializers.py b/example/serializers.py
index c0ed70ca..5ea1b4fe 100644
--- a/example/serializers.py
+++ b/example/serializers.py
@@ -76,4 +76,5 @@ class CommentSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
 
     class Meta:
         model = Comment
-        fields = ('entry', 'body', 'author',)
+        exclude = ('created_at', 'modified_at',)
+        # fields = ('entry', 'body', 'author',)
diff --git a/example/tests/test_serializers.py b/example/tests/test_serializers.py
index 6712ec7e..ecd2330d 100644
--- a/example/tests/test_serializers.py
+++ b/example/tests/test_serializers.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils import timezone
 
@@ -6,6 +7,11 @@
 
 from example.models import Blog, Entry, Author
 
+import pytest
+from example.tests.utils import dump_json, redump_json
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.django_db
+
 
 class TestResourceIdentifierObjectSerializer(TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
@@ -71,3 +77,41 @@ def test_deserialize_many(self):
 
         print(serializer.data)
 
+
+class TestModelSerializer(object):
+    def test_model_serializer_with_implicit_fields(self, comment, client):
+        expected = {
+            "data": {
+                "type": "comments",
+                "id": str(comment.pk),
+                "attributes": {
+                    "body": comment.body
+                },
+                "relationships": {
+                    "entry": {
+                        "data": {
+                            "type": "entries",
+                            "id": str(comment.entry.pk)
+                        }
+                    },
+                    "author": {
+                        "data": {
+                            "type": "authors",
+                            "id": str(comment.author.pk)
+                        }
+                    },
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        response = client.get(reverse("comment-detail", kwargs={'pk': comment.pk}))
+
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+
+        actual = redump_json(response.content)
+        expected_json = dump_json(expected)
+
+        print("ACTUAL: " + actual.decode())
+        print("EXPECTED: " + expected_json.decode())
+
+        assert actual == expected_json
diff --git a/rest_framework_json_api/serializers.py b/rest_framework_json_api/serializers.py
index 94e01c0d..c0eaed72 100644
--- a/rest_framework_json_api/serializers.py
+++ b/rest_framework_json_api/serializers.py
@@ -137,12 +137,6 @@ class ModelSerializer(IncludedResourcesValidationMixin, SparseFieldsetsMixin, Mo
     """
     serializer_related_field = ResourceRelatedField
 
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        meta_fields = getattr(self.Meta, 'meta_fields', [])
-        # we add meta_fields to fields so they will be serialized like usual
-        self.Meta.fields = tuple(tuple(self.Meta.fields) + tuple(meta_fields))
-        super(ModelSerializer, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-
     def get_field_names(self, declared_fields, info):
         """
         We override the parent to omit explicity defined meta fields (such
@@ -155,5 +149,5 @@ def get_field_names(self, declared_fields, info):
             field = declared_fields[field_name]
             if field_name not in meta_fields:
                 declared[field_name] = field
-        return super(ModelSerializer, self).get_field_names(declared, info)
-
+        fields = super(ModelSerializer, self).get_field_names(declared, info)
+        return list(fields) + list(getattr(self.Meta, 'meta_fields', list()))