Aviation News Vol 3 Num 4 26 July-8 August 1974
KIT COMMENT
SECOND JAGUAR KIT RELIASED
Frog produce French and trainer versions
ALL three of the large British manufacturers have, or are about to, produce kits of the Jaguar strike fighter at present coming into service with both the French and British air forces. This week Frog join Airfix in releasing their example and we are pleased to report that as yet there has been no duplication of effort as each manufacturer has moulded a different version.
Frog have selected the two-seat trainer and the French A2 version for their model and it certainly makes up into a good kit. The Airfix one was of the prototype and from what we hear the Lesney sample will be of a single-seat production RAF aircraft with the laser nose. When all three are on the market all versions of this aircraft will be available leaving little for the kit conversion addict to do. This is probably a good thing as we can at least do one aircraft without having to resort to vacuform moulding or whittling balsa wood.
In order to achieve both the single and twin-seat aircraft in the same kit, Frog have ingeniously moulded the fuselage so that the rear half, common to both is seperate from the nose section. There's plenty of room to get weights in the nose of each so that the aircraft stands on its undercarriage properly. Cockpit detail is sparce but this is made up for by good exterior moulding having neat panel lines and there is no real difficulty in getting the joint lines to marry up between each section. Obviously the nose section will have to have a little body putty applied to make it totally invisible but as most of this joint is covered by the engine intakes, the work is minimal.
The wings, however, do need more attention. Here the modeller is simply required to stick each wing in position on the fuselage, there's no locating slot and consequently we found that the overlap is very slightly out needing some additional filler on the rear half of each in order to hide the join. This is not a difficult job to do as the top of the wing against the fuselage is flat and can easily be rubbed down almost to the extent of not touching the panel line detail on the rest of the surface. Similarly a small amount of putty is needed round the engine intakes to disguise the joint line.
The undercarriage on the Frog Jaguar is well thought out and in a slightly simplified form depicts the rather massive structure on the real aircraft. Wheel detail is accurate but care will have to be taken in painting the nose wheel as this is moulded integrally with the oleo leg.
The model, like most of Frog's recent releases is simple to build. We made ours in a very short space of time and were able to concentrate on the painting that much earlier. The box art shows one of the French evaluation machines at CEAM, Mont de Marsan in 1973 but we are certain that modellers will be able to find squadron markings for this aircraft by studying some of our own recent pictures on the subject. The alternative set is for XXI36, the first two-seater trainer for the RAF and here again other markings, particularly those for the Lossie-mouth OCU can be seen in AN3/2. The decal sheet is comprehensive and includes many of the small stencil details common to both aircraft.
Having praised the kit, for there's no doubt about it, this is a good one, let's look on the other side... We could find little to critisise but one thing did stick out and that was the missile armament. Four Martel air-to-surface missiles are provided together with their underwing pylons, but according to our information the Jaguar, French or British, is not likely to be equipped with this weapon. The answer is to simply leave them off and consign the parts to the spares box awaiting some other aircraft more deservedly suitable. Bombs and MATRA rocket pods are more likely to be the order of the day, or in the case of the French machine, one can add Sidewinder type AAMs to the wing tips as the l'Armee de l'Air intend to use their aircraft in the interceptor role as well as for ground attack.
Frog have produced a very respectable model with this Jaguar and for 60p there can be no better value.
Aviation News Vol 3 Num 4 26 July-8 August 1974
Aviation News Vol 3 Num 8 20 September-3 October 1974
KIT COMMENT
FOUR MORE FROM MATCHBOX
WW2 and modern strike aircraft released
MATCHBOX have released a number of models recently, loo many in fact to review all at the same time so we have selected four that we were able to build before going to Press. These are the Jaguar, Harrier, SB2C-1 Helldiver and Hellcat. All four have been issued by other manufacturers in the past so it's a case of 'you pays your money and takes your choice'. The only real advantage in the Matchbox series being that they are in most cases simpler to build than their contemporaries and are moulded in multi-coloured plastic for the attraction of the very young.
Fortunately Matchbox have given us a variation on the Jaguar not previously moulded by either Frog or Airfix. This is the laser nosed single-seater so we can now produce any of the outline variations on this aircraft in miniature form from the models available. This is the way that all aircraft kits should be handled by the major manufacturers as the enthusiast, at least, is likely to buy all three where he may not if the same variant is produced in varying forms of accuracy.
This model is a nice, simple to build, accurate representation of the Jaguar but there should be one or two small modifications made by the modeller if accuracy is to be assured. The problem facing the kit manufacturer in having such a time lag between the preliminary drawings for a mould and the final production is amply illustrated in the kit. The Jaguar went through a number of small alterations during its prototype stage and Matchbox here produced the wrong ones. In order to provide markings for an aircraft in squadron service Matchbox have guessed what Nos. 6 and 54 would produce when they got their machines in service. Both guesses are incorrect. Have a close look at the Jaguar ilustrations in recent copies of AN to see where they have gone wrong and modify your model accordingly. It should not be too difficult and we would not be surprised if Matchbox do not revise the artwork for the decals before too long.
The other changes needed are perhaps a little more basic. The kit instructions advise cutting off the extension to the jet intake which appeared on the prototype but they do not mention rubbing down the 'V shape extension left underneath. Similarly the prototype form of undercarriage doors have been included. These open downward and not up as in the kit and although not strictly accurate look much better if attached to the underside wheel well instead of on top.
Apart from these small changes there should be no real problem in making this model. Detail in the undercarriage has been slightly too simplified we feel and extra struts can easily be added by stretching a piece of sprue and cutting pieces to tit. Similarly we found that a little body putty round the joint lines of the air intakes help to smooth away unwanted gaps and there's plenty of opportunity for detailing the cockpit interior as this is rather sparse.
Aviation News Vol 3 Num 8 20 September-3 October 1974
Air Enthusiast 1974-10 vol.07 no.10
MODEL ENTHUSIAST
The eye of the beholder
Yet another Jaguar
Kits of the SEPECAT Jaguar have now been appearing with some regularity for years, to 1/100th, 1/72nd and 1/50th scales, these being, for the most part, based on one or other of the various prototypes, and it is doubtful if any other aircraft type has received so much attention from kit manufacturers before entering service. Now that the Jaguar is well established in service with the Armee de I'Air and the RAF, the definitive outlines of the initial production versions are apparent and, with this detail available, Frog has now produced a l/72nd scale kit which is undoubtedly the best to portray the Jaguar yet.
Component parts are included which enable the kit to be made up as the single-seat 'A' (Appui Tactique) version of the Armee de I'Air or the two-seat 'B' (T Mk 2) of the RAF, and this involves two complete nose sections and canopies. The British and French two-seaters are externally similar, but the RAF single-seater differs from that of the Armee de I'Air in having a nose-mounted laser range-finder and a tail-mounted avionics pack, but the modifications necessary to produce a Jaguar GR Mk 1 will not present the modeller of average capability with too much difficulty.
Frog has made a good job of moulding the somewhat complex fuselage contours but has sadly neglected the cockpit interior detail, providing only seats and pilot figures. The extraordinary undercarriage is quite well modelled if somewhat on the chunky side, and four underwing pylons are included with Martel missiles. The decal sheet is particularly good and includes many small markings. The markings for the RAF trainer cover XXI36, the first production example delivered during 1973, while the Armee de I'Air machine is from the Centre d'Experiences Aeriennes at Mont de Marsan. Priced at 60p in the UK, this kit may be confidently recommended.
F J HENDERSON
Air Enthusiast 1974-10 vol.07 no.10
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