chrislowe Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 I've been working away bit by bit on this since I finished the Chinook, but I thought that the time had come to start a WIP and get y'all caught up. So, what are we looking at? It's Kittyhawks GR.1 / GR.3 kit which I think will build up into a pretty good shape. There are some gotchas to be aware of though. The kit is really designed to be made with avionics and gun bay doors open and airbrakes too. It's not my usual style to build like that, but I've heard it's can be a struggle to build this kit with those parts closed. Also when I dry fit the two halves of the fuselage, they touch each other at exactly one point, so making something straight and true out of two curves is going to be "fun". As far as after market goes, I have the resin cockpit from Aires plus their replacement airbrake set. Also the SAC metal undercarriage, the Flight path RAF tanks and pods, some pitot tubes and the Kits World decals. Following on a Recce theme from the GR.1A Tonka, I want to model a Jag in the reconnaissance role, so I'm making XZ358 W of 54 squadron. Pictures coming soon. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 2 hours ago, chrislowe said: Also when I dry fit the two halves of the fuselage, they touch each other at exactly one point, so making something straight and true out of two curves is going to be "fun". I'm experiencing the same thing now building three AMT KC-135s in 1/72 scale. The only solution I can think of is to make plastic alignment tabs out of sheet plastic (I use plastic picnic plates) and glue them in along the top and bottom of one side of each fuselage. Hope this helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonH Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Good luck, I look forward to seeing how you get on with this truly awful kit. My version is a paint mule - I gave up building it because life is too short. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) On 6/14/2020 at 1:28 PM, SAT69 said: I'm experiencing the same thing now building three AMT KC-135s in 1/72 scale. The only solution I can think of is to make plastic alignment tabs out of sheet plastic (I use plastic picnic plates) and glue them in along the top and bottom of one side of each fuselage. Hope this helps. Thanks @SAT69, I think something along those lines is needed here too. Injection moulding must be harder than it looks 🙄. The nose is the first part of the assembly. It contains 3 sections that need to be dry fitted - the u/c bay, the avionics bay and the cockpit. Having the resin cockpit required a lot of sanding and shaping of both the tub and the insides of the nose section, but more on that later. To get a sense of the space that's left for the cockpit the avionics bay and the u/c bay have to go in first The kit avionics bay is quite good and bears more than a passing resemblance to the pictures in the walk around section. With the addition of some cables and some decals, I ended up with this The u/c bay could have more detail, but the very prominent box of electronics is present so with the addition of some cables, it looked like this. And so to the resin cockpit. This is my first adventure into resin cockpit so I was definitely trying to take my time with each stage and enjoy the challenge. Had to thin the walls of the kit plastic a little And after taking anything I could get away with off the sides and corners of the cockpit, I could finally dry fit it all and slot it into the rear halves. More cockpit next time. Chris Edited June 16, 2020 by chrislowe 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 The cockpit started with the IP. Then the seat. I always feel like i struggle to get the sense of depth that other people get with seats. Despite using various shades in the shadows / highlights. Maybe I need to just do bang seats for a while to get better. The seatbelts here are PE. They were quite complex to assemble and I'm not sure if my eyes will ever be the same I don't have any pictures of the tub in progress, but here's a pic with the tub, seat, IP and the u/c bay glued into the starboard side. Before I could close up the two sides, there were some clear pieces to go in, most notably the break glass to eject canopy windows. I used a black / yellow decal and a backing off semi gloss black to represent the handle The instructions say to add weight, but they don't say how much. I went for this 5g weight as far forward as I could, knowing that the resin cockpit and metal undercarriage should help too. And with that the two halves go together. Next is the coaming, HUD and windscreen before this gets put to one side and work starts on the main fuselage. Chris 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 I'm about half way through the build of this kit. You've got your work cut out... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, DonH said: Good luck, I look forward to seeing how you get on with this truly awful kit. My version is a paint mule - I gave up building it because life is too short. Thanks @DonH. Fingers crossed I can turn it into something decent. In reference to the kids book "Were going on a bear hunt" that has been read to death and back in our house I was going to call this thread "We're going on a Jag hunt. We're going to catch a Kitty Hawk, We're not scared". Reading your comment, I'm thinking maybe I should be more scared though. 😱 Chris Edited June 14, 2020 by chrislowe 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 32 minutes ago, DAG058 said: I'm about half way through the build of this kit. You've got your work cut out... I'm getting the impression that nobody likes this kit... I expect I'm about to find out all the reasons why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Don't get me wrong, so far it has been buildable, it just takes a fair bit of effort. Every time I have run into something that's been troublesome I expect the next part to go smoothly, this is not the case! I am actually really enjoying it though, like you I knew what I was taking on when I started it. Watch out for the dodgy instructions too, wrong part numbers etc. I've also just noticed it doesn't mention anything about the tail in the instructions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem01 Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Your doing a great job with this considering what I've heard about the kit. I'd like another Jag but this one just doesn't appeal, though you my just persuade me otherwise at this rate. Keep up the good work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phone Phixer Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Other bits to watch out for on this kit. The fit of the intakes is poor. The wing leading edge is molded as a curve, when it should be straight. The leading edge slats are too deep. The wing weapons pylons are the French version, need the rear spike removing from the inboards and all the sharp pointy noses sanding into a blunter curve. There are some great photo's for reference in the walkaround section of BM. What mark of Jag and time period are you building it as. The 2 traditional recce squadrons with Jags were 2 sqn at Laarbruch and 41 sqn at Coltishall. Do you have an original type BAe "barge" recce pod to fit or the smaller Vicon pods as used in the Jags later years. On a quick Google search I can only see XZ358 in 41 sqn markings. The other 2 Colt sqns (6 & 54) traditionally were ground attack, but did do some recce work during rotation through patrolling northern Iraq and Bosnia operations. Rob. (ex Jag armourer). 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 (edited) On 6/14/2020 at 10:24 PM, Phone Phixer said: What mark of Jag and time period are you building it as. Hi Rob, I'm going for an op Granby GR.1A. I wanted to do a scheme that breaks up the grey / green jets on the shelf, but the scheme in the box doesn't have Recce mission markings. On 6/14/2020 at 10:24 PM, Phone Phixer said: On a quick Google search I can only see XZ358 in 41 sqn markings. The other 2 Colt sqns (6 & 54) traditionally were ground attack, but did do some recce work during rotation through patrolling northern Iraq and Bosnia operations. These are the decals I have It says XZ358 was 54 squadron, but that may well be wrong. These were the best decals I could find with the Recce markings. On 6/14/2020 at 10:24 PM, Phone Phixer said: Do you have an original type BAe "barge" recce pod to fit or the smaller Vicon pods as used in the Jags later years. These are the tanks and pods in the flight path set. Does that recce pod look right for Granby? Thanks for coming along. I appreciate the help. Chris Edit: I just realised that's a Tilad Laser designator pod, not a recce pod at all. So the answer to the earlier question of which one do I have is neither. Would I be right in saying that I need the BAe one for Granby? Edit again: it seems the RAF had and deployed both types during Op Granby, so I'm going to get a Vinten JRRP. Edited June 15, 2020 by chrislowe 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phone Phixer Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Hi Chris. Yes, you answered your own question with the TIALD pod. In that set as you show, are 2 x 1200 ltr fuel tanks for the inboard pylons (correct shape, not the KH crap), an AN/ALQ 101 ECM pod for the port outboard pylon. You will need the Phimat chaff dispenser from the kit for the stbd outboard pylon, just need to scratch build a heavy weight adapter to go between the pod and pylon. I think the Flightpath set also has the overwing pylons and Lau 7a launchers needed. During Granby it was the large pod used for the recce sorties. Photo dated Aug 91 but this was the fit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/alec_blyth/5967939960/ The pod was done by Paragon, they occasionally pop up on evil bay. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/paragon-designs-4838-jaguar-vinten-recce-pod--1001959 But..................shortly after Granby (Aug 91) and the very aircraft you are doing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/alec_blyth/8703778091/ If you have one of these pods, you are in business. Rob. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 (edited) On 6/16/2020 at 1:51 AM, Phone Phixer said: Hi Chris. Yes, you answered your own question with the TIALD pod. In that set as you show, are 2 x 1200 ltr fuel tanks for the inboard pylons (correct shape, not the KH crap), an AN/ALQ 101 ECM pod for the port outboard pylon. You will need the Phimat chaff dispenser from the kit for the stbd outboard pylon, just need to scratch build a heavy weight adapter to go between the pod and pylon. I think the Flightpath set also has the overwing pylons and Lau 7a launchers needed. During Granby it was the large pod used for the recce sorties. Photo dated Aug 91 but this was the fit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/alec_blyth/5967939960/ The pod was done by Paragon, they occasionally pop up on evil bay. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/paragon-designs-4838-jaguar-vinten-recce-pod--1001959 But..................shortly after Granby (Aug 91) and the very aircraft you are doing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/alec_blyth/8703778091/ If you have one of these pods, you are in business. Rob. That's great info Rob, and a pair of cracking pictures. I picked up one of the Paragon Vinten pods on that there eBay, so that should do nicely. The Flightpath set does indeed have the overwing pylons, so with a bit of work on the kit pylons to make them look more UK spec, I should be somewhere handy. Now, if i can just persuade the rest of the kit to look like a Jag... Thanks again for the info, and of you see anything amiss, feel free to chime in! Hopefully a coaming update soon, with pictures. Chris Edited June 17, 2020 by chrislowe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 There's some good detail on the resin coaming. I don't know if the nav system changed much between the GR.1 and the GR.1A, but hopefully this is close enough. Of course being resin, it didn't fit well, but this time there wasn't much option other than just filling the gaps. Here with the canopy dry fitted, you can see that the frame will obscure any small gap that remains. I couldn't find any masks for this kit, so I'll have to cut my own, but first things first, I need to make the HUD. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dstream Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Lovely build, I am following. Regards, Daniele 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Looking good. Think of the resin fit issues as a warm up for the main event! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted June 22, 2020 Author Share Posted June 22, 2020 Well, the HUD is on. I think this might be the first time I've made a 2 element HUD. It was a bit of a fiddle to get both elements on in a way that doesn't foul the windscreen. I took it apart a couple of times but I've got to the point where I think it's as good as I can make it. I'm going to put this bit to one side for now and work on the main fuselage section. Chris 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 Very nice! masks: https://www.eduard.com/Eduard/Jaguar-A-1-48.html https://www.eduard.com/Eduard/Jaguar-GR-1-GR-3-1-48-1.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 On 6/22/2020 at 8:18 PM, exdraken said: Very nice! masks: https://www.eduard.com/Eduard/Jaguar-A-1-48.html https://www.eduard.com/Eduard/Jaguar-GR-1-GR-3-1-48-1.html Thanks. I don't know how I missed those! In the end, I went for these. A first for me but they also include masks for the break-glass-to-eject-canopy windows, so I'll give them a try. On 6/19/2020 at 7:35 PM, Dstream said: Lovely build, I am following. Regards, Daniele Welcome along, hope you enjoy it. On 6/19/2020 at 8:07 PM, DAG058 said: Looking good. Think of the resin fit issues as a warm up for the main event! Actually laughed out loud at that 😂 On to the rear fuselage then, and the first thing was to paint and assemble the main gear bays. Airbrushed glossed and a wash.... ... And assembled A lot of the avionics and control boxes on the Jags in the walk-around seem to have yellow stencils, but I couldn't find anything in the stash that would suit so I had to settle for red. This was followed by a lot of repetitive and tedious dry fitting while I tried to figure out if I could fit the rear undercarriage later or not. I can, I think, but while I dithered with that I built the interior of the engine bay No wash yet. I'm not even sure if it'll be visible in the end. I don't think it will. Next was the intakes. Again lots of dry fitting there but happy enough. A bit of sanding required but not tons. Once I was happy that I could close it all up for painting and fit the undercarriage later, I fitted the main u/c bays and in a moment of madness, glued the 2 fuselage halves together. Using the engine interior to keep everything aligned while the glue set, I was able to get everything close enough to where it needs to be. Some sanding required along the seam, but not too much. Same on the top, the seam needs work but not too bad Thinking about closing up the main bays, I added some evergreen rod to the inside of the join between the two forward doors. Hopefully that'll provide a more secure joint when I glue them. Here it is dry fitted with its inboard buddy. Next are the rear bays, which come in the resin airbrake kit. They're painted and washed already but they need detailing before CA'ing them in place. Chris 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 (edited) Slow but steady progress on this build at the moment. After the last update I fitted the fuel bay And the micro-turbo bay Both of which were from the resin airbrakes set. There's some nice detail in the resin and they fitted with no modification. Next came the internals of the engine space. At this point I could put the engine covers on because unlike the kit parts the ResKit resin engines can be fitted after paint, with a bit of fiddling. Here's the engine covers in place complete with the ventral stakes. As you can see, a little bit of filler was needed, but not too much... Yet. Quickboost air intake correction Then moving back to the nose section I started work on the nose and the optics. The optics are a separate piece so I have them a black surround, a msg backing and a dip in aqua gloss. Nose piece got a few dips because there were some defects in the plastic and it's too small a section to break out the micro mesh. This is my first time dipping clear plastic and I think I'm happy enough with the result. Lastly a quick question to those-that-know. What is incorrect about the shape of the kittyhawk slats? I can't find a good enough pic of the 1:1 scale ones to see what I should be correcting. Also in Mike's reviewer of the 2 seater he mentioned they'd been corrected for the GR1 kit, but I'm not 100% sure, having never seen the older kids. Thanks Chris Edited July 18, 2020 by chrislowe 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 Nice progress! If I remember correctly, the KH slats have a kink, where there shouldn't be one... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phone Phixer Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 3 hours ago, chrislowe said: Lastly a quick question to those-that-know. What is incorrect about the shape of the kittyhawk slats? I can't find a good enough pic of the 1:1 scale ones to see what I should be correcting. There are 2 things wrong with the wing leading edge & slats. Outboard of the wing fences the leading edge should be angled back in a straight line. Kittyhawk have molded the wing with a slight curve. Just needs blending with a sanding stick. The slats are too deep from leading to trailing edges, especially around the inboard end. Again just need attacking with a sanding stick. It's difficult to find a good photo to illustrate what I mean. Rob. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislowe Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 (edited) On 7/19/2020 at 1:14 AM, Phone Phixer said: There are 2 things wrong with the wing leading edge & slats. Outboard of the wing fences the leading edge should be angled back in a straight line. On 7/19/2020 at 1:14 AM, Phone Phixer said: The slats are too deep from leading to trailing edges, especially around the inboard end. Again just need attacking with a sanding stick. Thanks Rob for the info there. The wing as kittyhawk have moulded it has always looked odd to me but, it was only when you said this, that I realised why. The leading edge looked more like the wing of the Bat-plane than a Jaguar. Life and work have been taking their toll on progress, and in the short moments I get between the two, I haven't been very good at taking pictures. Once I'd corrected the leading edge, test fitting of the lower wing surface revealed that it was prone to sitting to far into the hole especially at the fwd edge, so I used some evergreen to support it. Same for the other side and after painting and then making the exposed inner surfaces of the flaps and spoilers, the wings were ready to go on. Some adjustment was needed to get the wing surface to line up with the fuselage, but nothing too stressful You may have noticed that the tail and the fin are on too in this pic. Next came some of the intakes vents etc. More on those later. This is where I was even worse than normal at remembering to take pictures, but the nose assembly was glued in place and then I set about filling all the gaps. I fully expect to find more after the primer goes on. This is the state now, complete with the over wing pylons from the Flightpath set. And here's the underside. The main doors and airbrakes are just held in place with blutac here. And that brings me back to ducts & vents. I'm not sure exactly what function these perform, presumably vents for the engines but the profile of these seems much too round. All the pictures I've seen have a much more flat-sided, angular appearance. Like this, but probably more. I'm off to pick PPP out of that line of rivets with a pin. Happy modelling! Edited July 31, 2020 by chrislowe 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem01 Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 Lovely work so far and some very clever solutions to problems thrown up by the kit itself. Great job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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