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E Type Jaguar low drag coupe


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I'm going to have a go at converting the little Airfix E Type kit into the famous low drag coupe.
I've done a few conversions of this little kit as it seems so very 'adaptable' - not only that, it's so cheap it doesn't matter if it goes belly-up.

I'll have to lengthen the snout, widen the rear arches and re-shape them, and scratch the pointed coupe tail.
All good fun...

Roy.

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So; a nice, simple, relaxing OOB build then. Just the tonic after a Pocher..........

Well........ The Airfix E Type is just so much simple fun.....

First, the lower nose and lower rear were glued in place. Thin plasticard was used to extend the 'mouth' forwards and to widen the rear arches.

The rear arches were first re-profiled as the low drag car arches curve upwards more.

The pictures show one arch before the change, and one arch after.

White filler was added in several layers and sanded to give a better shape.

The roof had the rear window area cut off and was glued in place. Next, a template was made from thin card for the sloping rear end.

A plasticard semi-circle was glued to the upper boot lid as a fixing point for the roof.

The plastic roof part was cut using the template and a window rim was added so that the rear screen has something to fix to later on.

Filler was then added to fill the gaps and will need smoothing when it has set.

The wheels were reversed and will be modelled to represent Dunlop rims and the tread on the rears was widened using plasticard and filler.

This will not be a 'perfect' low drag model but I'm trying to get it as close to the green one in the first posting as possible......

Roy.

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I've sorted the bodywork, painted it and started to add other details.

I'm not bothering about 'underneath' too much, as TBH - I'm not going to look at it......

My little E Type collection are proper 'look and don't touch' models, so what's the point of adding suspension etc that will NEVER be seen.

Just to mention - I very carefully masked the windscreen frame to paint it green - it took an age - and then I realised I was about to paint the WINDOW!

I'd masked the frame..........

Hoh hum. Old age.

Wheels, lights, decals and exhausts next......

Roy.

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I've sorted the wheels to make a 'representation' of Dunlops, and have fitted them. The rear wheels are actually cut off completely at the tops to fit into the reshaped and widened arches.

The side exhausts are made from small ally tubing and the rear lights have been BMF'd on the edges and painted with Tamiya clear red and orange.

I printed my own decals in various sizes, and with several spares in case of blunders.

The whole car will get a coat of 'Klear' eventually, and a final polish.

Getting there now.

Roy.

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Just a random observation: One of the main differences between the standard and low drag coupes was the rake of the windscreen. The bottom of the screen on the low drag version was moved forward to just behind the bonnet shut line, and this gave the roofline a more teardrop shape.

Cheers.

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I did see that but to alter the screen would have been a major hassle.

This was a 'representation' of the real car only, and was just a quickie build.

Roy.

Yeah, you seem to have built it in the time it takes me to find my airbrush! Nice one.

Could you have tried making a solid former for the windscreen, and then crash moulding (whatever it's called) some acetate over the mould? I've never tried anything like that, just thinking out loud how it could be done. After all you did some pretty major surgery on the rear part of the roof.

Cheers.

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