Hasegawa 1/72 Jaguar E "French AF 30th Anniversary"

The Jaguar was a cooperative venture between the French andBritish aerospace industries to produce a tactical strike fighter. Both Dassaultand Bae were involved in the design of the plane and they are remarkablysimilar, differing only in specific equipment desired by the separate air arms.In total, a few over 400 aircraft were built, with half going to the French AFand half to the RAF. There were also a small number supplied to Nigeria, Omanand Ecuador.

Prototypes flew in 1968 with first training units getting theiraircraft in late 1973. Production for the RAF ceased in 1977 with 165 singleseat and 35 twin seat aircraft being delivered. Over the years, they haveundergone the usual modification and suffered the usual losses. At one time,there were a total of eight front line squadrons flying the Jaguar in the RAF.These aircraft supplanted Phantom squadrons, with those aircraft replacingLightnings in the air defense role.

As the Tornado came into the force, a number of Jaguar unitswere themselves replaced with the larger swing-wing aircraft. When the Jaguar finally retired a few years back, those few units not completely stood down were to be replaced with Eurofighters.

In France the Jaguar replaced the F-100 units in the strike role. They were operated by EC 7 and EC 11 as well as some test units. Like the British Jaguars, the French ones are either no longer in service, or due to be retired very shortly.

The date on this kit is 1985. Hard to believe that it has been over 20years since this kit first appeared on the shelves. When it appeared back thenit was on the cutting edge of model technology with nicely engraved panel linesand the ability to do several variants. Probably the biggest area where kitshave improved is the interior. This kit is typical of the time (and typical ofmost current Hasegawa 1/72 kits) in that instrument panels and side consoles aredecals. The seat is OK, but a bit plain and the serious modeler will replaceit. 

A very nice touch is that there are both bomb and rocket pods included as weapons for the Jaguar E is fully weapons capable.  As you can see fromthe sprues, there is a separate sprue with the longer two seat nose as well as three drop tanks and the additional seat, pilot and instrument panel needed for this version. The rest of the sprues are identical to the Jaguar A or British GR.1 kit. Generally, the sprues have held up well, though you will find some flash on a few of the parts.

Instructions are typical of Hasegawa kits and are very good. Paint references are for Gunze paints. As many of you know, Hasegawa is known forgetting maximum mileage out of a kit. It does so by basically doing a new decalsheet. When you open the box, you will see the same instruction sheet from 1985with an addendum sheet for the new decals.  These are Hasegawa made decalsand have all the pluses and minuses that accompany that. The plusses are thatthey are well made and in register. The minus is that they are a bit thick. You mustuse very warm to hot water to apply these decals so that they can properlysnuggle down. Using a setting solution can cause major problems (likepermanent wrinkles) so it is not recommended unless you are feeling brave!

Overall,this is a really nice kit. It has been a long time since I built a two seater, but I did do the single seat version a couple of times and it isn't a bad kit at all for its age. I know that there is an Italeri kit of this plane that is years newer in design. Not sure how much better it is as I have not built it. Here are a couple of links to the single seat reviews. 1  2  .

September 2010

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