alex Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 (edited) hello there, I started the build of the Jag. Thanks to the mod's it a one-year-groupbuild, so it's possible that I get this aircraft completed in time. As reference I used some pictures and tips from the former Jaguar GB, and some very good threads here from guys which know much more about the Jag than I do. If you think there are some things I could do to improve the kit, feel free to comment. I started with the LRMTS in the nose. It's a fact that Italeri has moulded it as a solid nose. After some sawing, glueing and sanding it now looks like that: Another point where Italeri sc***d up are the gunports. I removed the visible barrel and drilled the venting holes. The wheel wells are wrong as well. I removed the superfluous part, and it looks better now. I will add some generic wheel wells. You know, the plastic sheet with some boxes and cables. Just to look a bit more realistic. The right side shows the part removed. The cockpit side walls got some minor improvements like cables, fuseboxes, ashtray, cigarett lighters and the things you often find in cockpits. Painting was done with Enamels and some minor drybrushing to emphasize the details. The parts are from the kit, no after market parts used (except the bangseat, which will be shown later) Ah, and the terrible cluster bombs. I replaced them with the bits from the Hasegawa weapons set. The tank got chopped and I removed the fins. Looks a bit better now... So, that's it for the moment. If anyone has a nice 3-side drawing of the Jaguar, I would appreciate it, if you could send it to me. The Italeri kit needs some work... Cheers, Alex Edited July 18, 2010 by alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Super start Alex will be watching closely as i have this kit in the stash keep up the good work and hope the build goes well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 So, work cuntinued a bit... the front gear well had two black boxes added, just to hide the holes where the joystick and instument panel are supposed to be stuck in on the other side. I also added some styrene strips on both sides of the gear well, since it is too narrow and would allow an open view to the side instrument panels. And we're not in a hollywood movie, where every part in any aircraft is interconnected to all other rooms by some secret walkways... the cockpit tub, before it's glued with the front fuselage halves. The seat is not yet completed, just to check if everything is ok. (the seat is too wide, and I had to mill the sides of the cockpit tub to give enough room for the seat... The rear bulkhead is too low. It leaves two nice joints, a horizontal one and a vertical one where the fuselage halves meet. I masked this with some milliput. No idea why Italery didn't make the rear bulkhead to the top... The main gear well is now almost complete. It will just get some wash to give it a bit more depth. I didn't take the time to scratch all the wrong interiors, but it still looks ok for me. The most important improvement was to open the front side of the wheel well. The legs are a bit too simplified. I scratched the shock absorber, and it will also get some wires and tubes, as well as the actuator (not done yet). Cheers, Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 The improvements you have made there really make a difference, well done. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share Posted January 3, 2010 The main wheel got the actuator. Some wires and tubes still missing, but you get the impression... The nose gear had some material removed... the nose gear is better than the main gear, fortunately, so almost nothing to add... (well, apart from 2-3 wires...) Most panel lines are wrong. Mostly on the models are too many, so a lot of filling and sanding needed. And, more than that, they forgot the AAR-Probe. When rescribing this section, I also found out that the cockpit of the Italeri Jag is some 4mm too far forward. Or just too long? The backside looks like on the plans, but the front is definetly too far forward. So, refueling probe, nose gear leg and the panels are 4mm out of the real thing. The overall impression shows some of the filled panel lines... In the meantime, I have repositionned the ventral fins (3mm too high), shortened the length of the airbrakes and their opening in the fuselage, added the intakes & gunports and finished the bangseat. Pictures will follow soon, I hope... And last but not least - thanks very much to Andy Brooks who was so kind to send me some very interesting material, it is a great help to make this model look more like the real thing! Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Sounds like a lot of work to get an accurate Jag, are there any others out there which are more accurate to start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 @Deon: no idea, apparently the Hasegawa ist better, but still far from perfect... so, the bangseat is finished. Looks slightly better than the original Next image shows the correct location of the ventral fins (double arrow), and you can see how I changed the shape of the airbrakes and the opening. I did it with 3 layers of 0.2x2mm-styrene strips from Evergreen. The gap between the wing and the fuselage (arrow) has been filled with stretched sprue, which I have glued into the gap with ultra thin glue. Still applied a coat of Mr Surfacer 500, it looks really smooth now Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Lots better than the original Alex! keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike7451 Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Very good work! making a silk purse outta sow's ear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 well, just realised that for the speed brakes, it was correct to make the opening shorter, but a mistake to cut the airbrakes itself. On a picture I've seen that the last portion of the brakes was overlapping the fuselage, i.e. the brakes are longer than the opening. Can any Jag lover confirm this point? Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted May 8, 2010 Author Share Posted May 8, 2010 OK, the Jag still took some small steps forward. The gear is now finished. I just added some more wirings. Before painting the desert pink, I applied a light and decent preshading. And the first layer of desert pink. I used the xtracrylics. They are a bit of a pain, since it took me approximately 1000 layers until they covered the preshade to the desired amount. Fin and cockpit region isn't painted yet, just to show the difference. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 Nice work Alex she is coming along really well Take it the paint rather transparent then Am surprised as I would have thought it would be a more opaque pigment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 ive found for the best results you need to prime the aircraft first with a light primer then the pink comes out well. if you havent primed you may find the where you have filler the pink will change colour slightly over that area, somtoimes you do somtimes you dont, rather than the black for pre shading use a mid to dark grey or even brown, i did with 'emma' and you will use a lot less coats, i dont mean to critisise, but i learnt the hard way on my first tonka, the next one came out great!! nether the less she look good, keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 That looks great Alex. I'm making a Buccaneer up for this GB so the info on the paint is useful. Cheers Deacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 @Mark: yeah, I should have primed before. The very bright places have been "toned down" with the dark grey of the preshading. But with a light grey, it would have been better. There are some more planes which have the same colour, so maybe the next one Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benskipper Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 (edited) That is fantatsic! The efforts you've made to correct the errors have really paid off. Hats off to you sir. Edited May 16, 2010 by benskipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRUSKY1965 Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 A little wonder! Congratulations! One of the most impressive planes in Gulf War, perfectly build! Regards. TRUSKY1965. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 Ladies and Gentlemens, I need some advice, mostly on the weapon load... - The AIM-9 are grey, I suppose, and not white... would a aircraft grey, as used on the gear struts, look OK? - For the CBU-87, I use the hasegawa ones, which look great and have a whole bunch of decals to put on, some of them read "do not fly" (!). No idea why they put these decals on the sheet, but obviously, they don't belong on a real live ordnance? - The whole desert pink scheme has almost no stencils at all... that's correct too, I guess? Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 the sidewinders are a light grey according to my photos leave the donot fly decasl off and you shpuld be on the over painted airframes didnt have time to paint all the stencils on, its the same for the tonka and buccs, the guys working on them knoew what they were doning so why waste time and paintto get them perfect, dont forget some of these aircraft turned around from camo and got to theater in less than a week, if my memory is correct some of the buccs got turned around and to theater in less than 72 hrs which aircraft are you doining, i have several photos of jags in the gulf, send me your email and ill wizz some over if you need them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 The only real stencils put on these aircraft were the ejection seat warning triangles and the rescue arrows. I have always painted the sidewinders on these aircraft grey. As Mark said the paint was applied to these aircraft very quickly, sometimes with the help of the local Air Cadet Sqn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted June 2, 2010 Author Share Posted June 2, 2010 The desert pink has been sealed with some german Klear, and it's now ready for the few decals... The gun ports have been painted with revell brick red, added a bit of burnt metal. The weapons of the Jag. EW-pods and Sidewinder are from the kit, and the CBU-87 from the Hasegawa weapon set (incl. the decals for the AIM-9). Remark, there are more decals on the ordnance than on the rest of the Jaguar! And amazing how much aircraft is needed to deliver two dumb bombs... Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousFO98 Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Smart work Alex coming along very nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 (edited) Decals, washing and chipping applied. The next job will be to warnish it. Alex Edited July 10, 2010 by alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 the gear legs have been glued in place. It shows that the kit is not very good - the upper gear door should be flush with the fuselage, but it doesn't fit... but too much work to fix it. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 despite the fit problems its looking good mate, not long till them end now mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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