1:48 Jaguar GR.1 - Seat for Airfix

The Jaguar, from a trainer to an attack aircraft

The British-French program began as a supersonic training aircraft, but the requirements of both air forces turned it during development into a low-flying attack machine with a large external load. The British GR.1 form entered service in the middle of the 1970s, received inertial navigation with a projected sight and became famous for its ability to work from short and unpaved runways. It proved itself patrolling over Central Europe and later over the Persian Gulf and the Balkans, where its toughness and undemanding maintenance under field conditions were valued.

The seat as the dominant feature of a cabin

An ejection seat is the first thing a viewer sees in an open cabin. The casting captures the texture of the upholstery, the cabling, the handles and the small plates which simply do not get into injection-molded plastic at this scale. The fidelity of shape of cast resin has the upper hand here over a divided plastic shell, because it is cast in one piece including the seat-pan cover. The material moreover holds the sharp edges of the frame, which on a thin injection-molded part would necessarily be rounded while being taken out of the mold.

Building it into the kit

The original seat from the fret is taken out whole and the new part is glued in its place, usually after slightly sanding the floor of the tub down. Check the height of the seating, because a seat set too high prevents the canopy from closing. Before painting, wash the casting with warm soapy water and let it dry thoroughly.