Hasegawa Jag XJS

[Fnick]

That is some very good foil work. Bravo

 

Nick

[Spiny]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm starting to get the hang of the foiling now. Before the Mustang I was dreading it expecting it to be a necessary nightmare for this car. But it wasn't too bad for the Mustang and feels as though it was manageable for the Jag too - the job is definitely a bit of a faff but I think it's just a case of needing the right tools (sharp knife, magnifying headset, cocktail stick) and lots and lots of patience. I must admit I was expecting the job to be much worse to do than it is.

[Spiny]

I'd love to do a big update this week, but it won't be - only a little bit done as been quite busy with other stuff. First bit as getting the remaining two wheels put together and onto the chassis. Always one of those moments to dread this, but the wheels went on fine with no snapping from the suspension. Even better, all four wheels touch the ground - no tripod here It's starting to look like a car now.

 

 

After that, it was time to make up the radiator. Unfortunately, once I'd stuck the two halves together it needed some filler before I could paint so that's still at the early stages. And I also moved onto doing the headlining and rest of the interior - this has had two coats of each colour so far but I think it will need at least one more. But I'm short of pics this week so at least this will give an idea - you so rarely see the headlining on models that it's hardly ever called out for painting and this kit is no exception. So I've just done it beige which feels as though it fits with the rest of the colour scheme inside.

 

 

This shot also shows where the filler caps were in the boot which caused the sink marks I had to fill waaaay back at the start of the build.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Alan R]

Having just put a colour coat on mine, those filler cap sink holes have appeared...

I'll have to decide whether to fix it...

 

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Windy37]

It’s coming together now , Spiny . Your right about headlinings , they always seem open to interpretation just because they can’t really be seen . Think yours is right though  . 
Gary . 

[Spiny]

I've never understood why the headlinings always seem to  be left out. I think the only car, either built or in the stash, which has the headlining called out is AMT's Pontiac Grand Prix which dates from the 1960s. If they could do it back then, why not now?

[Spiny]

A little more progress this weekend, in fact probably more than it appears.

 

The most noticeable job was getting the windows installed. Obviously I had to finish painting the interior first, then left it overnight as a bit of masking tape inside the rear window needed to be added to prevent it falling through and getting a load of resin on it. Not quite perfect as there is a small blob where the resin squeezed out, but overall both the rear window and the main glass bit have gone in with surprisingly little hassle.

 

 

I was hoping to get both bumpers fitted too as that would give them all over Christmas to allow the superglue to fully harden. But then I decided that contrary to the order in the instructions it would be easier to get the rear lights and number plate fitted before the bumper. And those rear lights need quite a bit doing at them - I've got the foil in place, and have masked to allow a couple of layers for the indicators but they will want more. Then there's the red glass to paint which will need further masking, and I think I will need to paint silver over those to give a suitable reflector colour (without that the backing would be dark blue fo the top half of the lights and empty for the lower half). There's also the radiator which will need fitting before attaching the chassis, but that's in hand with just a couple more layers to put on the small fan. However, I did get the headlight reflectos sorted and fitted in place, then the front bumper has gone on - not a lot in the way of attachment points but I've know worse so I'm just hoping that a load of glue on the inside of the join will be enough to hold it when I fit the body to the chassis. So this is where it stands at the moment.

 

 

Thanks for looking, those headlights mean it's staring to look like an XJ-S, although the lack of lenses does seem to have given it a frog-like appearance!

[Andy J]

This is really coming together now it looks great mate 👌 👍 

[Fnick]

Starting to look like an XJS all right! Love the contrast between the body colour and the metal work.

 

Nick

[Alan R]

13 hours ago, Spiny said:

Thanks for looking, those headlights mean it's staring to look like an XJ-S, although the lack of lenses does seem to have given it a frog-like appearance!

At least it doesn't look like the US version of the XJ-S with those horrible double head-lights mandated by spurious US safety regulations... Though I did read somewhere that it was more to do with US manufacturers not being able to mould complex glass structures ...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Alan R
More fat fingers :)

[Toftdale]

I've got to agree with the others, she's really beginning to look like part and the blue really makes her look classy.  Much better than the more obvious red, whites, etc (which I definitely would have chosen 😀)  - Andy. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

This looks really lovely. I am bias. If it's of interest (and it's absolutely not a criticism!) the windscreen chrome surround sits on top of thick and prominent black seal which is visible all around the perimeter of the glass. It's so prominent that water pools in both bottom corners if parked in the rain, and water pools at the top of the windscreen when driving in the rain, unable to get over the top and run back over the roof.

 

[Jochen Barett]

That pic needs a much better caption, something like "Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch und sein Lieblingsautomobil" 😇

I always admired the sleek lines of the car (still do) and felt something like envy or inferiority (on my side) for the courage of the owners.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

29 minutes ago, Jochen Barett said:

That pic needs a much better caption, something like "Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch und sein Lieblingsautomobil" 😇

I always admired the sleek lines of the car (still do) and felt something like envy or inferiority (on my side) for the courage of the owners.

 

It wasn't my favourite that day - it had burst a coolant hose at 6000rpm causing a giant cloud of white steam behind me. I was very pleased to discover it was only a hose though! I had feared I had blown a cylinder head gasket 

 

 

[Spiny]

14 hours ago, Fnick said:

Starting to look like an XJS all right! Love the contrast between the body colour and the metal work.

 

Nick

 

Thanks, it's certainly a kit which has involved jumping in at the deep end when it comes to foiling. I'm so glad the Mustang group build came along in the middle of this as it gave me chance to practice on something which didn't need as much, or as intricate, foiling as the Jag.

 

10 hours ago, Toftdale said:

I've got to agree with the others, she's really beginning to look like part and the blue really makes her look classy.  Much better than the more obvious red, whites, etc (which I definitely would have chosen 😀)  - Andy. 

 

I did briefly consider 'Saint' white, not to mention 'James May cheap Jag on Top Gear' gold. But I don't know about the rest of you, but I usually get an idea of how I want a car to look before I build it, sometimes even before I buy a kit. Inspiration for this paint scheme actually didn't come from an XJ-S but from an XJ8 I saw (which might explain the "classy") - something like this: CLICK

 

10 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

This looks really lovely. I am bias. If it's of interest (and it's absolutely not a criticism!) the windscreen chrome surround sits on top of thick and prominent black seal which is visible all around the perimeter of the glass. It's so prominent that water pools in both bottom corners if parked in the rain, and water pools at the top of the windscreen when driving in the rain, unable to get over the top and run back over the roof.

 

 

Always good to hear about the real thing and definitely interesting, sadly as I mentioned earlier I'm still new at this foiling lark and daren't risk ruining the foil by masking for the black now that the windows are in. That big seal does seem to be typical of the '80s though, now you've mentioned it I remember my old Micra having the pooling thing with big rubbers too.

[Spiny]

With dashing around northern England visiting family over Christmas I haven't had much chance to do much to the Jag. But now I've had a couple of days on it... and I still don't seem to have achieved much. Most of the work has been painting which always takes a while painting tail lights with all the layers, and these need both orange and red plus silver behind - they're still a work in progress and stopping me from fitting the chassis to the body. So my pic from today only shows it with the radiator and wipers fitted. The wipers were quite annoying as they don't really clear the windscreen surround as supplied so I had to put them in hot water to bend the arms a bit so they sit better. You can judge for yourself how well that worked:

 

 

I've mentioned a few times through this build how bad the flash has been on some of the sprues, and Murphy's Law states that the worst is on the chrome sprue. The grille is particularly bad - this is what I started off with:

 

 

Since then I've been able to get rid of most of the flash between the grille bars and am in the process of painting the back of the grille matt black. Possibly even more annoying though are the mirrors, each of which have a great big ejector pin mark on the back. They've been filled now, and tomorrow I hope the filler is hard enough to sand back, but I think that the foil is going to get yet another outing on this one.

 

So just a little update, but the good news is that even though I didn't get this finished for 2021 I think I'm only 2-3 days away from finishing if things go right. Thanks for looking.

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Spiny
Somehow turned all the text into a link first time around

[Windy37]

It's the small exterior details that take time ,  Spiny . You'll get there ! 

 Gary 

[keefr22]

Indeed, it's all coming along very nicely and looking great!

 

Keith

[Spiny]

22 hours ago, Windy37 said:

It's the small exterior details that take time ,  Spiny . You'll get there ! 

 Gary 

 

Same was true for the small interior details too

 

Nearly there now, just those rear lights are being a pain. I forgot how much you have to have perfect coverage on clear plastic to prevent it showing through - even the silver behind the clear is needing a few layers...

[keefr22]

I saw someone on a youtube video using orange and red Sharpies instead of clear paint. I tried it on some spare clear bits and it does work quite well. I found it still needs more than one layer but they dry much quicker than paint. Only slight doubt have with using them in anger is whether they might fade quickly....

 

Another tip picked up from YT is to use Bare Metal Foil for the light's backing as the sticky side that will be seen through the light is still quite a good silver. Alternatively if you can line the light housing with it it gives a very good look.

 

Keith 

[JeroenS]

If you can get it where you are, you could think about getting a bottle of Greenstuffworld Chrome (there are 2 versions, for brush and airbrush) so you can brush the inside of the lights with it. It covers really well and dries quite quickly. And it's not expensive. 

[Windy37]

15 hours ago, keefr22 said:

I saw someone on a youtube video using orange and red Sharpies instead of clear paint. I tried it on some spare clear bits and it does work quite well. I found it still needs more than one layer but they dry much quicker than paint. Only slight doubt have with using them in anger is whether they might fade quickly....

 

Another tip picked up from YT is to use Bare Metal Foil for the light's backing as the sticky side that will be seen through the light is still quite a good silver. Alternatively if you can line the light housing with it it gives a very good look.

 

Keith 

I use alcohol based marker pens ( the daughters...) for colouring the inside of light lenses . You need a few coats and have to let dry between each coat , but they are effective . Just done the rears of the Fiesta build using the pens . 

 Gary . 

[Spiny]

To tell the truth, it's the silver which was causing the coverage problem, so I will keep an eye out for @JeroenS's Greenstuff stuff if I need to go at it later. The shape of the lights made me a bit nervous about trying to foil it. But after 4 coats I finally had some sort of opacity to the silver and it was ready to go on. Not wanting to risk making a mess of the paint with cement (as that would be guaranteed to stuff it up) I went with CA. And for the first time it's reacted a bit with the paint making the dark blue show though a little:

 

 

Fortunately the photo makes it look MUCH worse than it does in real life - the reality is that this is barely visible unless you go looking for it and even then doesn't stand out. So just need to get the rear bumper on - ideally tonight as it will give plenty of time for the join to harden before tomorrow.

 

I'm now in the happy position where everything has been removed from the sprue, all decalling is done and the only painting left is a couple more coats of Future on the numberplates. I can also show you all a picture of the grille and bonnet in place, but unfortunately the glue hasn't taken so I'll have to clean up the join and have another go tomorrow. This join is proving a real pain to get in place as to get everything aligned you need to fit the grille (which also acts as a hinge), apply glue to the top, then fit the bonnet before adjusting the grille (which has a mind of its own when it comes to positioning) to the right position. Thought I had it sorted as below, but it will need another go tomorrow when my patience has returned.

 

 

And before anyone says, I know I still have to fit the other headlight! I also managed to get the back of the mirrors foiled which was less bother than expected. Unfortunately I didn't make a very good job of sanding down the filler on one mirror so it's only a slight improvement on the original sink marks I also had my first experience of Maskol protecting the mirror bit of the mirror - first impressions weren't very good as it keep fisheyeing on the chrome, but once I had enough to give me full coverage it worked very well and all came off afterwards in a satisfying rubbery lump.

 

Now fingers crossed the next update will be a finished Jag - just gluing to do now apart from those plates. Just got to hope that my usual form of messing up at the end doesn't happen here.

 

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, Spiny said:

messing up at the end doesn't happen here.

 

 

Fingers crossed it doesn't, as that is a fine looking Jaguar and the end result will look splendid!

 

Keith

[Spiny]

I was going to call this done, but just noticed from the photo below that I've still got to fit the front number plate (easy job, it's already been dry-fitted so just need to get some glue in there).

 

First attempt at fitting the body to the chassis didn't end well - the front right wheel hub fell off and the rear right hub ended up swinging from the suspension arm. And that came about because the chassis and body just didn't seem to want to go together. So, glued back on the wheels, left it for a few hours and had another go. This time they went together perfectly with minimal effort, it seems that the fan wasn't seating int he radiator correctly first time around and once I had them lined up all went well.

 

There's is however a small issue with the fit of the bonnet now the body is on the chassis; one of the air intakes seems to have been bent on the sprue and that is fouling the bonnet just enough to give the lift in the photo. I think the easiest way to sort that is probably to try and sand down the top of the intake trumpet - I tried putting weight on it to bend it back in shape and all that happened was the radiator came away from the body so that's been glued together again. A job for tomorrow I think.

 

So here she is (almost!) finished.

 

 

Apart from those two little bits, it just needs a wax to get a showroom shine on it then ready for its RFI photoshoot. Overall a good and detailed kit which I'd recommend to anyone, just a shame my kit was plagued by flash on a number of sprues.