Group 44 Jaguar XJR 5

[Rich Chernosky]

I first saw this car in the garage around 2005 at the Watkins Glen Historic race.  What impressed me was the meticulous preparation of the car. What really caught my eye ythough was the gleaming white paint and crisp graphics. Sent mu pics to  a friend of mine and he sent back a pic of his model. Now I had to have one.  Profil 24 produced this kit in 2001 and by 2005 they were all gone.   Sigh!!.  Posted an Ebay search with emails.  17yrs later (2022) one finally showed up in Aug. I started it right away and got to the body paint. Was looking for the brightest white I had and that turned out to be Badger 16-107 Airbrush white. Most clears will  either slightly yellow white or dis-colort it. My choice of clear was Tamiya X-22. After it cured (about a month) I started polishing it. Got the shine I wanted but it was really hard work. So every once in awhile I would dig it out and polish a little more. Only took 3yrs but now  its finished.  More details in the picture captions.

Took this shot during final assembly to show some of the method to my madness. When working with PE I completly clear the work bench and lay down a full size sheet of black poster board. PE really shows up on this. These are the only tools I have out. I apply the PE to the model with a bamboo skewer with some poster tack wrapped around the end. A small dot of  Micro Liquitape goes on the model and I let that dry. Its very sticky even when dry. Its a waterbase contact cement.  The poster tack is just sticky enough to hod the part and it lets go when its applied to the glue. Almost all my PE is applied this way. The bamboo stick points to the 15 really tiney Dzus fasteners oif which 11 went on the body.  I rarely lose parts this way Aaah finally done.  The wheels are poseable and this was done when I first got this kit.  My trademark.  Decals on this kit were outstanding and posed no signifcant problem. 

rBusiness end of the Jag. Car used their V-12 engine.  Lots of fiddly detail back here. Wing support required some special attention. 

Model sat on its wheels nicely despite the rather poor instructions. Lots of guess work here but it finally turned out. Really like this model now. Group 44 had some sucess with this car in IMSA GT winning two events. It was fast but the best they could muster in LM was a 3rd.  I consider this one of the sleekest and best looking cars of the prototypes. 

Some of the incredible photo etch detail that came with this kit. I changed the wiper bade as the kit one wasn't so hot.  Thanks for looking and comments welcome.

 

 

 

[Jim B]

Great looking jaguar.  Well done.

[bbowser]

Beautiful!

[absmiami]

Thanks for this post - simply one of the nicest looking IMSAs - and Bob Tullius was one of our great IMSA privateers - seem to recall that he had some spectacular vintage fighter planes - a P 30 - what ?

[absmiami]

Did he own a P40 ?

[absmiami]

P51 Mustang - but my phone couldn’t turn up a pic …

[Dave B]

Another great build Rich, Profil 24 kits certainly look worth the money.

Dave B 

[Tommy124]

Hi Rich,

congrats on finding and building one of these fine kits!

I am working on the same kit as we speak. 🙂

Had a lots of trouble with the decals from 2001 which fell apart after contact with water. I trust I will manage to save the rest of them though, using Microscale liquid decal film.  However, my decals look much darker than yours. Probably this is also due to their age or bad storage.

Anyway, Le Mans Decals has them on sale so I ordered them in 1/24 scale. The decals I got from them are waaaay out of scale, much too wide/ big. I contacted them about it, but as usual, they didn't reply. I then did some maths to find that their decals maybe could work in 1/32 scale (which they also sell). So I decided to order them in 1/32 aswell but as it turns out, they were a bit to small.

As there is no other alternative on the market and I really don't want to PAINT these graphics... I am left with using what I have, the original kit's decals.

I am posting an image below to show all 3 sets of decals (kit's decals, Le Mans Decals in 1/24 and 1/32 scales). I think the "size problem" is obvious... 😐

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:13 AM by Tommy124

[1959scudetto]

Another good-looking racer in your stable, Rich - very well done !

[drodg]

That is a great looking build.  Many years ago I built it in 1/43, I think an AMR kit so it would be metal.  I agree I think that is one of the best looking endurance/prototype cars ever built.  I also have a real soft spot for the Jaguar XJR 14 also.   

[kensar]

Very nice model, Rich.  I, too, was struck by how visually stunning this car is and built the LeMans version of the Profil24 kit.  It is one of my favorite models.

[Mike 1017]

Amazing build

[bytownshaker]

Beautiful job!!

[TonyK]

Great car. Great model.

[Bruce Scully]

A great looking car and a great looking build, a lot of nice work in this .

[Kah puts]

Wow I’m totally impressed 👍

[Rich Chernosky]

On 8/11/2025 at 5:37 PM, Jim B said:

Great looking jaguar.  Well done.

Thank youi Jim

 

On 8/11/2025 at 6:23 PM, bbowser said:

Beautiful!

Thanks Bruce

 

On 8/11/2025 at 8:58 PM, absmiami said:

Thanks for this post - simply one of the nicest looking IMSAs - and Bob Tullius was one of our great IMSA privateers - seem to recall that he had some spectacular vintage fighter planes - a P 30 - what ?

In my racing days (a long time ago) we were parked nerxt to Group 44. A very professional outfit and definetly class of the event. They won everything. Got to talk to some of the mechanics and even scrounged some parts. Never met Bob and didn't know he was into A/C.  Thanks for responding Andy. Always appreciate your input. 

 

On 8/12/2025 at 12:46 AM, Dave B said:

Another great build Rich, Profil 24 kits certainly look worth the money.

Dave B 

This is my second or third one built. The quality of the body casting is there.  Instructiuons could use some help.  And this one took me forever to aquire. You really have to stay focused when youi want something this bad. 

 

On 8/12/2025 at 4:11 AM, Tommy124 said:

Hi Rich,

congrats on finding and building one of these fine kits!

I am working on the same kit as we speak. 🙂

Had a lots of trouble with the decals from 2001 which fell apart after contact with water. I trust I will manage to save the rest of them though, using Microscale liquid decal film.  However, my decals look much darker than yours. Probably this is also due to their age or bad storage.

Anyway, Le Mans Decals has them on sale so I ordered them in 1/24 scale. The decals I got from them are waaaay out of scale, much too wide/ big. I contacted them about it, but as usual, they didn't reply. I then did some maths to find that their decals maybe could work in 1/32 scale (which they also sell). So I decided to order them in 1/32 aswell but as it turns out, they were a bit to small.

As there is no other alternative on the market and I really don't want to PAINT these graphics... I am left with using what I have, the original kit's decals.

I am posting an image below to show all 3 sets of decals (kit's decals, Le Mans Decals in 1/24 and 1/32 scales). I think the "size problem" is obvious... 😐

Thomas...I am amazed at the difference in your decals and mine. About the only thing I can say is mine were very fragile but they went on and stayed. Some of your original sheet can still be used like the black  logos. As far as painting the graphics....it could be done but would require a lot more extra work than it would be worth. I have learned quite a few tricks over the year and if interested PM me.  Good luck with your project. Its well worth it if you can. 

 

 

21 hours ago, 1959scudetto said:

Another good-looking racer in your stable, Rich - very well done 

Thank you Helmut.  My stable is getting quite full. I was lucky to find room for this in the LM case. 

 

19 hours ago, drodg said:

That is a great looking build.  Many years ago I built it in 1/43, I think an AMR kit so it would be metal.  I agree I think that is one of the best looking endurance/prototype cars ever built.  I also have a real soft spot for the Jaguar XJR 14 also. 

Having seen these cars in person, I have a soft spot for them too.  

 

 

19 hours ago, kensar said:

Very nice model, Rich.  I, too, was struck by how visually stunning this car is and built the LeMans version of the Profil24 kit.  It is one of my favorite models.

Ken....that is real sharp. Thanks for the picture. Is the engine inlet the only difference in the two kits. I can't spot much more than that.

 

18 hours ago, Mike 1017 said:

Amazing build

Thanks

 

16 hours ago, bytownshaker said:

Beautiful job!!

Thank you

 

10 hours ago, Bruce Scully said:

A great looking car and a great looking build, a lot of nice work in this .

Appreciate the comment Bruce.  I did take my time with this one. 

 

10 hours ago, Kah puts said:

Wow I’m totally impressed 👍

Thanks....glad you like it. 

 

[ChrisR]

Very nice.

[Bainford]

Stunning model, Rich. Simply gorgeous. Congrats on bringing this long term project over the line. It was certainly worth it. I agree that the Jags were the finest looking of their breed.

I gleaned some great PE tips above. Cheers.

[Rich Chernosky]

20 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Very nice.

Thanks

 

10 hours ago, Bainford said:

Stunning model, Rich. Simply gorgeous. Congrats on bringing this long term project over the line. It was certainly worth it. I agree that the Jags were the finest looking of their breed.

I gleaned some great PE tips above. Cheers.

Thank you very much Trevor.  I learned most of those tips on PE the hard way.  I got real tired of searching for those tiny PE parts that would magically slip out of the tweezers. I really pleases me when another respected modeler can benefit from something I have learned.