Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Time to pimp them rides!
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mattbacon
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

Thanks, chaps! I think I've done as much plumbing round the engine as I can stand (and fit in...)

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The big insulated pipes are made from solder, wrapped in the embossed paper/foil from a cigarette packet. Whenever I see a fresh empty packet dropped somewhere, I always plunder it for modelling goodness before putting it in the bin and tut-tutting... See that tiny splash of red, buried deep in the guts of the thing, in the angle of the two insulated pipes? That's the distributor, properly wired with six plug leads, all going to the right places on the cylinder heads... At least I'll know it's there....

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It's now a bit of a 3D puzzle. The instructions would have you add the firewall to the cockpit, but I can't see any reason why I can't complete the engine bay with four walls at this stage. The piping on the blue tank and coming out of the firewall are is new -- a combination of fuse wire, aluminium tube and rubbery jewellery elastic. The two insulated wires coming out of the right hand wall have to wrap around the back of the connector on top of the blue tank, so that corner has to get done first. I have no idea where to finish them off -- somewhere down in front of the engine. Equally, I'm not sure where the pipes from the front of the engine terminate, so they'll just get lost in the spaghetti junction of the firewall. The two insulated pipes coming over the left of the engine terminate in that black box on the wall -- that one I CAN see in my pictures. There's probably rather less than half the plumbing of the real thing, but it'll look busy enough I reckon...

Time to try a test fit! Wish me luck!

bestest,
M.
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mattbacon
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

And here we go... after much cursing and swearing, and a lengthy period holding stuff together because there's no clamp in the world the right shape...

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The chassis should come together pretty quickly now, I hope...

bestest,
M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by JamesPerrin »

Probably your best power unit so far. What is the strange black structure over the gear box? I'm guessing it's ...erm structural.
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mattbacon
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

JamesPerrin wrote:Probably your best power unit so far. What is the strange black structure over the gear box? I'm guessing it's ...erm structural.
Thanks, James... I think it's some kind of serious torque tube/girder. The "engine bay walls" are part of the main aluminium chassis/tub that runs from one end of the car to the other; the black parts are two webbed cross-members with that chunky right angle in the middle, onto which the engine and gear box are mounted. The engine really more or less hangs from them, held on by the gear box -- there's nothing structural under the front end of the engine, where the all the pulleys are. It's a little overscale in thickness, but not much, which makes me think it's more than just a way of dividing up the engine bay!

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M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Great piece of work.

Nigel
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

...and now the chassis is coming together...

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...with a bit of luck, the lid will be on this weekend. I've found a solution for the sun-roof, I think...

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M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

This is it for the rolling chassis:

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If you look really closely, you might spot the teeny-tiny Jaguar heads on the wheel nuts. Or you might not. Looks like I need to check the tracking... either one front wheel is on loose, or the steering link came off one of the wheel carriers while I was putting the wheels in place -- a tight fit!

Currently faffing about with the windows...

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M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

Body is making progress...

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None of the windows are fixed in place yet. I'll post a bit more detail next time, but I think it is possible to get the rear screen to open safely if you open up the slots for the pins on the hinges, so that the window can move backwards a bit once you've popped it slightly open, and then rotate above and over the rear edge of the sunroof. It has rails on each side and the louvres behind (and gravity) to hold it in the right place when closed, so it doesn't matter if the hinge is a bit sloppy.

And I couldn't resist this:

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The rear louvres (just like the X framework over the engine) are the original black plastic, polished. I think one of the tricks with cars is to get as many different finishes as possible on the black bits, to give the impression of all the different materials used in real life...

bestest,
M
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Looking real nice.

Nigel
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by Dazzled »

Looking awesome. Great work on the engine bay in particular 8-)
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mattbacon
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

Thanks! On the home straight now:

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With a bit of luck, and some extra supplies I've just mail-ordered, it should be finished this week...

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M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

A quick gallop down the final straight now (yeah, right...)

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I used real glass tinting film for the sunroof, and it worked pretty well. And before anybody comments, I know the wing mirrors aren't symmetrical -- apparently the design around the A-pillars means that the driver's side needs to be forward, while they look into the passenger side through the quarter light.

Last glimpse of the interior details

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And together at last:
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The fit's OK, but there are no positive locations for anything, and getting the simple hinge mechanism for the headlight covers into the right place as you bring the body and chassis together is a barrel of laughs.

Proper final pictures when the weather permits...

All in all, an enjoyable build of a pretty good kit.

bestest,
M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Great work on a nice looking Jaguar.

Nigel
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by mattbacon »

OK... this one is now done!

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All the pictures were done in exactly the same lighting. The difference is the tone of the card background -- the "brighter" shots later were taken on dark grey card, the earlier ones on a more neutral grey. It helps explain why pictures of a "Brooklands Green" XJ220 can look like anything from almost British Racing Green to zingy turquoise (check out "DK Engineering XJ220" to see the inspiration for this build...)

Thanks for watching!

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M.
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Re: Jaguar XJ220 -- Tamiya, 1/24

Post by JamesPerrin »

It's a super car Matt!
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