1949 Jaguar XK120 Roadster

[Bernard Kron]

1949 Jaguar XK120 Roadster
(more photos below)

This is the old Monogram 1/24th kit first introduced in 1977. It’s my first project involving a die-cast body. Despite the big leap into the unknown of working in metal I actually took this on as a slump-bluster, my goal being to do as clean a build as I could and sticking to the basic kit to make a luxury sports roadster as the XK120 was first presented in 1949. The color is Duplicolor Venetian Gold which resembles the stock “Bronze” color of the early years of the XK120. I chose a light hued metallic to show off the voluptuous lines of this gorgeous ground-breaking car which simultaneously encapsulated the final design elements of late 1930s luxury and race cars with the emerging theme of relatively affordable performance. With its DOHC in-line 3.4 liter 6 cylinder motor, dual carbs and 150 HP when first introduced at the end of 1948, it was offered for less than $4,000 USD, or about the same price as a fully optioned Cadillac convertible. Manufactured in the hundreds from the outset, as opposed to the dozens at best for most immediate post-war European luxury sports cars, whose manufacturers struggled to rebuild and start up their factories, Jaguar was able to tap into the hard-currency treasure trove that was the USA import market, no doubt helped by the fact that it delivered the goods in both performance and style. Backed up by an aggressive and innovative competition program highlighted by world speed records and rally and endurance success, this made the Jaguar XK120 the choice of movie stars, sports figures, industrialists and the social elite at the dawn of the WWII recovery boom. It was this spirit that I tried to capture with this model.

Thanx for lookin,
B.

 

[cobraman]

Nice looking model and good photos.

[Rich Chernosky]

Thats a beauty, you captured the looks very well. 

[espo]

Beautiful looking Jag. Realistic looking finishes and detailing. The photography is great. 

[unclescott58]

Photos? I’m not seeing any photos. 

[happy grumpy]

Beautiful Jag. nice and clean

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you all like it. 👍 I was surprised on how straightforward prepping the metal body turned out to be. Much less drama than I had feared. Now I'm looking into the world of (relatively inexpensive) die casts for future projects. There's so much more range in subject matter than in styrene models.

On 5/18/2022 at 12:10 PM, unclescott58 said:

Photos? I’m not seeing any photos. 

The photos seem to work OK for me. I tried both my laptop and my smart phone, using various ISPs and also 4G and the photos all showed up without any issues.

[unclescott58]

2 hours ago, Bernard Kron said:

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you all like it. 👍 I was surprised on how straightforward prepping the metal body turned out to be. Much less drama than I had feared. Now I'm looking into the world of (relatively inexpensive) die casts for future projects. There's so much more range in subject matter than in styrene models.

The photos seem to work OK for me. I tried both my laptop and my smart phone, using various ISPs and also 4G and the photos all showed up without any issues.

Nothing on my work or home iPads. 

[unclescott58]

Immediately after posting the above, the photos showed themselves. And it is a nice looking Jag. 

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Bernard!

You made good of a great kit, and your color combo is very nice. Bravo!

CT 

[slusher]

Beautifully done!

[Bernard Kron]

On 5/20/2022 at 6:38 AM, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi Bernard!

You made good of a great kit, and your color combo is very nice. Bravo!

CT 

Thanks Claude!

[Bernard Kron]

2 hours ago, slusher said:

Beautifully done!

Thank you Carl.

[Bernard Kron]

I know some people don't care for the dark background artificially lit studio style of photos - you know, the kind you sometimes see in car magazines. I like doing them but I get requests occasionally for more neutral outdoor lit photos. Those pictures have their own challenges but I can understand that folks might think they are more "objective" in their rendering of colors and textures. So today I took some outdoor shots against a neutral gray background. I was surprised, because I didn't use a white background, how much they resembled the studio shots. I didn't use a white background because it tends to throw a blue-white glare.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very attractive model of a beautiful, important car.

Love the color too, and it's one I never would have considered.

Perhaps surprisingly, the metal version of this kit is one of my all-time favorites.   

Edited May 22, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy

[Bernard Kron]

23 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Very attractive model of a beautiful, important car.

Love the color too, and it's one I never would have considered.

Perhaps surprisingly, the metal version of this kit is one of my all-time favorites.   

Thanks Bill.  As I said earlier, I was surprised by how uncomplicated the body prep  turned out to be. And I swear the paint lays down better than I've experienced with styrene. Certainly the solidity and heft make rubbing out and polishing the paint easier. In any case die cast opens up a whole other world of modeling possibilities. And of course the vast majority of this kit, and indeed many "die cast" models, is plastic, LOL.

And several people have commented that this, and others of the Monogram metal series, are among their favorite kits. It certainly went together extremely well for me, and is well detailed vis-a-vis the 1:1, IMHO.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Bernard Kron

[ea0863]

Stunning color choices, and at least for me, the second set of photos actually do the car more justice. Well done!

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[Bernard Kron]

4 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Very nice!

Thanks Chris.

8 hours ago, ea0863 said:

Stunning color choices, and at least for me, the second set of photos actually do the car more justice. Well done!

Thanks Emre. The outdoor lighting seems to highlight the depth and shine on the paint a bit better, it's true.

[Phildaupho]

Dazzlingly attractive !!

[1959scudetto]

Very nice model of an iconic automobile, Bernard. Your chosen color brings out those graceful lines very well. This brings me to thinking of using steel wheels and spats,too (first, I wanted to build mine with spoke wheels and without the rear wheel covers...)

[Bernard Kron]

11 hours ago, Phildaupho said:

Dazzlingly attractive !!

Thanks Phil. This is definitely an instance of where the subject will carry the model an awful long way. Especially since this kit turned out to be as good as it was.

6 hours ago, 1959scudetto said:

Very nice model of an iconic automobile, Bernard. Your chosen color brings out those graceful lines very well. This brings me to thinking of using steel wheels and spats,too (first, I wanted to build mine with spoke wheels and without the rear wheel covers...)

Thank you Helmut. I chose to do this first version as essentially stock in its initial alloy bodied version with the steel wheels and skirts. It's the purest evocation o those gorgeous lines. I have a second Monogram kit which I plan to do as a sports racing special with the little aero windscreens, probably a tonneau cover if I can pull it off, fog lights and perhaps louvers. That version won't have the skirts and will most likely have wire wheels. As I mentioned earlier I have a Bburago die cast fixed head coupe coming, and if it looks OK I plan to do that as a smoothed-out custom, kind of a bargain-basement Bugatti Atlantique . That one, if I do it, will have bubble skirts to emphasize the curves and also to provide clearance for the wire wheels.

[sjordan2]

7 hours ago, 1959scudetto said:

Very nice model of an iconic automobile, Bernard. Your chosen color brings out those graceful lines very well. This brings me to thinking of using steel wheels and spats,too (first, I wanted to build mine with spoke wheels and without the rear wheel covers...)

Here's one way to do spats with wire wheels... 

[1959scudetto]

23 hours ago, Bernard Kron said:

Thanks Phil. This is definitely an instance of where the subject will carry the model an awful long way. Especially since this kit turned out to be as good as it was.

Thank you Helmut. I chose to do this first version as essentially stock in its initial alloy bodied version with the steel wheels and skirts. It's the purest evocation o those gorgeous lines. I have a second Monogram kit which I plan to do as a sports racing special with the little aero windscreens, probably a tonneau cover if I can pull it off, fog lights and perhaps louvers. That version won't have the skirts and will most likely have wire wheels. As I mentioned earlier I have a Bburago die cast fixed head coupe coming, and if it looks OK I plan to do that as a smoothed-out custom, kind of a bargain-basement Bugatti Atlantique . That one, if I do it, will have bubble skirts to emphasize the curves and also to provide clearance for the wire wheels.

Hi, Bernard, I had the Bburago FHC 30 years ago, and sold it , but the roofline always reminds me of the Bugatti 57. IIRC, it is a bit bigger than the Monogram kit (I have the Revell o G styrene reissue in my stash and had planned wheel swapping with Tamiya*s Mk II.

[TooOld]

Well done Bernard and congrats on your first diecast renovation !