Revell Jaguar XKE

[DanL]

Very nice work... I built one of these last year and enjoyed the process. I remember the flip hood needed a lot of adjustment to get it fitting right. Yours looks great.

Cheers

DanL

[Greasefinger]

On 11/5/2024 at 12:28 AM, kensar said:

More pics ...

Thanks Trevor!

Very nice interior, may I ask which paint did you use or is it a custom mix (have to get that myself if available)?

[Kenmojr]

Excellent work so far.

[Kenmojr]

I have this kit in my stash, purchased it last year at Micheals. I opened it up to check if I was missing and half of an engine block, but mine is complete.

In some ways I was kind of hoping it was missing, to give me an excuse to pro street it with a big block Chevy and use the Jag IRS on one of my Revell hot rod kits...

[250 Testa Rossa]

I have this kit as well and can't wait to dive into it. 

[kensar]

Thanks, everyone, for stopping by and commenting.

The interior leather paint is Model Master enamel leather color 1736, which is nothing special.  I did apply it with an air brush after thinning quite a bit.  It is applied very lightly, building up layers of paint and not completely covering the white primer underneath.  This technique yielded the uneven coloration and realistic look.

I'm currently spraying on some chrome on the chromed exterior parts, so hopefully this project will be completed soon.

[250 Testa Rossa]

On 11/22/2024 at 8:16 AM, kensar said:

After many distractions and problems with paint, I have finally made some progress with this.

I have the body painted and the wheels on it.

I adjusted the rear ride height.  After looking at numerous pictures of real XKEs with the rear ride height appearing to be all over the place, I went with this.

Now there's just the outside details and some weathering left to do.

 

How did you adjust the ride height?

[kensar]

10 hours ago, 250 Testa Rossa said:

How did you adjust the ride height?

Well, first of all I determined that an adjustment needed to be done.  I got this information by looking at other's builds of this same kit and if they adjusted the ride height.

Next, how to do it depends on the kit design - what parts set the ride height where it is.  Then modify those parts to raise or lower the chassis relative to the wheel hubs.  On this kit, the rear ride height is set by the tabs on the wheel hubs (part C10).  Lowering the chassis is a simple matter of filing down the tabs (by 0.060").  A number of other parts need to be adjusted to accommodate this change.  The axles needed to be bent, the shock absorbers needed to be shortened, and part C18 needed to be bent.  This was the initial adjustment I did.

Later, I test fitted the wheels when the body was attached to the chassis and I determined that the initial adjustment was too much.  By this time I did not want to readjust all the parts I had done earlier, so I made a smaller adjustment to the backs of the wheels.  The wheels are attached to the hubs by fitting the hub into a 'hole' on the back of the wheel.  I used aftermarket wheels here.  I was able to cut the material forming the hole so that it was open on 1/2 of one side, effectively, elongating the hole.  This enabled the wheel to be lowered on the hub.  Although the wheel is not aligned with the hub, it is only a small amount (0.030") and is not noticeable.  I then glued the wheels to the hubs with the car supported at the right height on a piece of glass (a flat surface) so that all four wheels will touch the ground surface.

Hope this is clear enough.  Again, the ride height is adjusted by modifying the parts that set the height.

 

[250 Testa Rossa]

Cool, thanks. I'm doing mine in Old English White over red interior. I just ordered the P/E set from Hobby Design for one of mine. 

[kensar]

I have completed this build and put it in the 'Under Glass' section: