Yes guys and gals, I have finally gotten round to starting this!

I am going to bash the Heller Jaguar A in 1/48 into M-05, the one and only Jaguar Marine. Also using the the Neomega Jag A cockpit (as the M cockpit was basically the same as the A) and some Paragon burner cans.

First step is to begin building the front undercarriage. After some weeks of research it appears that what Breguet did was to use a modified Phantom front undercarriage. And I happen to have one spare! And so it begins...



Next thing to do is cut down the tail:



Meanwhile I am painting up the cockpit.

Bruce

I will be watching this one.

I have built two of the old Heller 1/50 Jag M's a long time ago (I still have one unbuilt), always wanted to do a M from the 1/48 kit. The Jag looks really nice in that Dark Blue and white scheme.

Sweet!

Ok, a bit more progress...

The Neomega Jaguar A cockpit is in:





And the fuselage is coming on but blimey there is a ton of filling to do. Got to close up and reshape the gun ports and then fill all the horrible gaps in Heller's fit....



Roll on Xmas holidays so I can maybe finish it! Have bought some luverly Carpena Cocardes Aeronavale decals.

Glad to see this one's still on the go, certainly taking shape now.

A bit more progress. Slow going but hopefully that means less chance of me fecking it up.

She's all puttied up ready for sanding and the plasticard splitter plates have been added.







Soon I won't be able to ignore the bugbear that is the revised undercarriage. The front bit is probably ok but getting the revisions to the rear undercarriage right are hard as decent photos are hard to come by and the Airfix/Revell kit is unhelpful in its layout.

Might get to that tomorrow.

Am I the only one still building Jags in the Group Build?

This is turning into a rather kewl Jag cant wait to see ya hard work pay off

Bex

No, we're still here mate..................... beavering away in the winter gloom Yours is making good progress Bruce. Looking forward to seeing this one

Still plenty of time for me to feck it up!

Ok, I have finally 'finished' this. I have to say I am not really happy with it - I have had to rush and bodge stuff to get it over the line, but if I hadnt I wouldnt be finished by the end of next year, let alone the end of the group build! Towards the end quite a few things went wrong - my airbrush and I fell out so I ended up brushing painting the mess that was the first stab at painting, the deals were old and silvered, I broke the pitot about 8 times and making a new set of air brakes with the extra holes was enough to drive me mental. Quite a few errors on board - the rear undercarriage wheels are too small, the tail decals are too big and the 'J' not rounded enough etc etc. But nevermind....

Firstly a quick recap about what the Jaguar Marine was (with thanks to the "Jaguar in detail" website). The Jaguar M was a carrier-based strike variant for the Aeronavale intended to replace the Etendard. It had a longer nosewheel leg, intake splitter plates, different undercarriage and air brakes and other navalizations. The prototype, M05, performed its first flight on 14 November 1969. The Jaguar M completed carrier deck trials before being cancelled in favor of the Dassault Super Etendard. Quite why this occurred is controversial - the Super Etendard was clearly less capable but was sold by Dassault as a modest low-cost update of the existing Etendard IV. The Jag M meanwhile had certain problems - in particular a lack of power from the original Adour engines. But this surely could have been solved through uprating the Adour in the way the RAF ended up doing at a lower cost than the SuE project. Allegedly the evaluation report on the Jaguar M versus the Super Etendard criticised the Jaguar M's handling with an engine out, somewhat oblivious to the fact that since the Super Etendard only had one engine its engine-out performance would obviously have been even worse. The admirals wanted the Jag but Dassault wanted to push the SuE and politics won out.

First some pics of the real thing:












And my take on it:
d













It's a tricky plane to build as it had varying configurations and there is very little research material. M05 was in the Aeronavale museum at Rochefort but that was badly damaged in a storm and the exhibits now rot away in a hangar unseen and unloved. We should be grateful in the UK that our maritime aviation heritage has been better preserved!

Bruce

Good effort Bruce! She certainly looks different from the standard Jag and you've caught her appearance well I think.

Hi,

really unusual subject but really nice to see it!!

What are the differences in the gun shrouds?

cheers Bob

The gun shrouds were sealed up as far as I can tell, certainly to start with. It seems that later on they may have been opened up (M05 at Rochefort had some RBF labels dangling from the area). I think the finish on the shrouds is the same as on the Jag ACT.

nice job mate!!!!

and the award for "most unusual Jag" goes to....... Really nice to see this built and finally finished. Great effort Bruce

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Btw, in case you are wondering what the 'kill markings' on the nose are, the test team recorded each catapult launch with a stylised champagne cork popping and each carrier landing with a hook. Funnily enough accurate decals for these dont exist on the aftermarket so i used some generic Fantasy Printshop kill markings that are near enough if you look from 15 feet away!

Nice build Bruce, not nearly as bad as you think!