An interesting vintage kit

[44DHR]

I recently came across this large 1/8 scale Japanese E type kit, obviously aimed at the US market as a Jaguar XK-E. It is by IMAI Kagaku Co Ltd and the very solid cardboard box has some great period pictures and details on and around the sides and talks of changes to the XKE in the fall of 1967?, whereas this clearly is a Series 1 4.2 litre, right down to the toggle switches on the dash. That is the only reference to a date, but the guy had bought it in 1970 and then started it and stopped in 1974, so it is part assembled. As the box is nearly 3 feet long, it justified a trip over on the car ferry to the mainland for my wife and I to collect it. He assured me it was all complete, which it is, with the majority of the parts on their spurs in the frames. I already have the Revell / Monogram 1/8 scale model kit still not started in the box, but this kit steps it up a gear - literally !!

When I saw the item for sale, I noticed a small round logo on the box which stated that a motor was included, so not only did the bonnet, tail gate and doors open, (the door windows wind up and down) - it moved !! The box when examined stated a two speed motor, working lights, (it has it?s own wiring loom), working metal steering and sprung suspension. There are a large number of metal parts in the kit for the working parts, including front dampers with hidden internal metal springs and rear suspension on 4 metal sprung coilovers.

On arriving home I opened the box and checked through the parts looking for the electric motor. Being a man, I obviously did not check the instruction book first and was worried when I saw no sign of the motor. Finally, on consulting the book and seeing the guy had correctly followed the instructions to start to build up the mechanical parts first, the electric motor is hidden internally inside the plastic XK engine block. The final two photos show the postion of the hidden motor and wires leading to it. The motor shaft is in the correct starter motor position and drives out into the clutch bellhousing, through a metal reduction box inside there and out through the gearbox using a metal drive propshaft internally in the correct propshaft tunnel. This couples to a metal drive gear in the diff and out via metal driveshafts to the rear wheels. How good is that !! The two big D type batteries sit in the rear parcel area under a cover accessed by the opening rear hatch, with the two switches underneath the car.

The body is presently just loosely sat on the chassis. The detail is quite incredible and even the oil filler cap on the camshaft cover has it's knurled edge and Jaguar inset script. I think I will be needing a new 1/8 scale fan belt shortly !! Check out the dipstick in a couple of photos and the battery, heater grill, fuel filter and oil filter housing. Does anyone else have this kit as I think this is going to become another E type project for me to complete ?

Regards,

Dave

[PeterCrespin]

It's a 3.8 (servo, washer and brake bottles, inlet manifold) but what a kit!

Hopefully you can get the engine out to paint the frames and bulkhead body colour.

Pete

[ChrisC]

Oh Wow.... I would love to have found that kit... although I would have to respray it to look like my car :)

[44DHR]

Pete,
You are absolutely right of course. I have been mis-sold a 3.8 badged as a 4.2. They even have the cheek to include a tiny chrome 4.2 badge in the kit, but I don't think I will be asking for my money back !!! I was looking through the kit today and found that even the rear discs have brake calipers and the handbrake mechanisms, (no they don't work - that would be pushing it too far!!), but once the rear cage is assembled, you can't even see this level of detail. It even comes with a black circular Jaguar tax disc holder decal for inside the windscreen.

Yes that is the intent - to unpick what has been done, get the engine out, check the motor and wiring over and paint up the frames. Even the frames and underside moulding are moulded in a flat matt black finish, just ready to paint up.

Chris,
The body is the last fitment and once I have fitted the doors and glazing complete with winding mechanism, I would paint the body to match the bulkhead and frames.

This may be a long term project for wet Sundays like today !!
Cheers,
Dave

[MarkE]

I think that we're all a bit jealous now, Dave!

Do you think that it uses the original moulds from the Revel kit, beefed up and detailed, or is it entirely new?

Love the photo of the box in the back of your car...that gives a good idea of the size!

[Tony]

Are you going to covert it to a right hand drive, uprated the brakes and put in electronic ignition. I would also recommend a Kenlow fan, they overheat something terrible?. Look out for rust in the cills.

[vee12eman]

Hi Dave,

A little research seems to indicate this kit was originally a Bandai kit, and the more recent Monogram kit was developed from it, although simplified and for some reason the opening tailgate deleted. I built the Monogram kit years ago, sadly It didn't make it to Australia with me, but an even more recent (unbuilt) kit did, in the form of the Revell 1/8th scale kit, which is currently awaiting me to start building, although it has been in this state for several years now.

The Revell kit was definitely developed from the Monogram kit, sadly, a few features were deleted, mostly to do with the rear axle, which originally had a steel insert, but has been changed to what seems to be an inferior design - I'll know when I eventually build it!

If it really is the original, then despite it's age, it will be better than a Revell or Monogram kit because the parts are taken from younger, unworn moulds. Good luck with it and I would be very interested in seeing it throughout the build.

Regards,

Simon

[Heuer]

The famous Monogram 1/8th FHC kits appear fairly frequently but they take some building! Here's mine filling the boot of my OTS:


And here is one built by someone who knows what they are doing:


If you just want to go part of the way you can buy a 1/8th scale XK engine - kits appear on Bay:
A 1/8 scale 3.8 XK engine kit:



More on the various E-Type kits here: http://etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1038

[PeterCrespin]

So if the 1/8 car and engine kits are accurate and to scale, you ought to be able to convert the Monogram to triple Webers.

It would save having to fit the missing rear hose on the Monogram, since the engine model has a D-type manifold without the heater feed. No thermostat either, so it would be a chilly driver.

Pete

[Heuer]

You can buy the 44 piece XK kit here for $100: http://www.tdrcatalog.com/servlet/the-1 ... ish/Detail

It is not aimed at beginners though so expect to do a fair bit of scratch building to get it looking like the picture. You could probably fit it into the Monogram kit but it would be easier to scratch build any missing parts into the car.

More pictures of the 'properly built' Monogram kits here: http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/lar ... ogram.html

and here: http://www.scalemotorcars.com/content.p ... r#comments

I believe the first 1/8 kit was produced by Monogram in 1964 and re-released in 1984 and again in the 90's. The first Monogram kit did not have an opening tailgate. Revell then acquired the moulds and added an opening tailgate, windows and more detail. Kits were also produced by Bandai and Imai who seem to have acquired the moulds from Monogram but went on to add even more detail.

[Heuer]

Incidentally this one was for sale on eBay a few months ago although it did not sell for the asking price of ?750.




And this is what he is working on next:





Plenty of inspiration there Dave!

[44DHR]

Plenty of inspiration thanks Heuer !! I seem to have started something here as I did not realise how serious the motor modelling world is out there.

Mark, I am lucky to also have an unassembled Revell 1/8 scale E type model - and no - the mouldings are completely different. Although the body moulding and bonnet is the same colour, it appears thicker and stronger than the Revell kit with completely different and cleaner mould lines. The bonnet is in one piece with the undertray already in place, to make a neater model, but obviously harder to produce in one piece. One of the criticisms by the modelling community of the Revell kit is the moulding joint along under the front scuttle by the A post, a point the IMAI kit gets over by continuing the sill all the way along. Similarly the rear of the body is moulded in one piece with no join under the rear bumper line - again harder to mould.

All the parts trees are different and numbered clearer and differently to the Revell kit. Even the tyres are different, solid soft rubber Firestones for the Japanese model as opposed to the thin hollow Revell?s Goodyears. I assume this because of the weight of the model as once the two D type batteries are loaded in the rear and with the metal content, it is quite a heavy kit.

There is quite a following for the Revell kit and several interesting forums for avid modellers to compare build details. Some of these guys work is quite outstanding and I guess the larger scale gives them more scope to excel. I could take some inspiration for my car in miniature right down to the exact colour based on a Revell kit by an Italian modeller. http://modelrossi.jimdo.com/gallery-jag ... -8-revell/ . WIth Heuers post about the triple weber XK engine, I could really start to build a replica of my own car along the lines of Tony and Pete's suggestions.

Full marks go to Simon for correctly identifying it is a Bandai model - or more importantly - my IMAI model became the Bandai model as with further research I found out that IMAI Kagaku Co Ltd went bankrupt and Bandai bought their moulds. By going on the modelling sites I now see the reverence the modellers hold the Bandai 1/8 scale E Type. One post in 2003 said that they saw a Bandai 1/8 scale E type sell on Ebay for almost $1,000 in 2002 and he had only ever seen one other there for sale. If as it appears I have an early version of the Bandai, I think I will start to handle it with kid gloves !!!

Thanks for all your posts and great information about another side to our fantastic cars. As the box says in the first photo, "A special kind of motoring which no other car in the world can offer".
They got that right!!
regards, Dave

[Heuer]

Dave

This is on eBay at the moment. Looks like a Bandai kit modified for r/c.

Out of interest has your kit got the white wall tyres? As far as I can tell only the Bandai had them and not the Monogram/Revell.

[44DHR]

Heuer,

I can pretty much confirm this model is not a 1/8 scale Bandai E type, but appears to be a heavily modified 1/8 scale Monogram/Revell E Type kit.

To answer your question on the whitewalls, yes the Bandai kit did have whitewall tyres and appeared to come painted already. Note these tyres are solid soft foam rubber and not hollow like the Monogram/Revell kit. Note the Firestone detailing in the photos below.

The reason I think this is a Monogram/Revell is the many photos in the Ebay listing, the one showing the front lower scuttle and floor which has exactly the same casting details as well as the black front scuttle details. The Bandai kit does not have a seperate front scuttle as the bonnet is moulded in one complicated piece. Also the Bandai has the radio aerial on the nearside, whereas the M/R kit is on the offside. Finally, the Bandai has a larger opening rear hatch to accomodate the hidden two large D type batteries, so is not so accurate as the M/R kit in that aspect.

I was lucky recently to get an old 26 page full colour highly detailed Bandai 70's catalogue on eBay, (and that was a hard fought battle down to the last few seconds with some determined modellers), to go with my model. The catalogue is fascinating in as much as the obscure models that Bandai produced. Many old vintage cars, then such models as the Lamborghini Marzal, the Lamborghini Silhouette, the De Tomaso Mangusta and the Alfa Romeo 1600 Scarabeo. The Catalogue photo shows the 1/8 scale E type kit, but whoever assembled it could have done a better job with such a fine kit as it appears very nose heavy and the front indicators need a tweek level.

My view on the model presently on eBay, is that he is being somewhat optimistic on the ?199.99 starting price as this is basically a heavily modified fairly common model kit, stripped of all it's really interesting engine and chassis detail and covered in hideous period Guards cigarette stickers - very subtle !!! Still, good luck to him as it has the magic "vintage" word in the advert heading, so people will be interested, not knowing our new found knowledge in the modeller's world.

Cheers,

Dave
S1 67 FHC

[44DHR]

If anyone is interested, there is one of these kits on Ebay at the moment with an interesting price tag and description. I note when I looked there were 32 people watching the model to see what it goes for.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPER-RARE-VI ... 338583c553

I certainly have not seen any others come up for sale and this is the later Bandai marketed model who took over the IMAI company when they went bust.

regards,

Dave
1967 Series 1 4.2 FHC , (plus an IMAI 1/8 scale model - now under lock and key !!!)

[44DHR]

Interestingly - or not !! - the eBay listing ended today.

The seller wanted US$ 1,100.00 for the Bandai E type. There were 11 offers made, 3 of which were made seperately at US $1,000.00 which the seller declined, I guess in the hope of getting more before the listing ended.

The listing was viewed by 587 people.

Regards,

Dave
Series 1 4.2 FHC

[Heuer]

How are you getting along with your kit Dave?

[44DHR]

David, I don't think I dare touch it now !!

No - it is safely stored away in the E type model collection store waiting for when I get bored in my old age. Plenty to be getting on with the real E Type as I've just laid it up for the winter months.

I'm presently building a XK engine storage cradle as I don't want to leave my spare re-built engine hanging on an engine stand and it deserves better than sitting on its sump on my old cut down supermarket trolley !!
Pictures to follow when completed and fitted.

regards,

Dave
1967 Series 1 4.2 FHC