1955 Jaguar D-Type Longnose

[Zoom Zoom]

This was my build for this year's LeMans palooza. I had to do some post-race repairs to the Jaguar but it was technically finished before the end of the race (by 4:30 AM) I just finished the repairs, and took some better shots of the model vs. right after the race.

The upper/lower body didn't fit well; the basic resin kept going back to it's original shape every time it hit the dehydrator, the upper body slightly narrower than the lower body. I used a hairdryer to spot-heat the resin, it worked well, but also melted my windscreen ...

I used the partially melted vac-formed windscreen as a pattern for a new one from .010" clear sheet stock, I really can't tell the difference between this one and the vac-formed one. This one's certainly cleaner. I also added some unused rivet decals from a Tamiya Kawasaki Ninja XZ 14 that I'm currently building. Finally I added some tape/foil hood straps, the boxart showed them but there were none inside the box...dunno if they were missing or not, the instructions were laughably vague on this model (no photo reference whatsoever, nor parts callouts, it was just a page of text). Good thing I had some internet and book resources.

The model is painted w/TS 9 (?) British Green, clearcoated w/TS13. Seat/headrest painted w/TS Red Brown. The original car had a very poorly applied white grille outline (done in tape, I think), I simply primed the car in white and masked it off w/o too much care, but it's cleaner than the 1:1 was for the race.

I'm reasonably pleased with it, considering it's a very simple model w/o much detail, only 32 parts, not quite as slick as the E-Type I built last year. I knew going into it that I probably wouldn't have done any more to it whether it was speed-built or built over a longer period, and I also knew it could never approach Bill Geary's amazing D-Type It's not camera-friendly, the camera found a lot of stuff my own eyeballs seem to miss, so I did a bit of retouching This may have been Fisher's first model car? I could believe it, as it was nowhere near as clean as the B.A.T. 5 that I build a few years back, which may have been his last all-new model car. I got this kit last year from a friend, so I'm not sure when it was cast, I have a feeling it's pretty old. It was in a light gray resin unlike any I'm used to.

[stevegt738]

Looks cool, nice build, well done.

[novadose71]

Very nice and clean build. I've always liked these Jags.

[Ron Hamilton]

Looks great to me.

[MrObsessive]

Not camera friendly??...................Bob that's beautiful!!

Thanks for the nice words too!

D-Type Jags are among my favorite racers of the '50's, along with the Ferrari Testarossa, and the Aston Martin DBR-1.

I do believe that was among Fisher's first models they casted...........I wanted one years ago, but the price was outta my reach. I've built one since then though!

You hit on something about resin I didn't know until I built Modelhaus's '61 Cadillac.............resin has a memory! I never realized that as I thought only plastic could have a memory.

That's the reason my Lemans Miniature '69 GT-40 is yet stillborn..........everytime I would put the body back in the dehydrator to dry out, the body (particularly the doors) would go right back to what they were before!

I've since learned how to defeat that------I just either let the body air dry, or turn the dehydrator down about 10-15° to negate that. Also washing the resin with hot water has the same effect, so I'll use lukewarm or cold water to wash a repaired resin part.

[FordRodnKustom]

Outstanding job! A beautiful piece of British racing history. One of my favorites. Well done!

[Rick Bennett]

That is one sweet build of one of my favorite cars. Fantastic job

[cruz]

Outstanding work as usual Bob!!!!

[MonoPed]

Nice build Bob!! Looks alot better than my XK-SS, and I took alot longer than 2 hours to build it...LOL!!

[Raul_Perez]

Oh yeah!!! That's one of my most favorite Jag body styles of all time and you did a GREAT job building it!!

Thanks for sharing!!