Revell 1/25 E-Type Jaguar - a Classic British Kit

[mattbacon]

This is the early 60s-vintage Revell Jaguar E-Type. Despite the oh-so-American scale, this was a product of the Revell shop in Potters Bar, following on from some smaller scale cars that had also been tooled in the UK - in 1/32 and the Cadets in 1/48...

This is built almost entirely OOB - the point of the exercise is to show how well some vintage Classic British Kits respond to a bit of TLC in construction.













There are some challenges in getting it together - mostly building it in a way that allows you to eliminate the seams between upper body and chassis and around the nose of the bonnet, but generally the fit is very good, and the detail is impressive for a kit of this vintage. Some parts are a bit crude - notably the headlamp surrounds. The only additions are some fake fingernails to form the "sugar scoop" channels for the headlights, where otherwise there is a big hole behind the glass, and a "stalk" for the scratchbuilt mirror, rather than fitting the chunky chrome part to the dash. I left off the wing mirrors because they spoilt the lines (as do many 1:1 cars), and went for a bonnet-top number plate, because I think they are cool!

Paint is a homebrew from Zero Mica Silver and Blu Scozia to represent the original Opalescent Silver Blue, and the upholstery is mostly Citadel and Vallejo dark blues...

It's not a state of the art kit, for sure, but I think it scrubs up pretty well. Why isn't there a Tamiya E-Type, though? Its arguably the most iconic car EVER, and sold a lot in Japan!

Oh, and I couldn't resist this:


...cars looked better in the '60s, didn't they? One day, my dream garage will contain all of the above ;-P

bestest,
M.

[alex156]

You can almost hear the Big Cat "purr". Lovely model

[endac]

Very nice, the '60s styling really was in a class of its own

[rollin80s]

oooowwwee, those are some nice exotics. nice curves in the 60s.

[Ferrari TR]

Nicely done.
It's in great company too.

[Porsnatic]

niiiice.Jag, I finish my Aston. Send me you email to send you a picture, since I haven't finish the thread yet.

Originally Posted by Ferrari TR

Nicely done.
It's in great company too.

[CrateCruncher]

Nice effort on a classic kit. Being a lover of all things E-Type I had this kit for a while and was impressed with it. (My reissue had some serious warp and fit issues though.)

I bought the kit in an effort to figure out the best way to build an E-Type. Here's my conclusion:

Gunze Hi-Tech ($125) The BEST E-Type period! (Crappy tires and rubber interior parts are my only knock.)
Gunze Low-Tech ($40) Same as above but curbside with plastic wheels. The plastic dash looks better than the photo-etch piece in the hi-tech version.
Revell ($20) Best value and arguably the inspiration for the Gunze kits as most of the parts assemble the same. Expect to do some work but a nice model is in there.
Monogram ($25) Front end is totally wrong! Use the roof of this coupe to convert the Revell or Gunze roadsters into a Coupe.

I built the Gunze Hi-Tech...

It's interesting you mention the Revell is a tool engineered in the UK. I had often wondered why this kit was so good. As a general rule, most 1/25th Revell's during this period were inferior to most Monogram's which seemed to be targeting the mature modeler (Duesenbergs, Bugattis) whereas the Revell's were going for the adolescents. I think the Monogram may have been botched because they used an early press photo in an effort to get a jump on the competiton. Who know's? One other thing worth mentioning is the original Revell box art shows it with BLACK headlight bezels from an early concept of the car that never made production.

Why is there no Tami/Hase/jimi kit? I wonder that too! There surely will be one eventually but it takes time for the Japanese to see past this month's hottest trendy stuff and tool subjects that will sell reasonably well indefinitely. We just got a decent Testa Rossa and GTO so the attitude is changing.
Cheers.

[mattbacon]

Thanks, guys! I enjoyed this one.

Cratecruncher - if those pics in your sig are typical, we obviously share the same taste in exotics (I love the way "proper" sports cars are called "exotics" in US car lingo... ;-P).

I have the Gunze, which looks great in the box, if a bit scary - folding up all the underbonnet parts out of etched brass, and quite a lot of frame to build up fro rod! However, I was given it (in Airfix 'Hi-tech" form, which has the full engine etc) in exchange for an aircraft I wasn't going to build, so it was effectively free!

I think the Heller coupe, also issued by Airfix is pretty good, from what I hear - I'm now on the look-out for one to sit alongside this one and the Gunze...

bestest,
M.

[CrateCruncher]

Yes Matt, very typical. I usually don't buy or build anything less than 40 years old! American "Exotic" parlance is usually reserved for the crazy wild Italian "supercars" like the Diablo and or Murcialago. Most gearheads here just call the '60s production cars "sports cars" too.

The Gunze and Airfix are identical. (One can exploit this knowledge on eBay by the way! The Airfix versions can occasionally sell for half the price of a Gunze.) One thing to be wary of with the Gunze and all their Hi-Tech photo-etch is that it is thick stainless steel and hard to bend. Furthermore it will only bend ONCE! Trying to bend it a second time will result in a cracked part. It's the most difficult p-e I've ever encountered but not impossible.

I haven't ever seen a Heller kit. They're so rare here I couldn't find one for less than a Gunze Hi-Tech so I passed. Thanks for the info. If I ever come across one at a reasonable price I'll have to grab it now.