1:48 Jaguar GR.1/GR.1a wheel bay for airfixaires

The real subject

The designations Jaguar GR.1 and GR.1a belong to the single-seat attack form of an aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force for strikes against ground targets. The machine came out of a joint British and French program and it shows: it has a high-set wing and tall landing gear that holds it above uneven ground even with stores under the fuselage.

What the set solves

It replaces the wheel bay in 1:48 scale. This is precisely the place handled most sparingly in an injection-molded kit: the bay is shallow, the walls smooth, and no trace is left of the runs of hoses or of the stiffeners in it. Yet on a finished model with the gear down it is visible from close up, and a viewer looks into it as into one of the few open parts of the machine. The replacement part carries a deeper space with detail that an injection mold cannot manage.

Building and painting tips

• Try the seating dry before you remove the corresponding part of the kit.
• Cut the excess material away with a sharp blade a little from the part and sand the remainder down.
• The parts are not of polystyrene; they bond with cyanoacrylate glue.
• Wash and degrease the part before painting, otherwise paint will not hold in the deep places.
• Paint the bay and pick it out with a wash before you close it in with the fuselage; after that you will not reach it.

Who the set is for

For modelers building a model with the gear down who want it to stand being looked at from close up and from below. According to the name it is cut for the Airfix kit; the exact procedure and the extent of the parts are given in the manufacturer's instructions. The kit, paints and glue are not included, unless stated otherwise.