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BG Jaguar XKR Roadster (Die Another Day)

5K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  DiecastX 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
To carry on with the theme of James Bond, my next review is for the Jaguar XKR Roadster by the Beanstalk Group.

Like the Beanstalk Group's Aston Martin Vanquish, the Jaguar XKR Roadster is made by Minichamps/the Beanstalk Group in conjunction with the Ford Motor Company and the producers of Die Another Day and as a result, this particular model is based on the General Zao's car that has enough armoury to equip a small army. Surprisingly, Bond is outgunned by Zao but Bond has intelligence and skill on his side.



One curious comment about this model. It looks very much like it is based on Maisto's version of the XKR Convertible as the size is virtually identical and several other details are consistent with Maisto's own XKR model. See for yourself on Ronan's page about Maisto's XKR here @
http://www.iol.ie/~donohoer/0Jaguar_XKR_Co...Convertible.htm

PAINT
The emerald green paint is very well applied and there are no unpainted areas. The paint is also evenly applied (no areas painted are more or less painted than others). As with the Vanquish, there are is no easy way to tell the difference between the painted plastic parts or the painted metal parts just by looking. For a budget model, the paint quality is extraordinary.
7/8

EXTERIOR
Correctly, the model is to scale and surprisingly heavy at 780 grams. The proportions are very good but the excessively large wheels (see later) make the car sit too high so its ground-hugging demeanour is not as menacing as that of the real car. The panel gaps are tight although not as fine as those on the Vanquish. Most of the exterior weapons are included (see the following pictures)

Moving two switches beneath the front of the car lower the outer air intakes and the 18 rockets are brandished. As you'd expect the grille isn't perforated but the mesh is simulated by fine paint lines. The bottom half of each door lowers to reveal the sidewinder missiles. Even though they aren't painted and labelled to look just like those in the real car, this is only a budget model so exquisite detail is not expected.
The Jaguar badges aren't decals but rather raised surfaces in the metal painted to look like genuine badges and if you look closely enough you will be able to read "Jaguar" and "Supercharged" on the front and rear badges. The air vents on the engine are nicely rendered and even though they aren't perforated the plastic used is smoky (but you can still see through them) with honeycomb effect to simulate the filters. The lights are pretty good too - they are all plastic pieces (including the central tail light on the trunk), not decals or paint but the tail lights have clearly visible mounting posts. The only weapon and defense that aren't present on the model are the twin battering rams and the bullet-proof screen.
6/8

INTERIOR
The interior is frankly rather dull and dated but this is the case with the real XKR. The controls/buttons on the dashboard/centre console are moulded and painted rather than less expensive (and unsightly) stickers. Like the Vanquish, the use of stickers is limited to just the dials. There may be no carpet/alcantara detail but the floor mats are simulated in the floor mould. The "Recaro" seats are nicely moulded and labelled but despite having seatbelt clips, there are no seatbelts to speak of. The pedals are also well rendered as is the J-gate gearlever. In place of the (puny) rear seats are the two roll hoops and between them is a plastic bar with "Jaguar" marked down the length on both sides which can be removed to reveal the car's infamous Gatling gun. The Gatling gun is mounted on well detailed hinges and it can be lowered/raised and it also rotates 360 degrees. In the trunk are the mortar bombs. They are reasonably detailed but like the sidewinder missiles in the doors, they lack the paint and labelling that the real car's mortar bombs have. Although the interior detail is good, the Vanquish's interior is vastly superior in terms of detail.
6/8

WHEELS & BRAKES
The (correctly) unbranded tyres have the "spikes" nicely simulated and the "spikes" and the connective chains are actually slightly elevated from the rest of the rest of the tyres. However they are too thick and they should be low-profile tyres as opposed to "regular-profile" tyres. The wheel detail is very good too, nicely replicating the style of the wheels on Zao's XKR. The wheel nuts are present as are the Jaguar logos but there is a serious problem: they are far too large - at 31mm in diameter, the model's wheels would be 22 inches in diameter if they were made full-size and the wheels on the real XKR used in the film are highly unlikely to be any more than 19 inches since larger wheels would serious affect the car's handling, especially on the ice surface that the rear cars were driven on in Iceland. The brakes are just as detailed as those on the Vanquish and have the same fault - even though the brake calipers are separately fixed from the brake discs, resulting in the discs rotating with the wheels, the discs themselves are not fully drilled but the holes are moulded in. Because of their being off scale, the wheels will be down-scored.
4/6

ENGINE & UNDERCARRIAGE DETAIL

Although it is clearly based on Maisto's rendition of the engine, the BG's rendition of the engine is much improved over Maisto's own. The detail is finer and there is more labelling in the BG's engine bay. Stickers are also used on the relevant parts of the engine. However, the engine when viewed from above is basically just one or two mouldings but it looks better than most efforts that UT has made. Although the engine bay detail is very good it is rather dull like the interior, the engine bay in the real XKR was never much to look at.
The undercarriage detail is excellent as many of the parts visible are separately done rather than moulded in a single part. Much of the engine and the gearbox can be seen from underneath. You can clearly seen the exhausts running all the way down the middle of the car to the tailpipes at the rear and although the tailpipes aren't completely hollow, the are hollow to a reasonable extent. Even though the suspension is functional, other parts of it are still simulated and it makes the model look more realistic.
6/8

COMPETITION
Obviously as I mentioned before, Maisto also make a "civilian" version of the XKR Convertible but it the quality is not as high as that in the BG's version. Solido also makes the XKR Coupe but again its quality isn't as high as that of the BG's XKR model. However with that said, there is no other manufacturer that makes the Die Another Day version of the XKR.
6/6

DESIRABILITY
The quality of this model is excellent for a model costing less than $35. Finding one won't be much of a problem since they will be available at most toy or model stores. The BG's model wipes the floor with Maisto's and Solido's equivalent models.
5/6

OVERALL
Like the BG's Aston Martin Vanquish, their XKR Roadster is an outstanding model, especially by budget model standards. Like with the Vanquish, this model could have retailed for much more and probably just as many people would have bought it without any qualms (including myself). This is a great model to add to any collection and it is an essential addition to collectors who collect models from movies.

Total Score - 38/50

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G
#2 ·
Great review

Just to clarify though, the alloys on the Bond XKR are the 20 inch detroit BBS split rims that are available as an option on production XK's ( They are still out of scale though, according to your measurements ).

Do maisto do an XKR coupe ??, I thought they just did the convertible and Solido did the coupe ?

It isn't a model I would be buying though, it still looks like a toy rather than a scale model to me ( although to be fair, the full size one looks daft , so I suppose I would feel that any scale model would look equally as daft ).
 
G
#5 ·
I'm not saying it's a bad model, it's just that I wouldn't buy one as I don't care much for the subject.

However, I would give my right arm ( or a spare lung ) for some decent quality modern Jags.

How about if Auto art made the following

2004 XJR ( black with the SVO BBS 20 inchers )
R coupe concept car
XKR-R (SVO model, built to show off 450 brake and 6 speed manual)
2002 S-type R - in Silver
XK180 show car ( The maisto model isn't good enough )

That would be a result !
 
#6 ·
How about if Auto art made the following

2004 XJR ( black with the SVO BBS 20 inchers )
R coupe concept car
XKR-R (SVO model, built to show off 450 brake and 6 speed manual)
2002 S-type R - in Silver
XK180 show car ( The maisto model isn't good enough )

That would be a result !
:iagr: That's a great choice of Jags to make in 1/18 scale :sm: . I'd also like a decent XJ220 as Maisto's is frankly pathetic.
 
G
#8 ·
Darren,

Thanks for the review. I too "had" this model and can agree with everything you pointed out. As mentioned, the dimensions were questionable and didn't do the model justice. Overall, BG did a nice job on this model.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
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