Jaguar XJR-14 Bud Light

[Brendan]

Just started this week on Studio 27's XJR-14 Jaguar. Decent kit. Not a lot of detail on the interior. Body has a lot of flashing which will need to be cleaned. Biggest hangup I see so far is on the roof line. There should be a bump right in front of the two air intakes which I will now have to fabricate. Another mistake is with the instructions. It says this kit has the exhaust out on the side which it does not. It ran out the back of the car. So I have to fill in the two large holes on each side of the car. I have already done quite a bit on the parts and have them painted. This car has a very simple paint scheme, being overall white with red striping. Then a black interior.

Here's some pictures of the body and chassis. You'll notice I've already started filling in some of the holes. The gray spot on top of the car is where I'm going to have to make the bump on the roof.

Brakes and rims. The rims were rather nice for being pewter. The tire markings are from stencils I had from the Toyotas that I built.

Some small photoetch pieces that needed to be bent into shape which was not easy, especially the fuel covers.

Will have some more work done in the next couple of days. Have to get back to trying to figure out how to make that bump on the roof.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Brendan

[crispy]

Good stuff Brendan! Look forward to another one of your fantastic builds. Thanks for the pics too.

Chris

[Seattle Mike]

Brendan - you might want to check some references, as I think Studio 27 got the air intake wrong. The photos I have show the car with dual air intakes, one on each side of the engine cover. This was due to an IMSA regulation, and was different from the setup on the Group C version that ran in Europe. The kit you're working on looks like the Group C body.

[Brendan]

Mike,

The body is correct as the Bud Light Jag was an ex-works car (Silk Cut). There was some different ducting on the side of the body as well as a different air intake for the engine that you mentioned. They do supply that type of intake in the kit, but it is inaccurate. I'm having to modify it. I need to add a bump like I mentioned above on the roof line to make it more correct. Thank you for the information.

[Brendan]

Got a little more work done. Did modify some stuff on the interior as well as making electronics boxes. Been spending most of my time trying to figure out how to make the roof bump. Spent well over 6 hours in the past two days trying to figure it out. At this point, getting frustrated.

Dashboard; electronic boxes (made from computer chips); driver seat with homemade seatbelts; decals are from my parts box

Finished interior shots which I added electronic boxes and wiring as well as a fire extinquisher from my parts box. I don't know why they did not include these in the kit as you can see everything through the window. Also added a shifting linkage to the gear shift.

Rear brake lights which I had to add; foiled and painted Tamiya's clear red. Also top view with the chassis and body together. You can see from the picture the two airducts on the roof whici I have to modify.

More updates coming.

[crispy]

Brendan, great work on that interior and overall.

Quick question on your tire lettering, is that airbrushed or decal? I like the look of over-spray on them.

Secondly, Have you got a picture of what the roof bump should look like? Maybe a few more eyes on it can help you decipher what to use or what to make.

Chris

[Brendan]

Chris,

The tire markings are a stencil that I got from the Toyota Eagle builds. I airbrushed Tamiya's flat white over the top of the stencil at low air pressure. It seems to work the best.

As for the bump, I only have a couple of good shots of it, but below is the link to the Mulsanne's Corner page. I think I got a pretty good handle on it. I used the ducting from a Subaru that I had leftover parts from and trimmed it down to give me the basic shape. I'll have to fill in the rest with putty and shape it to the desired look. Thanks for the offer though. The problem that I have with it is that it's going from an angled flat piece to several rounded edges. And it also has to connect up with the air scoop.

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/JaguarXJR-14-4.html

tire stencil

The start of the roof bump.

[RodneyBad]

WOW, Interior is looking Great.

Great looking wheels and tires and brakes.

That sure does look like a delicate piece to add a bump onto..

Cool Stencils

Great work.

[crispy]

Brendan thanks for the low down on those tire stencils. NICE!

I knew it wouldn't take you too long to figure something out for the bump.

Chris

[Nick F40]

Love following your builds. I love this car!

[Brendan]

Got some putty on the roof, but it's been so hot here that it's setting up too quickly. Also too warm to paint. It's drying before even contacting the resin.

Ended up having to make my own side mirrors for the car. The kit's pewter ones are way too big and also the wrong shape.

Took some Evergreen plastic card and starting building up the roofline. Got a small amount of putty on and will sand to shape. Ended up cutting the middle section of the scoop out as it was inaccurate for the car.

[Raul_Perez]

This build is looking pretty good, Brendan!!

When are you going to come over to the dark side and try your hand at a custom build?

See you at the NNL West!!

Later,

[Brendan]

When are you going to come over to the dark side and try your hand at a custom build?

It's taken me this long just to try to figure out the bump on the roof. I have a hard enough time dealing with small things. You think I can deal with a full kit? You give me too much credit. I'm not that talented. I couldn't even touch the stuff that you do. If I tried, I would be smashing it with a hammer I'd be so frustrated. I'll stick with the race cars.

[Raul_Perez]

It's taken me this long just to try to figure out the bump on the roof. I have a hard enough time dealing with small things. You think I can deal with a full kit? You give me too much credit. I'm not that talented. I couldn't even touch the stuff that you do. If I tried, I would be smashing it with a hammer I'd be so frustrated. I'll stick with the race cars.

That's too funny!!

I can't remember how many times I also wanted to take a hammer to one of my "creations" when it wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to...

Later,

[Bernard Kron]

Brendan:

I love watching you "do that thing you do"! Building immaculate recreations of modern sports racers is a talent all its own. It's one I wish I had! I guess I'll stick to old school rods and customs because they are within my comfort zone. In the meantime I'll relax and kick back and watch you make another fine contemporary sports racer! The grass is always greener...

B.

[Raul_Perez]

Brendan:

I love watching you "do that thing you do"! Building immaculate recreations of modern sports racers is a talent all its own. It's one I wish I had! I guess I'll stick to old school rods and customs because they are within my comfort zone. In the meantime I'll relax and kick back and watch you make another fine contemporary sports racer! The grass is always greener...

B.

That is too true!!

I couldn't decal a model the way you and Hossain do to save my life!! The decal sheet is the first thing I throw in the spare parts bins whenever I open up a new kit!!

Keep up the GREAT work!!

Later,

[Brendan]

Got it sanded down and shot a bit of primer to see the spots that I need to touch up. Which ended up being quite a few. Put a quick skin coat on this morning and will let it dry for a day. Hopefully get it primered by the end of the week.

Lower wing element which I had to repair because they decided to cut the wing mounting slots too deep. It's a little rough but I'm not going to try to fix it any more because I'm afraid it's going to crack again. Upper wing elements painted Tamiya's TS-26. Wing end plates painted black and those will be taped off and the other side will be painted white.

[Brendan]

Well, I finally finished the bump. (YEA!) Got so frustrated with it that I started working on a couple of other kits. (A rally SUV and a resin Trans Am Mustang) Had some issues with one side of the bump. I just couldn't get it to my liking. But it's good enough. Should have it in white primer by tomorrow and then paint by the weekend. I'll probably find some way to screw it up.

[935k3]

Great work so far. For that a hump a good two part catalyzed putty like Dynacote or Evercoat would be the best thing as they do not shrink. Then just sand to shape.

[Brendan]

Great work so far. For that a hump a good two part catalyzed putty like Dynacote or Evercoat would be the best thing as they do not shrink. Then just sand to shape.

I used Evercoat for the first part and then used Tamiya's Basic Putty to fill in some small holes and divots. What I was running into wasn't shrinkage, it was small little scratches and nicks that I needed to keep on filling. Found a neat trip that I did with Tamiya's Basic Putty which was to thin it with denatured alcohol. Then either brush it on or use my finger and smooth it on. It's great for filling small hairline scratches.

[Brendan]

Got the car painted. Used Tamiya's TS-26. But I had a funny thing happen. Brand new can and the white yellowed quite a bit on me. It turns out Tamiya had a bad batch of paint. Luckily I had another can. Ended up spraying the bottom of the car with Tamiya's TS-29. Then looking at other reference photos, it turns out I need to do a small line right in front of the front wheels in black. Will end up doing that tonight. Looks like the only thing I need to do now is put on the decals. Hopefully I'll get that done in the next couple of weeks.

[crispy]

Brendan it looks great. Your hump work really looks fantastic. Nice work.

As for the decals, I had to laugh out loud, a couple of weeks is about right! Just the right thought and approach needed to tackle decals these days.

Chris

[Brendan]

Brendan it looks great. Your hump work really looks fantastic. Nice work.

As for the decals, I had to laugh out loud, a couple of weeks is about right! Just the right thought and approach needed to tackle decals these days.

Chris

Between my going to a show this weekend and two days of traveling, I figure two weeks is about right. I still have to do some small detail painting and have to let that dry. I'm also a little hesitant on the main decal on the side. I have to cut it to fit the radiator scoops on both sides of the car. I figured I would have been done with this car a week ago, but I keep starting on other kits, like the Mountain Dew Trans-Am Mustang.

[Brendan]

Well, started putting on the decals last night. To my surprise, the red striping doesn't fit. So I ended up painting it on. I used TS-8 and airbrushed it. Right when I was finished painting it and was about ready to clean my air brush, the power went out so it was extremely dark. My stumbling around with my gloves and respirator on trying to find a flashlight.

The paint did turn out well. I've already started putting on the main decals and will get pictures up soon. That's if I don't run into any more problems. I had an incident with the rear wing, having to repaint it.

[Brendan]

Finally got the decals on. Talk about a "pain in the butt"...when they reissued the kit, I don't think they printed new decals for it. The decals had no sticking ability whatsoever. Got them all down and did the cuts for the side Bud Light decals. Will need to do some touch up painting on the blue in a couple of spots. Got the side dive planes on the front. There was some mis-sizing of a couple of the larger decals. But not too noticeable. Waiting for the weather to get a little better before I shoot the clear. Shot a test spray over some of the red striiping to see if Tamiya's Clear would work. It immediately ate the decal. So I'm going back to my good old standby which is Floquil Crystal-Cote. Here's the pictures of the car before clear is put on.