10thumbs Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 Gorgeous car, excellent model.My 1st sister-in-law had an XKE exactly that color. Blue leather interior. The car had wire wheels. Guys, this was in 1967, I was a junior in High School. Driving that car to school! Yo, then skipping later in the day then off to the beach! Those were fun days.The car was just amazing to drive. Unlike anything I've ever experienced, even to this day. I thought, "only a 6 cylinder". The first time hard on the gas pedal.....I thought the front wheels went up! Hitting 2nd gear (you couldn't speed shift that tranny) the front end jumped as if the wheels cleared again. Loud and rowdy.Lots of drive train noise. The gears whined, the rear end too. Turn the wooden spoke steering wheel a half inch and you changed lanes. The motor was huge. Gearbox too. The car was very responsive! This was a no frill hardcore sports car. You could not easily just smoothly cruise in this car. It was bumpy, rough ride, loud and utterly exciting. 3 Weber carbs. Toggle switches everywhere. Lucas gauges, that even worked! Yep. A beautiful thrill.Beautiful model!Michael
10thumbs Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 One more thing, I forgot to add. Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear really ripped this car apart, fairly recently. I was really surprised to hear this animosity as I still think to this day that the Jaguar XKE was an amazing engineering feat that was absolutely beautifully designed. I really like the Jaguar XK E Type.Jürgen, das Modell sieht Klasse aus!Michael
Matt Bacon Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 (edited) Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear really ripped this car apart, fairly recently. I was really surprised to hear this animosity... Yeah, but he was mostly doing it so he could talk up what a fantastic job Eagle do in "modernising" these cars. You can't step into a vanilla, period, E-type and expect it to behave like a modern supercar. When it appeared, it drove better than Aston Martins and Ferraris of the time that were nearly twice as expensive, and looked better than anything at the time and any time since. These days, an average hot hatch can monster any of the class-leading supercars of the 60s, 70s and 80s in terms of raw performance... but does anything you can buy today look better than an E-type? It's not a Countach, 288GTO, 488 Spider or Veyron, but I could go out tomorrow and buy one, let Eagle do their thing and make it a painless continent-spanning GT, and still have change from £180K... all the while making sure that concierge parkers all over the world will leave it outside the entrance to their hotel/casino/restaurant... Anyone want to suggest a car that looks better than this? bestest, M. Edited September 18, 2015 by Matt Bacon
10thumbs Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 Hi Matt, totally agreed!What a beauty. I was really surprised the way the car drove. A lot nastier than it's lines would suggest. I had no experience though with it's curving prowess. Still, I'd rather this one than it's contemporaries.Who says Jags have to be British Racing Green? No way.Michael
Harry P. Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 A beautifully built model of one of the best looking cars of all time. And that covers a lot of cars!
Plastheniker Posted September 18, 2015 Author Posted September 18, 2015 Thanks for all comments! No question, the E-Type is one of the very few timeless beauties, no matter if S1, S1½ or S2 and no matter if OTS or FHC. I am not so sure, however, about S3 and the 2+2. As so often when car designs were modified during production the very first design looks best. IMO S1 3.8 and S1 4.2 are the E-Type. Outstanding model! The wire wheels look great but like you say, not sure they're worth the extra $$. Were they an option or standard on E-types? Bruce, wire wheels were standard for the E-Type until 1971 when the S3 (=V12) model was introduced. At that time painted steel wheels with chromed rim embellishers or chromed steel wheels became standard, and chromed wires became optional. Great looking model Jürgen, excellent color choice (not always the same red or British racing green...) Did you lower the front suspension? No Helmut, I built the model OOB. But I agree, the front stance is a bit lower than on pictures of the 1:1 car. Maybe the considerable weight of the numerous pewter parts concentrated there pressed the front slightly down over the years. Oooooh! Just beautiful!! And you built it with no seams which is absolutely correct! D-Types had seams, but not the E-types. I take it you had to build the model "inside out"? I have this kit and that's the way I have often looked at building this with no seams on the side. Just gorgeous!! Lovely job, Jurgen. You chose the perfect colour, obviously... ;-P Since I have one to tackle someday, I'd be interested to hear whether the construction sequence I used on the Revell kit is viable here: I assembled the body and eliminated the seams, then painted it, and finally "posted" the interior into position through the space where the firewall fits. Last thing, I adding the seats and dash once it was in place. If you did that, or something different, I'd love to know... I think for the external parts, I'll just primer the white metal and spray them chrome. I may have some spares in a Heller kit. I have a "donor" part built kit as well as fresh one, the donor kit being built as a racer, without a lot of the trim. Anyway, another beautiful model to add to your cabinet -- and of course it should be in the front row, because after all it is the most beautiful car ever made (or at the very least, the most beautiful car ever made by mass production and affordable to a wide clientele...) bestest, M. Being honest I must admit that after such a long time I don't really remember how I proceeded here. But after turning the model upside down and considering my later proceeding when removing lateral seams of e. g. Casadio/Revival kits I am rather sure that first of all I glued the upper half and the lower half (=the floor pan) of the body together and reinforced the back of the seam. After thorough drying I scribed one groove right and a second groove left into the floorpan where the sides of the floor pan were still flat. Deeper scribing separated the flat floor pan from the upper body half with the now perfectly aligned lower sides. Then it was easy to assemble the model following the instruction sheet. If the reinforcement of the seam is strong enough nothing will crack when the sides of the body are bent outwards to re-join it with the floor pan during the final assembly. Gorgeous car, excellent model. My 1st sister-in-law had an XKE exactly that color. Blue leather interior. The car had wire wheels. Guys, this was in 1967, I was a junior in High School. Driving that car to school! Yo, then skipping later in the day then off to the beach! Those were fun days. The car was just amazing to drive. Unlike anything I've ever experienced, even to this day. I thought, "only a 6 cylinder". The first time hard on the gas pedal.....I thought the front wheels went up! Hitting 2nd gear (you couldn't speed shift that tranny) the front end jumped as if the wheels cleared again. Loud and rowdy. Lots of drive train noise. The gears whined, the rear end too. Turn the wooden spoke steering wheel a half inch and you changed lanes. The motor was huge. Gearbox too. The car was very responsive! This was a no frill hardcore sports car. You could not easily just smoothly cruise in this car. It was bumpy, rough ride, loud and utterly exciting. 3 Weber carbs. Toggle switches everywhere. Lucas gauges, that even worked! Yep. A beautiful thrill. Beautiful model! Michael Michael, the colour was called 'Opalescent Silver Blue'. I wish I had a sister-in-law ...
Helix Posted September 19, 2015 Posted September 19, 2015 Very impressive build of a classic British sports car, well done !
GTJUNIOR Posted September 19, 2015 Posted September 19, 2015 Spectacular build. Looks like you could just climb in and go!
Plastheniker Posted September 20, 2015 Author Posted September 20, 2015 Thanks for the recent replies! Beautiful build. Any Engine Shots?No, I am sorry, there are no engine pictures.Of course this is a matter of taste, but I hate opening hoods, doors, and trunk lids because mostly (if not always) they are not completely flush and properly aligned or show varying gaps. Eliminating these problems completely and finally means to me fixing these parts, i. e. gluing them shut, all the more since I build only for my display case and nobody (including me) would ever open them. That is why I always build and detail only what could be visible if the model is turned upside down. Whenever I feel inclined to display an engine/gearbox I buy a second kit or superdetail a complete chassis as already shown on my Casadio GP models.
Force Posted September 20, 2015 Posted September 20, 2015 Great work Jürgen.I have a couple of E-Types and I would like to find a set of photoetched correct wire wheels for them as they look a lot better than the plastic wheels.
Mike 1017 Posted September 20, 2015 Posted September 20, 2015 Your XKE is so beautiful I can't take my eyes off of it. Congrats on such a fantastic build.IMO The XKE is one of the most and still is in top 3 of the most beautiful cars in the world. The XKE is on my bucket list. I am reluctant though to buy any of the available kits because of such bad reviews. Maybe I should just man-up and spend the dollars for one of these Gunze kits. If Moebius were ever to manufacture an XKE kit it would be a grand slam.
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 20, 2015 Posted September 20, 2015 Beautiful model, beautiful car. The Gunze kit really has to be the best-proportioned of all the available 1/24-1/25 E-types
1930fordpickup Posted September 20, 2015 Posted September 20, 2015 Great work Jürgen.I have a couple of E-Types and I would like to find a set of photoetched correct wire wheels for them as they look a lot better than the plastic wheels.I do believe that Herb Deeks Models made or still makes these wires in photo etch . I have seen him sell these on Ebay last winter ,but that was the last time I was looking into PE wires and I wussed out on trying them. LOL
Plastheniker Posted September 20, 2015 Author Posted September 20, 2015 Thanks for the further comments! Great work Jürgen.I have a couple of E-Types and I would like to find a set of photoetched correct wire wheels for them as they look a lot better than the plastic wheels. I do believe that Herb Deeks Models made or still makes these wires in photo etch . I have seen him sell these on Ebay last winter ,but that was the last time I was looking into PE wires and I wussed out on trying them. LOL Hakan, how about an alternative?
TimJ Posted September 20, 2015 Posted September 20, 2015 Excellent build of a beautiful car. Great color choice too.
Force Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 Yes of course an alternative is to lace your own wire wheels...but I'm too lazy for that.
Zoom Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 Very nice built car and good choice of color. I want an E-type, maybe I take a look on E-bay /Bo
robertw Posted September 23, 2015 Posted September 23, 2015 Beautiful build !I built the curbside version a few years ago and like you was impressed by the kit and since then I've been able to obtain a number of the other Gunze sports cars and have enjoyed each build. I wish this line of car kits would come out again either in the high-tech or curbside version.
Dann Tier Posted October 17, 2015 Posted October 17, 2015 looks real! superb work -my favorite color for that Jag!
Johnt671 Posted October 17, 2015 Posted October 17, 2015 A very nice build of one of the best looking cars ever made.
Plastheniker Posted October 18, 2015 Author Posted October 18, 2015 Thanks for the recent replies!As already said, if you can find the plastic version I would really recommend it.Despite the pewter parts I would even recommend the High Tech version if you can get it at a reasonable price. Today Alclad would be a good alternative for the pewter parts instead of clearcoat.
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