Jon Bryon

Mr Color 332 (and Mr Hobby Color 332 for the Tamiya-esq version) are labelled for this and easily available in the UK. HTH Jon

Indeed. I'd say the scans prove the critics of the Monogram kit (me included) right. Jon

This is very helpful information I shall feed into my decision-making process Jon

I just don't think them being late with delivering products makes any difference. But, I note they state they will open up for preorders later this year. When they do that they really do open themselves up to significant risk of reputational damage, in my opinion. I agree that it remains to be seen if they can sustain their pace of announcements/projects in progress/releases, and thus I won't be preordering. I'm very leery about putting up money for a product that doesn't exist yet. Jon

I'm not sure what difference it makes. If they come, they'll come, and people who want them (like me) will buy them. I can't believe there are that many people who would refuse to buy a model on principle because it's 'late'. OTOH, if the quality is not there, then that's another matter... Jon

These are both super-helpful responses. Thank you very much. Jon

Hello all, I'm making the Jaguar 1/48 Airfix Jaguar GR.1 at the moment and intend to use this marking option from Xtradecals: As you can see, this is captioned as a Jaguar from 1982. It's not shown here, but Xtradecals instruct the modeller to paint the nose gear door grey with black 'GG' codes outlined in white. I have many questions! 1. I've not been able to find a photo of XX737 from 1982. Does anyone know of a reference? Anything particularly showing the nose gear door would be helpful. The only photo of 'GG' I have found is captioned as from 1987: This has a blue nose gear door with yellow a yellow 'GG' code. All other photos of XX737 as a GR.1 that I've found are from the late 1970s, and they have blue nose gear doors bearing '737' in yellow and no GG codes anywhere, like this one (from 1977 I think): 2. When did Jags start having tail codes? (i.e, when did XX737 gain 'GG'?) 3. Were 54 Sqn Jaguar nose gear doors usually blue with yellow codes? (i.e. Is Xtradecals wrong?) I'm modelling my Jaguar in this configuration, which I believe was a photo shoot from 1978 (I have a photo in a book from the other side also): The centreline pylon and starboard outer pylon (not visible in this photo) are in very light grey (I assume Light Aircraft Grey). I like the blue practice bombs with white bands. 4. Whilst this is not a photo of XX737, if I were to miss off the 'GG' tail markings and add '737' to the nose gear door (yellow on blue), would the Xtradecals option give me a Jaguar belonging to 54 Sqn in 1978 that might have flown with this loadout? In other words, beyond the GG/737 markings, did the other markings change much between 1978 and what Xtradecals provide? 5. Some photos (like the first shown above) clearly show silver edges to the intakes, whereas others don't seem to show it. Are there any general rules as to whether these were silver or not? Sorry that's all a bit complicated, but I hope someone can shed some light. Many thanks Jon

Yes - the comparison with rivet decals is a good one, You can try CA, but I could not place it precisely enough to make it work, I guess one idea is to use CA and then debonder, but I'm sceptical it would be practical. Cheers Jon

Masking over the solder balls is super-scary. I planned painting to absolutely minimise it, but in some places it cannot be avoided (like for the yellow band around the tail). Having masked the rivets a bit on this model and my UH-1H, it is possible, but I proceed with great caution and use as little pressure as possible when applying the tape. I have lost a couple of balls, and paint came off a few more, but in general they stood up to masking much better than I had feared. Cheers Jon

Ha ha - they are insanely small, aren't they? And yet when you add them to a model, they are definitely still too large 🤣 Adding layers of clear is definitely an option. As you can see, I used VMS varnishes for this purpose (I had more success on my UH-1H, as a matt finish is much easier to deal with). In my experience this does not obliterate the rivet detail, although you can lose some definition (which is some circumstances, might be a good thing!). Good luck! Jon

Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate them very much. Cheers Jon

The kit canopy fits okay on mine. The Falcon windscreen is a bit too wide, but it might be possible to fudge it. I think I might be able to use the sliding sections, but I've only done the most preliminary test-fitting. Jon

Maybe, but they're extremely flexible, so difficult to create a reliable buck. Jon

I'm still merrily applying decals to matt surfaces... Jon

It's a fair point, although how buildable they are is debatable given the lack of usable clear parts! I've got a couple of Falcon sets arriving today with clear parts for the Matchbox kit. The chance of them working on the TT Modelworks kits is almost zero, but worth a try. You never know! Jon