Saturday, September 12, 2015

Racing Mk. II Jaguar - part 2

I am getting on quite nicely with this kit. It is always a joy to return to a Tamiya kit as they do make them to go together well. So far, I haven't found anything that needed trimming, filing or fettling. Everything has fitted perfectly. In fact, the old adage still applies. If a part doesn't seem to fit properly then you have got it in wrong - Tamiya almost never get it wrong (I say almost but I really think that they "never" get it wrong but that is to definite a statement!).

I have finished the chassis and completed fitting out the interior except for the dash board. The real car interior is a mix of red carpet, material and leather. I decided that I would try and put some 3d effect into the seats and door cards* by using my Andrea Color Red Paint Set. This is actually designed for painting British Army uniforms from the Napoleonic period but its five shades let me put some depth into the seats.



However, there is one element of the kit that I haven't enjoyed. This involves the decals. Well, actually, there are two issues that I have with the decals in this kit. The first is that they take a very long time to release from the backing paper. I found that I had to stack the decals up in the bowl so that, once the first one was on the go, the others were nearly ready. The second issue is with the decals for the nicely varnished wood all around the Jaguar cockpit. The wood runs along the top of the doors and is all over the dash board. Here is an image of the dashboard as it is at the current time. I still need to finish off the painting but it shows you how hard it is to manage all of the little bits of decal that fit around the dash detail. Please remember that it isn't meant to be seen this close up. At normal distances and buried inside the car, it will look a lot more natural.


Obviously, I still have the knobs, switches and the radio/speaker to detail but you can see how the decals convert the dash to a wooden one very effectively. I still marvel that they didn't strip the car for racing. It really did race with carpets and wooden trim!

I have sprayed the body white and am looking next at putting the metal stripes onto it before I give it a coat of Klear. Once that is done, I can decal up the rest of the car and follow that with a coat of two pack varnish. All that will be left then is to fit all of the chrome parts and the wheels. Cor, I might really finish this soon!

* Door cards. I have always called them door panels but I have been watching Wheeler Dealers lately and Edd China always calls them door cards, so I follow his knowledgeable lead.


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