Kit Review - Revell 1/24 Jaguar XK-E (E-Type)

I've actually had this particular kit in the stash for a couple of years now, bought well before Junior's Hobbies was even a thing, but I was so impressed with the quality, I ordered a couple when I opened the shop.  You can buy one here if you'd like.

It's a re-boxed, North American version of the Revell Germany E-Type (hence the XK-E moniker), so it comes with a full-colour instruction booklet that is quite easy to follow.  

It also includes a rather extensive, Italian-printed decal sheet with license plate options for eleven different countries, as well as either metric or imperial gauges. The decals, by the way, are high-quality and pretty easy to work with, although I'd recommend using DecalSet or a similar decal solvent for some of the smaller bits, like the gearshift.

The kit contains 142 pieces, which is above average for a kit this scale.  The casting is virtually flawless, thanks to all-new tooling from only a few years ago.  There were only a few minimal part lines to deal with, and every piece is crisp and well-detailed.

It is moulded in red and grey, with clear and plated parts and realistic rubber tires (or "tyres" as the Brits call them!)

The only real weak spot are the wheels; they are moulded spoke wheels that look rather flat unless you hit them with a flat black wash.  They look great after a wash, but it would have been nice to have maybe a two-piece spoke wheel to get that true depth.  Even better, why not include a set of the Dunlop steelies that look so good on this car?

Assembly was challenging in the best possible meaning of the word.  Parts fit together excellently without much in the way of tweaking, but there are a lot of parts and some of them are quite small.  My tweezers got a good workout, and I actually broke out my 10/0 paintbrush for a lot of the paint work.

A lot of the finer detail comes from those aforementioned decals, which not only replicate the gauges, badges, and underhood labels, but also things like the fins on the alternator or the mesh on the air cleaner.  Even the chrome strips in the trunk (or "boot," you cheeky Brits!} can be replicated with decals.  (I used a Molotow chrome pen instead, but that's because I spent good money for it so I use it as often as possible.)

The final result speaks for itself.  Fit and finish are excellent, and the finished car is just as heart-achingly beautiful as the real deal.

The bottom line?  Heck, I'm a hobby shop owner and I paid retail price to own this kit!  If you are a fan of the E-Type, or if you want to build something challenging, engaging, and downright fun, the Revell E-Type is a great kit.