For the first time in some years, Jaguar enthusiasts will now be able to cheer on an officially-backed Jaguar. The XKR GT3 retains the same supercharged, 4.3 litre quad-cam V8 engine as the road going car. The rules allow for alterations to some key components on the basis of durability required for high performance racing. A powerful version of Jaguar’s road going XKR, the XKR GT3 races in the FIA GT3 championship against the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Lamborghini and BMW. The large rear wing and front splitter enable the Jaguar to generate massive downforce, meaning that the car can corner at speeds far in excess of a standard road car.
- Model Scale 1:32
- Number of Parts 44
- Dimensions (mm)Â L190 x W145
- Paint Scheme – No.33, Apex Motorsport, Le Mans, GT3, 2008
- MSRPÂ $12.99 USD
- Curbside chassis, cockpit with roll cage, injection-molded wheels/tires, and rear wing.
- Decals and color painting guide for a single vehicle – includes sponsor logos and full Jaguar racing livery.
- Also available as Starter Set for $16.99 USD.
Here is a plastic model kit that you might have seen at your local hobby shop or who knows if it has been suggested to you at check out on your favorite model kit web store. I present you the 1/32Â Airfix Jaguar XKR GT3 model kit.
The 1/32 Jaguar XKR GT3 from Airfix is a very basic model in terms of part count. Yet it has enough parts along surface detail to make this a very nice and presentable model at this scale.  The main body structure is molded very clean with no filling required. On the other hand, my copy had no flash but in most parts the molding line was bothersome.
The tires are molded to the wheels. Get ready to clean off the mould line. I used a piece of wet/dry #400 grit sandpaper. Wet in my opinion does work better than dry. Once the tires got their mould lines removed, I proceeded to cover the entire front tire/wheel with Tamiya 16mm masking Tape. With a fresh #11 blade, I gently used the wheel lips as a guides to cut around the tape and create masks. The masks were removed, and the wheels painted with Tamiya Gloss White X-2. Once dried, the mask were added again to mask the wheels and the tires painted with Tamiya NATO Black XF-69 using my A470 Aztek Airbrush.
Since the car was to be painted in a deep Charcoal Gray color, I decided to use Testors Blazing Black 3oz. Aerosol Lacquer. It has a high sheen finish straight out of the can, dries in 20 minutes and decals can be added without the need of a gloss coat. I don’t know where Airfix is getting these decals from to give credit where credit is due. I was imppressed by the GREAT quality of this decal sheet. There is no noticeably transparency or color bleeding from one sponsor logo to the next. Reds are reds and whites remain white even on a dark background color. Kudos to Airfix!
While working on this kit, I lost the left rear view mirror to the carpet monster. I requested the part from Airfix in UK and in less than 10 days a replacement mirror was in our mailbox.
Yes, there are some moulding lines to deal with in smaller parts. But fortunately this is not a high parts count model kit so you can prep those part while watching an episode of your favorite show. This entry was drafted a few weeks ago. Shortly after taking the pictures, the antenna on the roof was modified and replaced with brass wire.
Definetely the 1/32 Jaguar XKR GT3 is a very fun kit to build. It has a killer look next to my Tamiya 1/32 F-16J Falcon on my shelf.
Highly recommended!
