SEPECAT Cheetah (like a Jaguar, only faster)

[Devilfish]

In the 1970's the Royal navy replaced it's last two aircraft carriers with 2 ex-USN Forrestal class supercarriers, fitted with British systems.
To supplement them, Centaur Class carriers were upgraded to carry support aircraft for assault missions.  The Royal Navy needed a modern, fast, capable, light attack aircraft to fly from these carriers.  After looking at what America had to offer, BAe came forward with a proposal to modify the SEPECAT Jaguar for carrier use.
The French had already tested the Jaguar M and although good in many respects, it didn't have the margin or safety that the Navy required.
To cope with the short deck take off and landings, the Jaguar's wing was too small and it didn't have enough power.
To remedy this, it was proposed to fit the new RB199's that had been developed for the MRCA Tornado, and to take the same aircraft's swing wing and transplant it to the Jaguar airframe.
To aid with finding targets at sea, a radar was fitted in place of the LRMTS of the RAF version.

I'm starting with this as a base.....the lovely Esci Jaguar GR.1



Test fitting the Tornado wings to see if they'll even look right....


I sliced off the wing gloves from the Tonka



Then cut slots into the fuselage



And attached the lower section to work from..



I'll need to do some trimming to get them to function properly....

[Dizzyfugu]

That looks interesting - I also have a VG Jaguar on the agenda, but rather with MiG-23/27 wings. 

[DogfighterZen]

What a great idea, following this one with a lot of interest!

[Mossie]

Nice idea.  Kind of an Anglo-French MiG-27.

[PR19_Kit]

Magic stuff, I like everything about this idea, especially the name. 

[sandiego89]

Brave surgery!  I hope the patient survives it well 

[Weaver]

Loads of mileage in this one.  

I too have a Jaguar on the list, but it's a Grumman-HSA Jaguar, tentatively slated to have an F11 Tiger front end on a MiG-23 body if it's to be swing wing, but that isn't firm yet.

[Devilfish]

It's strange how the whiffing process hits you.  I bought a second Jaguar the other day, so thought what could I do with this one? A few ideas went through my head, nothing major, just colour changes.  Then I started thinking about the Jaguar M, and how or if the RN would have been interested in it.  In my whif-world the RN buys ex Forrestal class carriers to replace Ark and Eagle, so tbh, there would be no use for them there, as they have all bases covered.
But....if some of the old Centaur class (Hermes etc) were developed into support carriers for smaller operations or land assaults, then a Jag would be useful.
Next problem is the Jags terrible lack of power and small wing, not being great for carrier safety.  RB199s were the obvious answer, and a bigger wing.  But a bigger wing creates drag, as well as bad low level handling.....so......swing wings....
Problem solved.

[NARSES2]

Impressive surgery 

I like this idea 

[zenrat]

Mmmmmm, Jaguar...

[Captain Canada]

Love the look of this one, great start and a great idea !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq_2lmCXeDk

[Devilfish]

I've had to do a fair bit of trimming of the wing internals to get them to fit and work inside the slender Jaguar fuselage.  I also had to move the tie bar holes and make a new tie bar.  Luckily, I got it right first go....

[Dizzyfugu]

That looks pretty cool. What stabilizers will be mounted? OOB Jag''s or (clipped) Tornado parts?

[Devilfish]

Standard Jag parts.  I want to keep as much Jag as I can.  Having said that, I'm still deciding about the undercarriage, as it has to be "carrier-capable"

[Gondor]

For the M version of the Jaguar I think the main undercarriage was almost the same but with single wheels on the outside. I can't remember what was done with the nose wheel.
I do have a reference where someone built a 1/48 M which I intend to use as a guide for the conversion of an old Airfix 1/72 Jaguar, just don't have the article at hand to give a better answer.

Just found this page on the web.

Gondor