Desert Storm Jaguar

Donald Dickson II
OK, to start. This is actually a re boxing of the old Heller kit. Had I known that, I would have not purchased it. As soon as you open the box, you know its not modern Revell at all. Sprue gates are thick. Parts are chunky. Panel lines are troughs. Quick dry fit shows horrible fit. A writer for one of the major mags had an article about this kit when it came out. He was FAR too positive in his review. I am determined to make it come out well though.

I didnt take pics of the fuselage fit, but from the gaps on the nose cone, you get the idea. Its not pretty.I decided I wanted to do the desert pink scheme the Jags and Tonkas wore during operation Granby. I got an after market set of decals to do this. I will be doing Diplomatic Service.

The cockpit is awful. Devoid of any kind of detail. I got the Eduard Zoom for the Kitty Hawk kit and it worked well with a few adjustments.

As you can see, I used Life Color for the desert pink. This stuff is finicky. Shake it up and it turns into a milk shake full of bubbles. And do NOT thin it even a little too much. I havent quite figured out a good proportion yet. I have spots I need to go back and sand out because of paint runs. Argh.

Tim Heimer
Don I have to give you a lot of credit for turning this almost train wreck by Revell into a nice piece! Some of their kits are o.k at best and with a little tweaking come out great, but other kits can be a train wreck with their clear as mud instructions, poor fit or parts left out as to location, or poor detail! Keep up the good work!

Augie
Hi Don, I could of warned you about this mutt.. Its the same as the Airfix boxing and its horrific

Christian Ristits
Really cool! Have the Kitty-Hawk Jag on my bench actually...nice kit with many details, now working on the gears...have fun with yours!

ForestFan
Sounds like a fun build! Triumph over adversity and all that! Good luck

Donald Dickson II
Thanks folks. 🙂 Tim, as it is actually the old Heller kit, I am not going to hold Revell responsible for its downfalls. I DO hold them responsible for thinking it was a good idea to resurrect this monster!

Augie, you should've sent out a general alert!😉

Christian, I may just grab it and set aside for a later build to get the taste of this one out of my mouth.

Forest, gonna give it my best go!

Donald Dickson II
Got all the antennae and stuff on it. You cant tell in the pic, but I gave it an uneven faded look by spraying the original color lightened with Tamiya flat white. Did a couple progressively lighter shades. It looks great in person. Bombs and missiles painted. Just have to do the gear and then decals.

Donald Dickson II
She is all done. Let me say right off, I noticed a few things in the pics I missed, like the front canopy being wonky. I will fix those. Just being lazy and not wanting to set shit up for more pics.😉

So, all the pics I saw of planes that had been in theater for any length of time showed planes that were faded and filthy. I saw one where the pink had chipped a LOT on all leading edges exposing the camo under it. The Jags were flying missions low and fast, so they got chipped and dirty fairly quickly. At least thats my understanding, and pics hold that up. So I made this girl very dirty.

The nose art on these planes was great. Part of what motivated me to do this scheme. The decal sheet came from Kits World. It had two other planes in it. They also had another sheet for the Jags, and one for the Tonkas that I snagged as well.

For the canopy, I had to come up with my own actuator as there is nothing in the kit. They only give you the closed option. And the fit there, like the rest of this crappy kit, is junk. So closed is not an option. I managed to get it to look somewhat OK. Not sure it would stay put if a fly landed on it hard though.

Let me reiterate. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS KIT!!!! Revell, please do your own new tool for this plane! This reboxing was truly a waste.

Tim Heimer
Not bad Donald! I can see why you wanted to do this and you did a real nice job on this plane! Congrats! If anyone complains about any small issue just tell them to build one! LOL. I like what you did with this plane! Also while researching the Apache heli I found out that it was their first encounter with sand and how much it wore out paint, glass and mechanically, the planes also. again nice work!

Christian Ristits
You did a great Job on her Donald, sorry to hear​ that the Kit is so bad...I am still fighting with my kh jag, one of the worst Kits i have ever build.

Donald Dickson II
Thank you gents. 🙂

Christian, really? That's a new tool. I would have thought it would be OK. What issues?

Bart Goesaert
you turned a turd into a gem with this one... The KH jaguar is in a league on it's own, look for building reviews, and save on putty and sanding paper... a pity in a way, but those who complete it have a marvelous model

Christian Ristits
Agree with Bart, sanding paper and putty is required...the plastic-parts are a little bit fragile, some parts are not fitting together (Intakes), you have to dry-fit almost every part, its a lot of challenge. The instruction sheet gives you a lot of wrong information, also the painting instruction is only 50% - underside and right side is missing completely (!) - Positiv is the high grade of detail on some parts, the possibility to show open hatches etc... Hope to make some progress at the weekend and that it will turn out well once I have finished this difficult kit.

Donald Dickson II
Wow. You would think someone would manage a good kit for this airplane.

Donald Dickson II
So, this model and my F-15E were at a local hobby shop on display. Unfortunately, the shop is going out of business. I had my son go pick them up as I now live in PA and the shop is back in VA. In the process the pitot got knocked off. No biggy. I found and ordered the Master Brass replacement. As you can see, it is MUCH better. A lot of my planes now have these. Pretty sure I am going to use them on most every kit in the future.

Peter Hardy
PA? VA? Huh?

Donald Dickson II
State abbreviations. VA is Virginia, PA is Pennsylvania.

Peter Hardy
Sorry Don, Asian and European geography I'm not too bad on but US no hope! Heard of Pennsylvania but Virginia is a suburb of Brisbane! Lol! My geography is improving though! I now know where Chicago and Lake Michigan is now thanks to Tim Heimer!

Tim Heimer
Peter, Don is a few states east of me or about 12-14 hrs away.

Donald Dickson II
Peter, no problem. VA and PA are both on the east coast about half way ish down. The area is called the Mid Atlantic. VA borders Washington DC. If any of that helped at all. LOL

Peter Hardy
I'll buy a map. I don't know why you guys want to live at the end of the world! I bet it even snows there like in Antarctica!

Peter Hardy
PS. No I won't buy a map, I live in the age of "American provided" GPS. Thank you America! Google Earth should do the trick! Thank you America again!!

Donald Dickson II
Damn right! LOL

Clifford Keesler
I think it looks good.

Donald Dickson II
Clifford, thank you sir. 🙂 It was a pig for sure to build. NOT in the least bit pleasurable.

Alexander
Very nice work, like the desert paint scheme. 👍

Donald Dickson II
Thnk you Alexander. 🙂 As I said, it was NOT a great kit. But such is life.

Tim Heimer
Still, nicely done!

Donald Dickson II
Thank you Tim. 🙂

Clifford Keesler
I am going to do the old ESCI kit of the GR-1A. Lots of re-scribing in the future. I have a boat load of aftermarket goodies as well as left over stuff from the KH Jaguar A.

Donald Dickson II
You are a masochist my friend. LOL

Jos Jansen
Well done Donald, its not the easiest and flawless kit from Revell but you made a real stunner out of it...👍!!

Clifford Keesler
Yes, I guess I am LOL.

Donald Dickson II
Thank you Jos. 🙂

Well, at least you own it Clifford.😉

David Taylor
Nice job of the Heller,Airfix Revell kit.