Part 7: Corgi Toys Jaguar XJ12C Conversion

Crafting Exterior Components for the Corgi Jaguar XJ12C

In this part I want to highlight some of the smaller items I need to make for this corgi model. Items like two outside exhaust pipes, a wiper for the windscreen, front scuttle air vent, ignition cut off switch and two fuel filler caps all for the outside.

Interior Modifications for the Jaguar XJ12C

Inside the car there will be a heavily modified seats moulding, a new steering wheel, a modified dashpanel, a rear view mirror and a roll cage.

Picture 1 shows the interior painted matt black but minus the front passenger seat back but with the roll cage in place.

Picture 1 – The Seats and Roll Cage

The roll cage was simply some alloy rod bent to shape and superglued to a strip of plasticard glued along the top of the cut down rear seat back. It was also secured to the top edge of the sides above the rear seat.

Dash Panel and Steering Wheel for the Jaguar XJ12C

The dash panel has a huge square box (again more plasticard sheet) stuck to its facia to represent the engine cover and yes, it really did encroach into the driver’s compartment as you can see in picture 2.

Picture 2 – Interior Modifications

The steering wheel was fairly ok as I found it, but I did glue a small metal washer to the centre that made it look more like the racing wheel in the real car. An interior rear view mirror was another small piece of plasticard glued to a small section of plastic rod then glued to the model’s original glazing moulding which again could be used as it was a component good enough to re-use in the rebuilt model. To represent the actual glass mirror effect, I used a piece of chrome sticky tape.

Some basic painting on the dashboard for the dials and switches completed this part of the model.

Adding Exhaust Pipes and Exterior Details to the Corgi Jaguar XJ12C

Moving on to the exterior, an exhaust pipe was mounted on each sill under the bottom edge of the doors. One exhaust was made up of seven separate parts consisting of four lengths of electrical wire placed into one end of some plastic tubing. Some single strands of electrical wire were used to tie around the tubing in an effort to make them look like metal clips. The finished exhaust can be seen in picture 3.

Picture 3 – Exhaust Pipe Detail

Headlamps and Wheels for the Corgi Jaguar XJ12C

The headlamps are the original items from the model before I started work but were enhanced by making small circles of chrome wire and for the safety aspect, four tiny strips of black tape stuck on in a cross as shown in picture 4.
Picture 4 – Headlamp Enhancements

The wheels are in fact from a Scalextric car which are technically 1/32 scale but when offered up to the model, they were the perfect size so when fitted onto the right length metal axles, they filled the wheel arches nicely. Each wheel had a minor addition of some plastic rod cut to represent a large single wheel nut similar to the type used on Formula 1 car wheels then painted silver.
Now most of the inside and the outside is very nearly complete. The next instalment will be some painting!