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1/48 Revell Jaguar GR.1A


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Finally moved and settled into the new place, and after a hiatus of a couple of months it's time to start modelling again. I'm thinking of starting a few 1/48 scale ones this time, so what better way to start than with a recent RAF classic, the mighty Jaguar. Once the denizen of Coltishall and regularly seen (and heard!) at low level over Norfolk, these superb beasts should still be in RAF service in my opinion.

 

My first impression of this kit is that it's excellent, with nicely moulded parts and great decals with options for a 54 sqn Jag from the 70's, or a late 80's machine belonging to 41 sqn. I'll be building mine oob with no aftermarket parts at all, as XZ117 from 41 sqn, Coltishall in 1987 - the halcyon days of NATO jets in East Anglia. Unbelievable to think that's over 30 years ago; as far back as the Swifts and Meteors of the 50s seemed in 1987! 

 

So, to recreate a little bit of proper RAF heavy metal in our new house, here is the Jaguar ...

 

IMG38831535374200.jpg

 

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This is the old Heller/Airfix kit.  There have been a few builds on this site and there’s an RFI kicking around at present.  The Walkaround page should provide plenty of inspiration and information for any personal tweaks you might want to make.

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Looking forward to following this one.....echo your sentiments regarding the halcyon days of NATO Jets in East Anglia.......As a Junior Zobit, I completed a great tour at Colt' between 1984-86, travelled regularly to Denmark, Norway and Deci with the Wing and did Red Flag at Nellis for two years too. At home, we regularly hosted Greek F-104s, Portuguese A-7Ps and French Mirages. Without doubt one of the highlights of my RAF career. My allegiance at the time was with 6 Sqn but I also had some great friends on 41 and 54 too and really enjoyed freezing my proverbials with the recce boys in Bardufoss every February !.

 

Bring it on. 

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The Revell cockpit, seat and decals straight out of the box look good enough for me. No expensive resin seats needed here. All I added were some strips of masking tape for seat belts.

 

IMG38891535622390.jpg

 

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Edited by Lord Riot
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Loving your start here.

 

And really impressed with the decals for the tub.

 

I have thought about adding the Jag to my stash of Cold War eara  aircraft to build. Defo on board for your build here :) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Starting to look Jaguar shaped. Only a bit of filling needed at the front of the wing section and where the intake boxes join the fuselage.

 

IMG39131536917136.jpg

 

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Hoping I've got that strange yellowy-green Jag insides colour correct. This is Humbrol matt 90:

 

IMG39151536917476.jpg

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That's coming along very nicely. I'm building the same kit (well the Airfix GR3 boxing) at the moment. I've just posted asking about colours in the Cold war section. Looks to me like you've picked a good match for the wheel wells and you've done a nice job in the cockpit too.

 

I agree that 1987 is the best year for military aviation in Europe - a perfect time for the multitude of types and so many different paint schemes. I've had to go for 1989 with mine as I had to find some other decals as the GR3 kit is a grey aircraft. Are you going to trim and file the over wing sidewinder rails to make them wing fences? I did mine and surprised myself how easy it was to do.

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Thanks Filler - yes I was wondering about the wing fences, it's strange in the kit how the only option is with overwing Winders as I don't recall many RAF Jags carrying them until around 1990. I'm glad it was an easy job, I'll try and file them into shape like you did.

 

 

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Darren, the cockpit fit wasn't the best! I kind of squeezed it in but the four prongs underneath didn't sit on the four raised bits of the base, not sure if they were meant to. If you line up the rear bit behind the seat with the cockpit rear bulkhead it sort of fits better, ignore the base part, it doesn't seem to line up.

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A quick note guys that the 'yellow' primer doesn't extend to the rear of the airbrake recess and is confined to the bay itself if that makes sense. If you want to be really pedantic, the spurious panel lines that are within the first leading edge panels outboard of the intakes should be filled as the port one was a solid panel and the stbd one had a removable panel that looked nothing like the one in the kit. there's some good pics on the web that should show this.

 

John

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Having crawled all over XX741 at Bentwaters I fell in love with the machine instantly. I miss the days spent at Coltishall and after seeing 6sqn disband at Coningsby felt that the RAF missed an opportunity to go the next level the same way India are going with their machines. Also if you want to find out just how good a machine the Jaguar was (and still is) I highly recommend Jaguar Boys by Ian Hall, there are some fantastic stories in it.

I also have this same kit and would like to do it as XX741 so am still debating on whether to go that route still or not. I will be watching this build with anticipation. Hope all goes well and I have already noted about the cockpit fit.

 

Regards

Marc

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10 hours ago, Filler said:

 

I agree that 1987 is the best year for military aviation in Europe - a perfect time for the multitude of types and so many different paint schemes. 

Last Lightning Show was 87, so Jags, Phantoms, Harriers, Buccaneers, Tonkas and Lightning’s.  Remember it well!

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What a time that was, not to mention the Canberras, Hunters and Hawks, plus USAF A-10s and F-111s!

 

If only the government would think Putin was dangerous, plus our over-stretching with the Middle East/Syria and continuing Falklands deployment, and buy a few squadrons of second hand F-16s, F-15s and our old Harriers back from the Americans. 

 

It'll be too late if Putin plans another Ukraine-style invasion but in eastern Europe, and all we have is six F-35s and some Typhoons, that wouldn't be enough to deter many belligerent nations.

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