johnlambert

I've not seen that trick with the cotton thread before, I may have to borrow it.

That looks gorgeous. Those old Airfix kits seem to come together pretty well.

Nice work, that looks really good and it's not obvious just how small the model must be. I saw a real MG 1100 today at the lovely little motor museum at Bourton on the Water.

The build is coming along nicely and I see what you mean about the headlamps. Sorry your weekend plans were spoilt but it looks like you've made good use of the time.

OK, I think I'm suffering from some sort of madness, I've looked at the kit wheels and I just can't bear to use them so I've just ordered a set of slot-car wire wheels and tyres that should be about the right size. Ah-well, in for a penny...

More hard work on the dreaded E-type. I've added some pieces to close off the inner wings both to the engine bay and under the bonnet. Paint was mixed to the specification of BMC almond green following the instructions from my Tamiya Austin Mini Cooper S but with all matt paint. It doesn't look too far off too far off to my eyes. It's a pain that the inner door panels can't be painted but the fit with the body will need some filling before I can paint them. I've added the metal trim using 0.4mm nickel silver wire and the plan is to rub off the paint from the wire to leave the trim visible. I'll also have to recreate the door handles and window winders somehow. The steering wheel originally had some nasty raised lumps to represent the drilled spokes. Being a bit mad at this point I decided to drill a few holes with my finest drill bit. A photo-etched wheel would probably be a better move but I'm not going to try and source one. A quick spray of Tamiya flat aluminium for the steering wheel, front brake disks and exhaust. The distinctive, twin-pipe exhaust system. I must remember to install this before the rear subframe.

OK thanks for that, looks like I need to fabricate some inner wing panels. at least I can spray the inside of the bonnet body colour rather than black, so I won't have to worry about over spray.

There were lots of interesting cars out and about today but this is the only one I managed to photograph. Jaguar E-type Series 1 3.8 coupé; it sounded pretty good too.

I've always wanted a model Mercedes-Benz 300SL that has a detailed space frame chassis, seeing your progress so far has made me want to get this kit.

Yesterday morning I set to work on the Jaguar's front suspension. This is really fiddly, tiny parts, poor location, lots of flash to clean. You can see I've added a little extra in the engine bay. I'm not going for a full engine but I didn't want too much empty space visible when you look directly side-on through the wheel arch. If you were daft, you could probably work up the engine bay to a really high standard. Radiator added, although the instructions say to add the wheels I'll leave them off until I've given it a quick spray in black paint. Dashboard in comparison with a picture of the real thing. I couldn't remember whether there was a dial in the place of the ejector pin; there isn't and the bezels are pretty horrible so I'll sand it flat and just stick the decals directly to the flat dash panel. Some masking added, I've cut away the solid panel that separates the air intake from the radiator, so at least there will be a sense that the front air intake leads to the radiator matrix. Because of the shape and way the body goes together you need to get paint on the underside of the bonnet before assembly as I don't like having too much bare plastic visible. I'll live with any over spray that comes when I paint the body. The interior tub, I'll paint the carpet and transmission tunnel, then mask that up and spray the engine bay black. It would be easier to spray the whole thing black and go for a colour scheme with a black carpet but I find black interiors quite boring. I've also spotted that there is no provision for a hand brake, so I'll add one from some wire.

I'm thinking of taking inspiration from the first E-type roadster, registered 77RW, which is dark green with a green interior very similar to BMC almond green. I think in Jaguar terms it might be called "Suede Green". The only problem with that is that it means mixing paint (and/or buying some) where I could take the easy option and paint the whole thing satin black, but that would be a bit boring. Oh yes, I've done plenty of swearing.

I wonder how many people buy these kits thinking that they will be a nice gentle introduction to model building? How many subsequently try a less stressful hobby - like juggling chainsaws - instead? Mould lines cleaned up on the body and panel lines gone over with a scriber. Ejector pin marks on the seats, that would be painful if you sat on it! Inner door panels with horrible ejector pin marks; Airfix moulded the door latch and window winder but not the chrome trim strips that are roughly 1/4 and 3/4 of the way up the door card. This will be sanded down and given a skim of filler. The iconic Jaguar independent rear suspension is together and ready for a coat of paint. It's probably easier to paint as one piece than trying to paint the parts then glue them together as the glue would only mess up the paint. One of many mock-ups to check for fit, at least the wheels seem to be positioned roughly right in relation to the body. Inspired by other builds on here, I've used plastic tube to add the headlamp bowls. I hope this improves the look of the front end when the build is finished. I didn't like the fact that you could see daylight between the interior and the wheel arch. That usually only happens on E-types when they rust out. I'm quite pleased with this structure, which mostly closes off the boot and interior. Blu Ttac was for the mock-up assembly.

It's coming along so well. I'm still envious of that paint finish on the body. The XJ-S should look great when it's complete (which can't be far off).

Having seen the contents of the kit, it could well be a cunning ploy to drive me to distraction and ruin so that I never return to work...

I was given this kit today by my team at work as an early birthday present. It was such a lovely and thoughtful gesture that, despite vowing not to start another build until I'd completed one that I'd already got in progress, I've decided to make it a project to get it built in the course of my week off next week. I'm sure the Airfix Jaguar E-type Open Two Seater needs no introduction. I built one of these in my adolescence and so I'm quite keen to go back and have another bash at it. It seems somehow appropriate that the bits come in a plastic bag, even if they are contained within a cardboard box. Limited set of decals but they look pretty nice. And the parts themselves, very much a case of "flash! Aaargh!" As recommended by the instructions, I've given the parts a wash in warm, soapy water. I'll leave them to dry overnight before attempting to start the build properly. I'm not quite sure how to tackle this build as you can't assemble the body without also assembling most of the interior and suspension. The various parts of the body don't seem to mate terribly well, so it's going to be a challenge to get it all together to paint. I'll probably use an airbrush rather than spray cans and I think I'll go for green, rather than the red finish that the box art suggests.