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Hasegawa Jag XJS


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Hi Spiny,

I disliked the chroming of the discs as well. I bunged mine in caustic soda for a couple of hours. That did the trick.

The chrome is really thick and obscures the detail.

I always paint them Matt black first, then the various metal colours after that. It’s a trick I learned from Warhammer figure modellers.

Yours is looking good, by the way.

 

Cheers, Alan,

 

Edited by Alan R
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Thanks for the matt black tip - something I'll have to try and remember although these brake discs have come out reasonably well, especially considering I don't expect them to be that visible.

 

22 hours ago, Windy37 said:

Juggling suspension components  ......  arghhhh !

Good work though . 

Gary . 

 

To be fair, this would be easy if I had three hands...

 

There was one more thing I did over the weekend and forgot to mention yesterday as hadn't taken a photo. A couple of weeks ago I put up a picture of the bumpers after painting the plastic parts, and when the masking tape came off they looked pretty manky. I'm pleased to say that some polishing with micromesh and Novus has got them looking halfway to being decent.

 

51263405610_26921f8f38_b.jpg

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Inspirational work!  I should really do some of these.

 

I love an XJ-S and have had 3.  The only reason I don't have one now is I struggle with the current prices when a good one used to be £5k! 

 

Blue distributor caps are interchangeable with black, it's just a question of what was available when you had your car serviced. 

The black ribbed can thingumy in the vee of the engine is the pneumatic bellows for the cruise control system (which I always used to rip out because it is not great when working and a source of vacuum leaks).

The oil filler is on the near side cam cover and the pipe stood up at 45 degrees represents the A coil.  There is also a B coil on the panel behind the grille and in front of the radiator. 

If you are interested Jaguar used a Lucas licenced version of Bosch D-Jet.  On a BMW 3.0Ci (E9 shape) the D jet system fires injectors for cylinders 1,3,5 then 2,4,6 on alternate crank cycles. 

The Jaguar system utilised a signal amplifier, to fire twice the number of injectors on alternate cycles, so fires injectors on A bank, then B bank.

 

The dual coils were to provide a stronger spark with the very high compression used in the HE (1982 onwards) version of the V12 engine, 12:1 compression ratio, with swirl shaped heads to provide greater turbulence and a leaner mix.

This raised the consumption from a woeful 11-14mpg to a tolerable 15-20 mpg.  The power remained about the same, and varies across all 5.3 engines from 1975-1990 at around 280-299bhp.

My personal best as a reasonably high speed run from Stirling to Somerset at 21mpg. which shows if you use these cars as designed they aren't a terribly thirsty as they are reputed to be!

 

c0f63def-d591-44d7-b27a-938630eba386.jpe

 

713447c2-2dc5-4668-a2a8-48955c2dcab7.jpe

 

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5 hours ago, At Sea said:

The only reason I don't have one now is I struggle with the current prices when a good one used to be £5k! 

 

 

Sounds familiar - it's also why I don't now have a Mk1 Escort Mexico! :)

 

Keith

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Thanks for the info @At Sea, and those Jags look really nice too, especially the first silver/gold one. While the mileage may seem poor, it's similar to the 12mpg I got from my old Pontiac of similar vintage and that only had about half the power. So in that context, the XJS could be thought of as economical😆

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14 minutes ago, Spiny said:

While the mileage may seem poor, it's similar to the 12mpg I got from my old Pontiac of similar vintage and that only had about half the power. So in that context, the XJS could be thought of as economical😆

 

One of my rally prepared Mk1 Mexico's with a distinctly non-standard engine would regularly return 8-9 mpg when 'pressing on'....

 

Apologies for thread drift, back to the Jaaaaag... :)

 

Keith

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A day off work and I got a little bit more done.

 

First of all, the front suspension. It has become obvious that when you turn the wheels one end of the steering arm tries to unclip itself (and does eventually succeed). Obviously that's not a problem at the moment because access is easy to put it back on, but when the wheels are fitted it will become much trickier. So time to get some sort of solution... a piece of cotton about 3-4mm long. This was superglued at each end to the steering arm to form a loop rather than a U around where the arm clips onto the suspension - it still tries to come off but can't get more than about half a mm before the cotton retains it in place. Not sure it will stand up to heavy use, but it won't get heavy use - just the odd turn for photos at the end of the build probably. The photo doesn't show it too well (becuase it's so small) so I highlighted it a bit:

 

51269850217_bca567a019_b.jpg

 

I also got a start on the rear suspension, although there is more to do. The frames for the it have been fitted to the chassis, and most obviously I got the exhausts installed.

 

51271622700_7c1cd428d7_b.jpg

 

I also had a go at dry-fitting some of the suspension - it feels as though it should be a 3-handed job at first, but dry-fitting revealed that I should be able to fit the main arms and then clip the springs in place which will make things much easier.

 

Thanks for looking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Time for this to go to bed for a while as I'm doing a Mustang for the group build, but it will be back once the Mustang is complete.

 

I did get the suspension done for one side though:

 

51302775261_45a9c71f56_b.jpg

 

Probably didn't help myself in doing the springs gloss black with satin black for the damper in the middle - it's not as if you'll see them once the wheels are on and it has added time. But that's the way it goes I guess. In the end it was a little trickier to assemble than I thought, with the main suspension arm going in easily once I'd redrilled the mounting holes, but getting the springs in was quite fiddly in terms of getting them installed around the arms and rear axle. The easiest way is to try to seat the pin in the chassis, then metaphorically crossing your fingers (crossing your real fingers during install makes things even more difficult!) while the spring is hooked over the pin on the arm. Not difficult, just a bit of a faff. But it looks ok when it's done. First job on returning to the Jag is to get the other side done.

 

But in the meantime, the only update likely in the next 3 months or so will be when/if I get the body polished out.

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  • 3 months later...

With the Mustang finished, this weekend it was time to get back to the Jag. I know I talked about getting it polished up while doing the Mustang, but that has only half happened - I'vedone the Tamiya Coarse and Novus 2 polishing, but the Novus 1 is still to do. The paintwork won't get any smoother, but hopefully I can get the shine a bit better. It's also a bit annoying that the bonnet appears to be a slightly different shade to the body, even though they were done with the same can (although the difference isn't as marked in reality as the photo makes it look). I guess I'll just have to blame British Leyland build quality for that one :(

 

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Looking at what needed doing, the first thing which struck me on the instructions was that the exhausts have been chromed.

 

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To me, this looks pretty yukky, even though the main visible bit will be painted satin black. So into the bleach they went, and after a couple of hours there was no difference. So I put the bleach cup into some warm water to heat it up, and in another couple of hours it was almost clear of chrome (shows how much some heat speeds up that dissolving chemical reaction). They've got some silver paint on now, but still need to get the black on. The chrome exhaust tips are separate pieces, and these have been given the matt black inner treatment, with the attachment points covered in Molotow chrome to allow a week to dry before I need them.

 

The last bit was that other side of the suspension I mentioned before shutting this build down for 3 months. No real drama here, pretty much the same story as on the previous side. I have also got the outer stubs of the axles fitted as can be seen below.

 

51600573209_705a2f1f96_b.jpg

 

And that's pretty much where I am, the chassis is nearly done (jus those exhausts and the diff cover to go on) then I'll be facing the interior which looks like there's going to be a lot of fine painting going on. Thanks for looking.

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1 hour ago, Spiny said:

I guess I'll just have to blame British Leyland build quality for that one :(

 

Always useful that one ! TBH though I can't see any difference from here and the body is looking very nice! 

 

1 hour ago, Spiny said:

(shows how much some heat speeds up that dissolving chemical reaction).

 

Well that's my something new learnt today, I did not know that! Shall re-try some chrome parts that bleach wouldn't touch a couple of weeks ago, now that I do!

 

Keith

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XJ-S has always been my favourite Jag, that body is just gorgeous! Your model is also looking very nice indeed, I like your colour choice, and all in all it just looks like a very tidy build.

 

I kinda want to build this kit as well, but it's a tad hard to get hold of here in Finland. I built the Bandai 1:16 offering many years ago, but that kit was a bit of a hassle, to say the least.

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Hi Spiny,

Nice to see this one on the move again. (Mine has stalled somewhat).

Good to see the suspension all set up and installed. I was worried that the front axles and the steering arm mounts were somewhat delicate and the slightest breath of air on them and they would disintegrate!

But, judging by yours, they are more robust than I thought. That's one of the reasons mine has stalled...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

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I do think I should find myself one of these. I'm not normally a model car builder but I do have a XJ-S. Mine is a 1989 with Marelli ignition so a few small tweaks on top of the engine would be needed to model mine.

 

49f20ec8-0762-46f5-9587-e95ddaab74bd.jpg

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8 hours ago, Alan R said:

Hi Spiny,

Nice to see this one on the move again. (Mine has stalled somewhat).

Good to see the suspension all set up and installed. I was worried that the front axles and the steering arm mounts were somewhat delicate and the slightest breath of air on them and they would disintegrate!

But, judging by yours, they are more robust than I thought. That's one of the reasons mine has stalled...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

 

Good to get it moving again, it's the first build I've broken off half way through so it's a relief to get back on it.

 

The front suspension does seem quite robust, and I didn't come across anything which felt like it would snap. But it is fiddly to get it put together due to the fact that nothing is held in place until you glue the subframe in place. And on mine at least (bear in mind I do seem to have bought quite a flashy example!) the steering arm did keep trying to break free of the hubs, hence me supergluing the small pieces of cotton on as retainers. But don't be afraid of it - I've seen other kits you've done and you've done much more difficult bits before.

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A little more progress this weekend, and I do mean a little bit. But I have at least got the chassis done now - or at least got the exhausts fitted. Taking the picture I did realise that I need to have another go at painting the inside of the tailpipes - it seems that the silver from the main exhaust part shows through meaning you can see silver at the front end of the tips - not a good look so something to remember next week.

 

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And now it's the usual step where everything comes to a shuddering halt for a couple of weeks - the interior. And this week has been no exception not helped by my brain going flaky - yes I missed the bit where it said flat black for the dash and painted it satin. All done in flat now, but it's put me back as there's a load of detailing to do still. I got the seats assembled and filled, but one has needed another go with the filler which seems to be shrinking back badly at the moment - very annoying and holds things up. The other one is in the pic but still needs more paint. As does the interior carpet which is taking an age as I got this colour in enamel so much longer between coats, and with the dark red it will need a third coat (at least) to cover properly.

 

51625928046_88e798d1f9_b.jpg

 

Expect slow progress next week as well. But on the bright side, I've made a start polishing the body with novus 1 and it looks as though it's going to come up a treat when finished. :)

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Must admit that I've just followed the colour scheme in the instructions. But... even if they hadn't been this colour, I would have gone with something similar because to me there's nothing screams 80s/90s Jag like a cream leather interior.

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On 10/18/2021 at 2:30 PM, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

 

49f20ec8-0762-46f5-9587-e95ddaab74bd.jpg

Nice, I have an 88' 3.6, same colour though, Arctic blue! 

 

Spiny, you are doing a fabulous job on this plastic pussy cat, you are correct, cream leather is the ONLY way to go.

 

Andy

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As expected it's been slow going this weekend. And progress has been even worse as an issue I've had before with Mr. Aqueous Hobby paints has reared its head, namely a tendency for the thinner in the paint to reactivate the lower coats and leave it thin again. I'm still working on the seats, hopefully another week will mean that this weekend's paint doesn't reactivate and I can finally get the sail colour paint on the seats sorted. The same is true where I've used that on the interior tub and door cards - the paint is still thin despite 3 coats on the interior which makes it even more annoying that the plastic is dark red and a pain to cover. Hopefully the masking tape won't peel off the enamel I put on last week. So all you get is a photo of a load of half-painted parts :(

 

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As for the colour of the seats, they're more of a biscuit colour and darker than I was originally planning. But the colour is growing on me, and after the pain that they're being to paint I don't plan to change colour!

 

In terms of other stuff, I got some Bare Metal Foil down on the rear bumper. For such a large area, I'm semi-pleased with how it's turned out. Pleased because I managed to get it on with no wrinkles, but not so happy because it's shown up the unevenness of the paint below. I've given the front bumper a light sanding so hopefully when I get around to that I will get it looking a bit better.

 

And finally, the polishing. The whole body has had a run over with Novus 1 and, at the moment, I'm very happy with the shine. Still a few microscratches which don't want to polish out, but if it will hold at this level when I've finished I'll be delighted (this is one of those occasions where the picture doesn't do it justice).

 

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That's all for this week, interiors are always slow but I'll get there.

 

 

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