1/48 Kitty Hawk Jaguar A

E.C. 03-011 'CORSE' Al Ahsa 1991

Gallery Article by Laurent "angus" Beauvais on Jan 30 2017

 

      

     A long time I did not post anything, simply because I did stop all plastic modelling activity, I did practice too much, wanting to make too much detailing. And suddenly it came back, I felt the envy of building plastic models making the Kitty Hawk kit of this wonderful piece of history: The Jaguar A. To talk frankly, this is my first and will be my last Kitty Hawk kit, so many mistakes, so many false dimensions, well in the end it looks like a ‘Jag’, it only looks. Kitty Hawk is capable of the best (fine engraving, nice detached flaps) to the worst (dimensions, ridiculous arresting hook).  Regarding the “too much detailing”, it seems I did not succeed in building a kit straight from the box.

     In the past, I did send to the waste basket the Heller that I felt mounting, by chance I did keep some few pieces, it did help.

     So let’s start with the forward landing gear. A lot of work to do. As usual I do only use recycling material: electric wire, plastic business cards or hotel keys, eraser, and a lot of super glue.

     The dimension of the cockpit in regards to the landing gear bay are just incompatible, the seat is too high, it would be impossible to retract the landing gear, bur at the end it may look like something realistic. What I did is use the wheel bay of the Heller kit in that landing gear bay, which is quite ridiculous as the doors are closed usually.

  • 1, 2 and 3: rebuilding the bay and start of all the wiring and tubing. 

  • 4: Something is wrong with the dimensions. I did use the Heller seat that I did detail in the past, and it is just incompatible. So I had to trick all this.

  • 5: I did decide to close the doors, as it is the standard configuration of the Jaguar on the ground. Due to this, few of the detailing work is visible, but I know it’s here.

  • 6: Nothing fits correctly. If you want represent the throttles, you will have to trick so as to obtain a correct visual effect. 

  • 7: Even if everything is black at the end, I detailed the back.

  • 8: The seat on going
    9: My technic to create the numerous buttons: drill, glue electric wire, and then cut. Here also issues with the dimensions.

  • 10: result after painting and dry brushing.

  • 11: The joystick furnished may correspond to a WW1 fighter, certainly not to a French Jaguar, to be scratched.

  • 12 to 14: DO NOT FOLLOW The instruction sheet (what I did), the angles of the rear landing gear would be completely false, so take time to glue this in the proper position. Note also how the fuselage is straight.

  • 15: Dig the rear landing gear to make something more realistic.

  • 16: My technic to obtain a cable looking like a harness; Take some wire in a mini drill and turn.

  • 17-18: the work inside the rear bays. Dimensions here too ….

  • 19: Result after painting

  • 20: I have added masks in the air intake to make an illusion if we look inside

  • 21, 22, 23: The air break bay have been detailed. Take care, I guess this kit has been design (roughly) on a CAD software, and the “designer” made the kit symmetrical. Indeed it’s not so each bay is different.

  • 24: A lot of mastic is to be used to obtain a flat bottom, and you will have to engrave again the kit.

Let’s go for another party, the engines, and in particular as, like me, you decide to see one open. Let’s start with the inside of the engine

  • 25: the kit parts

  • 26-27: I did decide to recreate with aluminium scotch the inside

  • 29, 29, 30: and I di recreate complete the burners. 

  • 31: I have added the breaking system between the 2 wheels

  • 32 and 35: To create parallel tubings, I use tin wire with aluminium scotch. 

  • 34: Detailing of the jack inside the rear wheel bay

  • 33: The Kitty Hawk wheel are much too big, I did use the Heller ones, that are to be engraved.

  • 36: some cables in the electronic bays. I’m not sure the configuration is correct anyway.

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Let’s go for the kit inside the kit, the engine if you want to display one open.

  • 37: The Kitty Hawk kit straight from the box. Note that Kitty Hawk do furnish symetrical engines which is false.

  • 38 to 41: little by little, with patience, detail the engine to obtain something that looks realistic. The metal parts for the reactor nozzle is rather good, but I have added the small wheels that do moves to open close the petals.

  • 42: at this stage I started to enter in a kind of dementia, and I decided to scratch the storing trolley that is used for the engine hood. My source is all in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_5kEXtXFqQ, where you can see the unmounting of an engine.

  • 43: So, of course, you need to detail the inside of the hood

  • 44 and 45: the result

  • 46: The canon door has been completely rebuilt, I just kept the inside frame. The external sheet metal is made with a piece of soda can. The blowhole (hope the English translator is efficient) is created in a plastic sheet.

  • 47: I have refined the front wheel doors, and scratched completely the 2 lights. Shape of the door reinforcement have been reviewed too. Too bad, at the very end, whaen positioning it on the kit, I did discover it is much too long.

  • 48: Detailing is then made on all doors, still with recycling materials.

Weapon System: 
Well, what I saw on the pictures and the movie is that the additional tank are still on the airplane during mechanic, but of course no weapons.

  • 49: The Heller added lower tank was used, the Kitty Hawk one is for a non European one (English, joke of the moment). The stabs are refined, and look to the pictures, the sheet metals limits are external, not engraved.

  • 50: Attach system detailing.

  • 51Again a part that do not fit properly.

  • 52: Holes have to be slightly enlarged.

  • 53: By chance I did keep the Heller part for the chaff-flare countermeasures dispenser. Meanwhile, from the source I have, it had to be unmounted to engine hood unmounting. So I used it on the right side, and none on the left side. As I have absolutely no idea of what it looks like unmounted, the left one is missing in the kit at the end.

  • 54: Little detailing on the canon boby.

  • 55: The canon has been recreated with a syringe needle.

  • 56: and finally the “smoke breaker” (that’s how I call this little reinforcement that I guess are made to avoid smoke at the cockpit level) have been added 

Wing:

  • 57: The leading edge flaps attachment has been recreated to allow a proper positioning. You must be able to see between the flaps and the wing.

  • 58: Detailing of the extrado reinforcement.

  • 59: The lights have been sculpted in tainted plastic (tooth brush indeed)

  • 60: Detailing of the mast

  • 61: The shape of the Kitty Hawk wind screen is completely false. Note the Squadron signal drawing is worst.

  • 62: So I have molded in artistic plaster (it becomes hard as stone when dry) the right shape and vacu formed a new canopy. Well, at this stage, I was near to stop this kit, I have not counted the number of test I did before succeeding.

  • 63: The fuselage shape in front of the wind screen is also completely false, to be recreated with mastic.

  • 64: The internal frame of the wind screen is a T section

  • 65: The external is made of aluminium scotch

  • 66: The Kitty Hawk parts are slightly corrected and you must study carefully where to glue them.

  • 67-68: OK maybe I did exaggerate a little bit in constructing the rear canopy frame in plastic card. Then the mirrors, the handles and the ventilation tubes are added

  • 69-70: Detailing of the cap. The visor is recreated with transparent plastic. All this is black and must be dry brushed.

  • 71: That’s a joke ! The arresting hook of the Kitty Hawk kit is a ridiculous metal part, how could they dare? The Heller part is much better, but..

  • 72: I did create something more accurate.

  • 73: The antennas have been recreated. I did not like the ones of the kit

  • 74: Lights are sculpted in tainted plastic.

  • 75: The shape of the exhaust on the fuselage top are false. I did recreate them in soda can.

  • 76: The antenna behind the cockpit has been created. It is too fin and too small. Also, there is only one on a French Jaguar.

  • 77: All the details below the rear of the fuselage are missing. The 4 drains are created using the plastic that is around the wire used to close plastic bags, look to their shape, that the good one.

  • 78: The 2…. I do not know what it is… has been recteared, the one given in the kit are two times too small.

  • 79: There are 2 missing exhaust to build, also, the engraving is to be reviewed, Kitty Hawk made it symmetrical (hurry CAD design I guess). There are also 2 parts that are said to be mounted, it has never been mounted on a French Jaguar and the positioning oblong holes have to be filled.

  • 80: Looks better no?

  • 81: Blowholes created at the front below fuselage.

  • 82: Patafix technic was used for the painting. The limit between the colors is slightly smoothed.

  • 83-84: The same picture, the light was only moved. You can see the difficulty to find the proper colors. After long hesitations, I did decide that this picture was the most accurate in terms of color. one http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/12/26/71/76/un_jag10.jpg. It’s also the one I do prefer, it helps.

  • 85: The result, after repeating corrections. I did create my paint mixed approximately and restarted some colors several times.

  • 86: The transfers are cropped so as to be sure to avoid any silvering effect. The difficulty is to position the letters together correctly.
    87: I use oil paint with petrol F to wash the kit. As the red flag scheme was not during a short period of time during the Gulf war as considered too dark, weathering must not be exaggerated.

And the final result, the lower picture is approximately 2 times bigger than in reality.

Conclusion: 
It took me 8 months and a half to build this kit. I’m very satisfied with some parts of it: engine detailing for example, I’ve got to enhance in some others: Painting has some defaults and withering is on some place a little bit not clean. But it looks nice in my collection.

Laurent "angus" Beauvais

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Photos and text © by Laurent "angus" Beauvais