Minicraft SS100 Jaguar (1/16th)

[Jim R]

Hi all
Inspired by the cars I have seen built on this forum I thought I'd have a go at one. The SS100 is one of my dream cars and if I ever had £250,000+ going spare I would buy one. The car was built between 1936 and 1941. The SS is reckoned to stand for Swallow Sidecars and the 100 is the theoretical top speed. In 1945 the company dropped the SS in favour of Jaguar for obvious reasons.
The kit I have is from Minicraft. It is out of production, rather old, has terrible reviews and, if you can find it, stupidly expensive. Since opening the box and making a start I can add - hopeless instructions and poor fitting parts. I was actually very lucky, or unlucky, to have the winning eBay bid and it came delivered for just over £30.
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One strange thing is that the sprues are different colours. Mostly for no apparent reason. Does make for a colourful build though. Lots of pin marks and mould slippage. I started with the engine.
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In the last photo the three holes under the rocker cover should have been the same size. For some reason two were oversize and so had to be filled and re-drilled.

One sprue is 'chromed'. Looking at it many of the parts will need the chrome stripping off and repainting in a more 'scale like' aluminium finish. Any suggestions for stripping the parts and what metallic paint to use would be much appreciated.

I hope some of you may feel this is worth following. If for no other reason than to get a good laugh and learn some colourful language!!
Jim

[Dave Ward]

Brave man Jim!
Removing chrome? Fairy Power Spray. Put the bits/sprues in a good quality polybag, after spraying with FPS. Leave. After a day or so - wash thoroughly, maybe using a stiff brush for the corners - repeat if there are still traces of chrome. Don't let the thing dry out - it only works whilst it's wet.
I've had good results with Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium, or Dull Aluminium. At 1/16 scale good surface preparation will be paramount
Good Luck
Dave

[Steve O]

Jim i am sure you will master it and show it who's the boss, my motto is if it don't fit make it, i look forward to seeing how you get on with it.

Good luck Steve.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Jim
Another call for chrome removal is household bleach. A soak in a plastic container will lift the part absolutely clean in minutes. Rinse well afterwards though and be sensible about splashes, drips etc.
For repaint alclad is my paint of choice, because it has the finest pigment I think...clean up and prime the part, then polish with fine abrasive paper from someone like Albion alloys, then paint in gloss black. Once the black is dry sparingly paint with alclad chrome and you will be amazed with the result.....
I might be wrong, but didn’t matchbox make a smaller scale one of these?
Cheers
Tim

[Dave Ward]

Tim,
I have to agree that Alclad is superb - the downside for me is that the stink makes me nauseous!! I may just be sensitive to the fumes, but I can't use it. :disappointed2: The Vallejo stuff is water based, and doesn't give the same problem
Dave

[Tim Marlow]

Agree Dave, i5 does stink. I don’t use it without a good respirator, it is basically cellulose paint such as that which was used to paint cars such as the SS 100...but then I use Mr Colour levelling thinners as well, which is almost as bad.
Tim

[Jim R]

Hi All
Dave, Tim and Steve - welcome to the madhouse. Dave and Tim thanks for the advice - noted :thumb2:
Did a bit of an experiment with chrome removal. Used some of the sprue edge and tried soaking in Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner, bleach, lacquer thinner, Jeyes Fluid, nail polish remover (acetone) and Fairy Power Spray. The Mr M and the FPS worked well within a couple of hours. The bleach worked a bit. The thinner, acetone and Jeyes fluid did nowt!! Although I did get a rollocking from the missus for stinking out the kitchen with the Jeyes Fluid!
On with the Jaguar. It really is a hopeless kit. Lots of filling and fettling needed. Made some progress on the engine.
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The carburetors fouled the water manifold and so had to have bits of plastic added to move them out slightly.
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The dipstick was so badly moulded I gave up and replaced it. Probably not accurate.
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Made a start on wiring up the distributor to join with the plugs and coil.
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This is going to be painfully slow and may not make it to the finish in the end!! :rolling:
Jim

[Dave Ward]

John,
The colour doesn't help - as soon as you can get a coat of primer over everything it'll look a lot better :rolling:. It may be a bit premature, but do the wire wheels look anything like?
Dave

[SimonT]

Hi Jim

I made the Matchbox 1/32 version many many moons ago

JIF cream cleaner used to be my chrome remover of choice when I did a few cars and bikes

Have a look at C1 Metalizer for shiny finish

I hope you are going to make some spoked wheels for it

As a cheaper option for a real one you could always get a Suffolk SS replica - they are only around 40-50 grand or so :smiling:

Those SU carbs look a little lacking in detail for the scale

[PaulTRose]

shall be following this since ive had the same kit in the stash fo about 12 years and still not got round to it

[Steve Jones]

Just arrived in time. I know nothing of car models so I will sit and watch on avidly as you cast your magic over this lovely looking kit. Good luck:thumb2:

[Jim R]

Hi all
Dave - I am sure you are right. The multi coloured look is quite distracting. It is rather too hot to spray primer at present. The wheels are not too bad.
Simon - I think I will go with the kit wheels. The kit is not worth the effort of trying to make my own and I don't have your skill or trained spiders. One or two companies make replica SS100s but I think I'll save for a genuine one :rolling: Carbs are very poor but will have to do.
Paul - a good plan would be to leave it in the stash for another 12 years. It is pretty hopeless.
Steve - it will never make an accurate, detailed model but can perhaps be made into an OK representation.

Engine finished and ready for primer - just too hot at the moment. Drilling the spark plugs was fun!!
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I have made a start on cleaning up the chassis parts. Just planning how to ensure it glues all square as the glue points/locating points are quite vague.
Jim

[SimonT]

Just noticed the US spelling of litre on the side of the block - seems unlikely :thinking:

Good luck with the chassis alignment

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
The 3 1/2 liter is now no more - sanded off. Reference pictures do not show it on the block anyway. Also I think that the kit engine is closer to the look of the more common 2 1/2 litre engine. I doubt it would have shown as even if the bonnet is displayed open it was low down on the far side. Anyway gone now :thumb2:
Chassis is glued and drying at the moment. To keep everything as square as I could I made a sort of jig. Taped squared paper onto a steel sheet and held all the bits in place with magnets and glued it. I'll give it an hour or so and then turn it over and wick some cement into the joints from the other side.
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Jim

[stillp]

Interesting technique, I'll have to remember that one!

Pete