Italeri has re-released its SEPECAT Jaguar yet again, this time with decals for mostly special schemes, as CHRIS CLIFFORD reports.
It’s surely a bone of contention for Jaguar fans that there is still no truly accurate, modern 1/72 tooling of this famous ground-attack jet. Italeri’s iteration (1459), first issued in RAF GR.1 format in 1996, does have good points… but various problems too.
Don’t get me wrong… it’s fine for the youngster or novice who doesn’t particularly care about the subtle nuances of the airframe, but just wants to gain build experience and have fun. More experienced modellers, though, have their work cut out in some respects. Italeri’s panel line engraving is actually rather fine overall, although there are some errors in placement/omission of individual panels.
Above and below: Italeri's modular fuselage/nose arrangement, produced to accommodate a separate French airframe boxing, means the fit is slightly troublesome in places.
Structurally, and in terms of finer detail, Italeri dropped the ball or didn’t think about ‘future-proofing’. Firstly, the instrument panel is not an accurate portrayal of that fitted to the earlier GR.1, and definitely not for RAF Jaguars subject to the upgrades in 1995 and 1997, the…
