Kitty Hawk Jaguar GR.1, GR.3 1:48

Chaff-flare dispensers

Looking on many pics of the real Jags the later aircraft like the GR3s have twin chaff-flare dispensers beneath the rear fuselage. The pics don’t really match up with the kit parts and I think what KH have tried to do is supply the parts as if the dispensers are fitted when loaded – that’s what it looks like but the rear box-like sections don’t always seem to be fitted (possibly only when ‘live’ and loaded?), leaving the rear of the fairing with a ‘stepped’ appearance. The book reference ‘Big Cat Diary’ mentioned at the head of this build has some good underside pics that clearly show how these ‘cut-away’ dispensers look.

I set about re-shaping the kit items by cutting the pointy front end off and sawing the rear sections away on each part. That leaves what looks like a small angular shaped ‘plate’ immediately aft of the fairing that lies flat against the fuselage underside. Other small squares are located at the front and these have now been added as you can see. Some other small details have also been added – just small details that can be seen in the photos.

The rear ventral fins are added at this stage and are a good fit.

Below is a general view of the underside to show progress so far.

Pylons – again!

I hadn’t spotted that the front profiles to all the RAF pylons are slightly rounded and not very pointed as supplied in the KH kit. These can easily be gently sanded to a more acceptable profile with sanders and buffers and the pylons themselves attached to the undersides of the wings.

Wing fences – attached

Remember the wing fences that we modified earlier from the over-wing pylons? These are now attached with liquid poly and just to ensure that they don’t lift and stay aligned I secured them with Tamiya tape while the glue dries.

Painting…