A small Jaguar - the "E" model in 1/72

[jgrease]

Hello all. I am hoping that by posting a WIP I actually commit to finishing something. After a recent visit to the Air and Space Museum outside of Paris I really became enthralled with the Jaguar - never really appreciated it until seeing it up close. This is the one that I got a good look at:

And during a recent trip to the hobby shop, I came across the Hobby Boss Jaguar E in 1/72. Now please bear in mind that 1/72 is not my preferred scale, and this is my first French plane, new or old. I will endeavor to make small fixes where possible within my abilities, but outside of that I'm trying to actually finish something. The only thing I have decided to add is the correct number to correspond to the one I saw. As for unit markings, well, I hate to sound tight, but I'm not spending another $11 on top of the $44 for the kit and the $8 for the numerals. I might just leave them off. Please feel free to post observations and comments, just leave out the "Hobby Boss sucks" remarks - you're just wasting bandwidth and all of our time. Next post will be the start...

[David Womby]

Yes, I was smitten by the svelte shape of the Jaguar, especially the two seaters, from their maiden flight. Good luck with the build. What unit markings do you need? I have a few and may have something that fits.

David

[jgrease]

David - Not sure what unit it is but this was the tail:

Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated!

John

Edited December 21, 2015 by jgrease

[David Womby]

I'm no expert but as far as I can tell, that looks like the badge of CITAC 339 (Centre d´Instruction Tactique). Here's a page with more pics of the plane you saw. Note, as with most French Air Force combat aircraft, there are different badges on each side of the fin.

http://www.pyperpote.tonsite.biz/listinmae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=298:sepecat-qjaguarq-e-3-code-339-wf&catid=43:tarmac&Itemid=54

Sorry, but I don't have these in my stash.

David

[perdu]

Because I'm a bit of a Jag fanatic I'll be enjoying this one with you

[HOUSTON]

Great choice. Look forward to seeing you build this.

Jaguars. ..love them.

Go for it

[Antoine]

The only thing I have decided to add is the correct number to correspond to the one I saw. As for unit markings, well, I hate to sound tight, but I'm not spending another $11 on top of the $44 for the kit and the $8 for the numerals.

Well, if you want to stick to reality (and it's up to you only) and #3, I see two options.

- #3 as seen at the museum, with CITAC markings => CITAC badge is available on Berna 72083, here at Hannants, but you can always ask on the forum, you never know.

- #3 when he served with 2/7 => You've already 2/7 badges on HB decal sheet, you just need to change the serial to #3 and code to 7-PN or 7-PL

[jgrease]

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions - all will be kept in mind as this progresses (hopefully rather swiftly). Just to show that I have in fact started on the plastic, here is a shot of the cockpit:

There is absolutely no detail whatsoever on the side consoles or the instrument panels. The seats are not basic, but slightly more detailed - I will post a better pic of the empty one later. No crew are provided, but since the canopy only comes closed, I've had two Airfix pilots defect to France. The navigator had his behind sanded down a bit to line his helmet up with the headrest, and I've also had to remove a bit of his knees to accommodate the rear IP. The pilot has not fared as well - his legs have been removed below the knees as there was just no way they would fit at all. I've also sanded the goggles off of the helmets to try and get them a little more "modern" looking. I will be painting the pilots in their seats as I progress. One last shot of the rear IP with the decal as it is being fitted:

Yeah. It's that bad - looks like they measured the rear IP out to the edges of the shroud instead of the edges of the exposed panel - my mistake for not measuring. Still, for $44, I would have expected a bit more detail in the cockpit. This is like 1990's Hasegawa cockpit design. Awful. So far I am quite disappointed but I will try and make the most of it. More to come later on. Cheers!

John

[Martian]

Looking forward to seeing what you make of this.

Martin

[jgrease]

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I've completed the cockpit:

Nothing looks right here. The decal instrument panels are bad enough, but the seats and the IPs don't even look to be in proportion to each other. And those British pilots? They look like bodybuilders crammed into the cockpit. I really don't think the cockpit is 1/72, and I sure don't think it's even kinda right. Another shot from the side - the pilots' bottoms have been sanded, and I also sanded off the molded-in cushion on the seats to get them lower. This is my best attempt:

Just awful. Look at the front IP - it's so low you almost forget it's there. Meantime, the rear IP is huge and blocks the rear-seat view forward. I can only hope it gets better from here. So far - extreme disappointment. Zero detail, no sense of scale.

[perdu]

Dont be despondent, at least it is not Matchbox

Or Italeri

You will get there

re: the rear cockpit with all the gubbins in front of the back seater the relative height of the IPs will probably disappear when you get the fuselage together but the front cowling does look a bit low

It should follow the same line toward the back of the machine, maybe you could file the rear cowling down a little to get closer to the level

Sorry about this but I dont have any public domain pics of a real Jag, this is my effort from earlier this year, you can see the lines the two cowlings should follow pretty well

I can remove this if you like

I suggest not worrying too much about this whilst you get the 'plane together, much will vanish under the screen and canopy

There are millions (ish) of suitable photos out there under the Jaguar two seater label, ask Google...

Edited December 22, 2015 by perdu

[jgrease]

Thanks Perdu - I have pics from my museum visit. I know the cowlings will kind of disappear after the fuselage and canopy go on, but for a model costing $44 I expect better work. I can buy Fujimi models that were made 10 years ago with nicer cockpit details. But in any event, onward and upward.

[David Womby]

If the pilots seem big, you may want to test fit the canopies to be sure they will close over your pilots.

David

[jgrease]

David - thanks for the heads' up. I had checked prior to seating them. There is room, but as I mentioned it does not seem to be in scale. As long as it's passable when it's done.

John

[jgrease]

So last night I had given the three gear bays a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss. Everything seemed nice and dry today so I went ahead and threw in some Testors Enamel Wash. Um...I think it was a bad idea. The green paint in the bays actually started to come off - I should have used Future. Lesson learned. I've installed the bays into their respective fuselage halves and will post photos later when there is something to show. Lesson learned.

[jgrease]

Ok - fuselage is coming together. The gear bays are in, and the cockpit has also been wedged in - everything fits well:

I've even managed to squeeze in a weight forward of the cockpit. Once I got everything in, I rechecked the fit of the canopy and I needed to get the pilot down a little more in the seat to get the canopy closed:

His legs are almost gone at this point, but once I touch him up and get him in the seat, everything will fit just right. I've now closed up the fuselage and everything is drying. More to come later. Thanks as always for looking in!

John

[David Womby]

Looking good.

David

[perdu]

It is looking good and it is nice to have a full undercarriage bay to play with instead of 'tucking the leg into its slot and no location points for the drag link doohdah' in the Italeri, Hasegawa and Airfix 1/72 scale models

I found I didn't need any extra weight in my three but as you can pop it in, whyever not

Enjoying this

[jgrease]

Perdu - I figured since I could squeeze that one piece in, why not?

I've got the wing uppers and lowers together drying, and I've puttied the fuselage where needed. I should have an update later today.

John

[jgrease]

Can anyone tell me the colors for a standard French fighter pilot's helmet? Should I do grey or white? Anyone?

[Antoine]

Take a look at about 7:07.

You can also watch the whole video!

[jgrease]

Antoine - thanks very much! That was a great video. Hope to show a little progress in the next day or so.

John

[Antoine]

You're welcome!

Know what?

I've ordered the kit!

I didn't want to at first, mainly because of the price, but the French weapons available in the box are not so common in 1/72.

So here we go.

I hope that when HB release the GR.1/3 and T.2/4 (and hopefully some International?), they'll give us a choice of UK weapons and pods, too.

[jgrease]

Looking forward to your build Antoine! So with the holidays here, we've got company at the house so there has been some progress to report. The fuselage halves went to gather, and all of the fit issues were on the bottom:

There was a slight bend inward on the bottom of the fuselage halves, so I did my best here. I'm not the best with these things, but I think it will look ok by the time I paint. I am also not too pleased with my painting of the gear bays - I used Interior Green and I should have used green chromate. On top of that, after initial painting I applied a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss and then used the Testors Brown Wash (enamel). When I went to wipe off the excess I wound up taking off some of the paint as well. I believe I mentioned this earlier and you can see some of it here. In the cockpit I've repainted the helmets grey per the video provided by Antoine and I've added the canopy which I masked before installing. Here's the current state of affairs:

The canopy has a really good fit to the fuselage opening, and I was quite happy about that. The wings were also a good fit with some very minor gaps to fill before painting. The intakes are, well, not as refined in fit:

You can see there are some fit issues, but I think I can get this to look decent before I get to the painting stage. The thingy behind the cockpit had a good fit as well - again just a quick dab of Mr Dissolved Putty should resolve any fit issues there as well. Another area done was the tail:

Those two thingys on either side of the tail are not called out in the instructions - they just magically appear on the tail in step 8, but they are parts D31. The tail had a good fit and no effort was needed to line it up properly. Aside from some clean up, the next step will be painting, and based on when my family is going home, that probably won't be until next weekend. Oh, and I also got these in the mail yesterday:

Now I might have to get an -A model as well just to use more than a couple of the numbers. I really hate working in 1/72 scale. Did I mention that? In any event, I hope you all have a Happy New Years - see you in a week or so!

John

[David Womby]

This is coming together really well.

David