Jaguar A in Kosovo - "Operation Trident" WIP

Nathan Dempsey
The next project begins. Well, not really as this has been a ghost build for a while and I'm ready to finish it.

It's an older kit, but makes into a decent kit.

Daniel
Cool subject, nice progress and a lot of fancy aftermarket 👍 taking a seat

Nathan Dempsey
Welcome Daniel 🙂

I'm a sucker for aftermarket goodies, but in this one's case many of them were necessary. I bought this kit years ago and have robbed a few items (missile & a wheel) from it for other kits, along with a few parts that were missing (antennas & pitot).

Gary Dahlström
Nice project! Body work and pilot seat looking great.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Gary 🙂

I'm actually working on the seat today. Painting the pull handles with their tiny yellow & black striping. Maybe some more pics up tomorrow.

Nathan Dempsey
Welcome Roland. Good to have you aboard.

Jos Jansen
Oh yeah, my all time favorite jet...👍

Nathan Dempsey
Welcome Jos 🙂

Hopefully I can provide a semi-convincing finish. I see the paint call-outs on the Zots decal sheet says the underside is Flat Aluminum. Is this a paint coating or actual natural metal?

Nathan Dempsey
Just added photos of the completed seat and a scratch built replacement part for the landing gear.

Gary Dahlström
Looking good Nathan, especially the ejection handles! I'm trying to understand your question: Are you asking about the finish IRL, if they've painted the bottom of the craft or left it a natural bare finish?

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Gary. Yes on the real aircraft.

I just found a picture that leads me to believe it is a painted "aluminum" color. I noticed in this picture that there's one small spot on the nose of the drop tank that has a worn area definitely showing natural metal that looks entirely different from the remaining aluminum color. The main problem is that all the pics I have that the aircraft look really well maintained.

Nathan Dempsey
Worked on the AS-30 missile today. Had to modify the nose to make an AS-30L by sanding it down and creating the laser receiver. Also I added a small aluminum tube for the 3rd engine and drilled out the other 2 engine bells.

Laurent VILLANUEVA HELLER ForEver
great

Nathan Dempsey
Thank you Roland! I'm continuing work on the Eduard Magic missile. This one is a pleasure of a tiny kit to build.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Laurent 🙂

Nathan Dempsey
Just added Model Master 4851 Yellow Zinc Chromate to the wheel and air-brake wells.

Nathan Dempsey
Work continues. Today I dipped the canopy in Future and attached the HUD glass. I should finish attaching the canopy later today.

Jos Jansen
I know this kit, made myself a RAF Jaguar ... they are all from the same molding, mine was a Revell kit. They're not that detailed as you may want, but the kit builds nicely. Looking really forward for the next steps you're gonna make 👍

Michael Phillips
Very nice progress so far! Cool subject too. Taking a seat and watching the progress here!

Nathan Dempsey
Jos: Yes, this is an older tooling and is definitely light on detail, but I'm happy to report the price of $15USD made me forgive much of the shortcomings! Lol

Michael: Thanks and welcome!

Well it is time for me to lounge for a while now as I just spent 30 minutes on my hands and knees looking for a photo-etch mirror that I had BMF Chromed.

Nathan Dempsey
Attached the Eduard antenna parts on the vertical stabilizer. I like the look compared to the very thick kit parts.

Nathan Dempsey
Today I was able to attach the canopy and get it masked. Also had time to use the AK Xtreme Metal paint again on the exhaust area of this build.

Mirko Römer
Great work so far!

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Mirko 🙂

Just painted around the canopy & the intakes today. Hopefully I'll get time to begin the main camo colors tonight or tomorrow.

Gary Dahlström
Looks great! PE is handsome, and i like what you did with the rear-view mirrors.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Gary!

Some of the joins on the canopy were really bothering me, so I broke out the Apoxie Sculpt to smooth out and even the fit.

Andy Ball
Hi, may I take a seat!?

Slavo Hazucha
Cool project & plane, sadly quite definitely the last of its kind... Initial works also look very promising, nice pit, HUD & integration of the extra exterior parts! 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Welcome Andy & Slavo! Thanks for joining the build🙂

Today just doing preparations for paint and I finally attached the pitot. Also more prep work on the resin Armory wheel set. Quite nice as you can actually read Dunlop on the sides of the tires. Added a comparison shot of the kit & L'Arsenal ATLIS II pod.

Clifford Keesler
Looking very nice Nathan. I built that kit not to long ago, used all the aftermarket stuff for the Airfix kit. I have the Kitty Hawk one, which I have been tossing around getting the Zotz's Kosovo decal sheet for it. I have a ESCI GR1 which I am going to do in the Operation Granby scheme.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Clifford!

Laid down the Neutral Grey today. Everything went a-ok with the paint, but I did notice a couple of spots on the fuselage that needed rework. Luckily they were quite small and I only needed to repaint 2 small areas.

Christian Kohl
Hey Nathan, looks great, very nice job! I'm curious what will happen next..😉

Jos Jansen
Love your dedication Nathan to making this kit a stunner ... !

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Christian & Jos! Your positivity will keep me going 🙂

Work has stalled a bit during the weekend due to a busy schedule at home. I should be able to apply the green part of the camo tomorrow. I'm also going a bit more slowly as I'm doing post shading with the airbrush and trying not to over-do it.

Nathan Dempsey
Green color has been applied. Hopefully later this evening I can continue shading. I really like the pattern the French applied to their Jaguars.

Slavo Hazucha
Nothing beats late- and post-Cold War European Theatre close air support camouflage! Hogs, Harriers, Jaguars just rock!😉 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Definitely agree with you Slavo!

Clifford Keesler
Nice camo job Nathan.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Clifford!

Today is more shading and I'm taping up everything to paint the bottom color: flat aluminum.

Nathan Dempsey
Back to the build after pausing during an extended weekend to celebrate the little one's 5th birthday. Today I attached the landing gear & began applying panel lining to the bottom of the aircraft.

Clifford Keesler
That is looking very awesome sir.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Clifford 🙂

Today I did the upper panel line wash and added some painted on rivet detail to the exhaust area. A bit out of scale, but I don't have a rivet tool yet 🙂

Clifford Keesler
Sure looks good to me.

Tom
Fantastic work, Nathan 👍

Slavo Hazucha
Very nice work all over, the rivets on the metal panels are a good idea & extension! 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Thank you very much Tom & Clifford 🙂
Slavo: Praise from the Master of exhausts & metalwork humbles me beyond words!

For interested parties the exhaust was AK Xtreme Metal base with shading in W&N oils along with Folk Art acrylic craft paint. My exhaust is artistic variation because the only shot I had looked like the French ground crew literally polished it to a super shiny and clean area.

Nathan Dempsey
Had a productive day. Black areas on the wing and tail leading edges was masked and painted using Tamiya NATO black. Much of the underwing stores have been finished. Still working on the drop tank and the Magic AAM. Hopefully decal work can start this evening.

Jos Jansen
Coming along very nicely...👍!

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Jos!

Clifford Keesler
Agree with Jos. If that F-89 wasn't screaming at me, I would have to break out one of my Jag's.

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks so much Clifford. Oh man I want to see that F-89 too!

Finished out the drop tank & Magic AAM today and applied about half the decals.

Clifford Keesler
Looks awesome.

Laurent VILLANUEVA HELLER ForEver
nice

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Clifford & Laurent!

Today was more decal application. These Zots go on well but they are super stiff. They absolutely refuse to snuggle down into the panel lines. I've had to use repeated applications of Solvaset to even get any kind of snuggling down. Typically full power Solvaset would eat a normal decal!

Clifford Keesler
Ouch!

Erik Leijdens
Looks like a difficult build Nathan, great work so far

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Erik🙂

Finished up the decals today. Just working on the tires & wheels, and a few small odds and ends. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a flat coat on. Should see it finished by the weekend.

Jos Jansen
Erik, I can agree that this kit is anything but easy to build ... but Nathan does an absolutely amazing job!

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Jos, that means a great deal to me 🙂
I think I like the punishment of an old kit (or the cheap price lol).

Last night I began weathering the tires a bit, and although a bit rough around the edges I did want to post a pic to show that you can indeed read Dunlop on these tiny little tires. Much credit to Armory for their dedication to detail.

Clifford Keesler
Agree with Roland. Where did you get the Armory tires from?

Nathan Dempsey
Thank you sirs!

Clifford: I got them off of eBay so it was either Lots of Models or Scott's Models (RebelAlpha).

Clifford Keesler
Thanks. Both of those guys are my go to vendors. I think Scott usually has the Armory wheels. If you have any 1:48 SU-17's or SU-22's, he sells a set of chaff and flare dispencers and wheels as a unit, I got a set for each of mine.

Nathan Dempsey
I was just about to check it out and decided to take out my Su-22 kit first. Geez that box is full of goodies already. I need to update my stash. Still need a wheel set though...

Clifford Keesler
I think the set which includes the wheels was like 11.00.

Clifford Keesler
I think I am going to prime the F-89 in grey, and then pre-shade the raised panel lines in either black or netrual grey, then paint the different shades of aluminum.

Nathan Dempsey
Sounds like a good idea. Curious to see how that works. I've always post-shaded metal colors.

Well I had a little snag last night while attaching the wheels. I noticed that the whole plane was sitting slightly to one side. I realized I'd have to carefully remove one of the main landing gear and reattach it on the correct position. This was accomplished after thirty minutes of cursing and tears, but it finally sits level now! On a good note the AK Ultra Matte Varnish worked to perfection. I love that stuff!

Clifford Keesler
I have got to get me some of the AK panel line washes, as well as other things. I had thought about post shading it using Tamiya smoke. I looked at it this morning and I think I may re-scribe it. It dosen't look like it would be that hard. Just will have to be careful.

Slavo Hazucha
Well done, we don't want this one list like the Titanic! 👍😉 Good you managed the surgery without breaking stuff!

Nathan Dempsey
Clifford: I think I might tackle scribing an F-89. At least the wings are wide and flat.

Slavo: Yes it was a big let-down as I realized the gear were offset & that terrible cracking sound when the glue released. All is well though and hopefully I'll finish up sometime today.

Christian Kohl
Nathan, you put a lot of work into this. You can tell that a good, realistic finish is very important to you. Fun to watch your jet grow ... !! Keep it up 🙂

Nathan Dempsey
Thank you for your kind words Christian. A big help on the final push today 🙂

Well, she's officially finished, but since it is nearly 11PM here I'm too tired to pull out the photo booth, so I'll update everyone tomorrow with a "completed" album.

Christian Kohl
Good things take time, Nathan 😉

Nathan Dempsey
Here's the completed album. Enjoy!
Jaguar A in Kosovo - "Operation Trident" COMPLETE | Album by Plastic Addict (1:48)