Introduction

The Sepecat Jaguar was one of those Anglo-French joint works where the goal posts kept being moved, going for a trainer to a ground attack aircraft,
and work was also done on building a French carrier based model of the Jaguar. Revell of Germany have released a Jaguar GR.1A onto the market which I believe may be a re-release of the Airfix offering. That said let’s see what you get in the box and you can then make up your own mind.

Contents

Inside one of the end opening boxes from Revell of Germany you will find:
3 light grey sprues
1 clear sprue
A decal sheet
An instruction booklet
An advisory leaflet
All of the plastic parts are packaged in a single plastic bag with the clear parts being packaged in their own plastic bag inside the original one.

Review

First ImpressionsA look over the parts of this model doesn’t throw up any major concerns; the only issue visible are the ejector pin marks,which vary in size to quite large.
These ejector pin marks should be easily dealt with without too much difficulty.
There are some flow/cooling lines present, particularly on the horizontal stabilizers which may be a problem, but I cannot be sure of that until paint is applied.

Cockpit

The cockpit of this model is overly simplified and lacks the level of detail to which I have become accustomed to from Revell of Germany.
There is no raised detail for the instrument panels at all,but Revell of Germany has supplied decals to replicate the various dials and switches.
To be honest I found this area to be a little disappointing.
For those members who like to use, or should I say prefer to use resin cockpits this will not be an issue.

Wheel Wells and Undercarriage

The wheel wells on the model are again disappointing due to a complete lack of any detail and detail is something modellers have come to expect.
The undercarriage on the other hand is of an acceptable standard and should look pretty good with the supplied detail and of course can be lifted with some scratch work in the form of brake lines and wiring. The wheels have a nasty ejection pin mark on the rear of them which will take some careful work to remedy well.

Intakes and Exhausts

The detail on the intakes is reasonable externally but internally is naked. The exhausts nozzles are an area I cannot help but think are of as overly simplified detail wise.

Fuselage and Flight Surfaces

Here we find some redemption for this model. The panel lines are nicely recessed to a reasonable depth and after looking over reference images do appear accurate. Once the model is assembled and painted and a wash has been applied to accentuate these panel lines, you will have the makings of an eye catching model. The horizontal stabilisers can be secured in any position of your choice; however none of the other control surfaces can be set without surgery to the model.

Canopy

The canopy is of a reasonable thickness and does not have any poorly placed seam lines present in it. He transparency for the nose and undercarriage lights are also present.

Weapons load

There is a reasonable weapons load for this model of the Jaguar GR.1A which breaks down as follows:
AN/ALQ 101
PHIMAT
BL-755 cluster bombs x 4
Recce Pod
1200 ltr Drop Tanks x 2
AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles x 2

Decals

Revell of Germany has supplied two finishing options with this model of the Jaguar, which are:
No 54 Squadron RAF, Coltishall, England, March 1979
No 41 Squadron RAF, Coltishall, England, September 1987
The decals for these finishing options are very good, having very little in the way of carrier film showing except where necessary.

Conclusion

This release from Revell of Germany is very much a mixed bag quality wise. For those that care about the outside more than the inside this could be just what you need as the external surfaces are pleasing. This would also go for those who throw resin cockpits and the like at their builds. My one other wish for this model is that Revell of Germany had included the finishing option for the Jaguars that served in the Gulf, this would have given the modeller a very different finishing option to those supplied.


Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell