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Showing results for tags 'Fiona Banner'.
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Evening each, This was an odd one - I had been given a partially completed Frog Jaguar about twenty years ago, and had been wondering what to do with it. As it had been started, I couldn't sell it, and it would have taken a lot of work to bring it up to modern standards, which would have been pointless in view of the availability of significantly more modern kits. So it was an obvious subject for conversion. After toying for a long time with the idea of converting it to a Jaguar M navalised prototype, I eventually had another idea. There was a rather extraordinary installation on display at the Tate Britain in the winter of 2010, consisting of a retired Jaguar GR.3A and Sea Harrier FA.2, stripped of engines, seats, armament and most equipment and arranged in the Duveen Galleries. My photos are here (public FB link): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150899333230471.756387.831430470&type=1&l=0c0068743d With the cockpit stripped bare, the engines entirely gone along with the arrester hook and most equipment that could be removed, I thought that it would make an ideal conversion subject, with most of the missing detail not required anyway. Of course, the Frog kit represents the A & E prototypes, so I acquired an old Airfix Jaguar from which I robbed the forward fuselage, canopy, fin and wings, grafting these onto the Frog fuselage, after engraving the panel lines throughout. One detailing job that I had to do was to add the frames to the engine bay, which was done with plastic strip. I also had to remove the tail antenna housing, but little else was needed. I polished the canopy, but refrained from treating it with Clear, as the original appeared to have been subtly treated to be slightly clouded. I also had to make the LRMTS windows from scratch - excavating the compartment, filling it with a length of clear plastic sprue and sanding it to shape, finishing with canopy polish and filling with Clearfix. My airbrush may have had a broken nozzle but it was still able to spray a surprisingly effective coat of Humbrol Silver Fox (the more so as the paint was a couple of decades old!). Here are a few pictures of the result: Hope you find it interesting
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