When I decided to recreate the Jaguar used in my all-time favorite movie, "Withnail & I", I ordered a diecast model of the exact year and style: a 1961 Jaguar Mark II. When it arrived in the mail, the model was barely an inch long! Not nearly large enough to work with properly. So I bought this one, which is a 1958 Mark II - but it's a foot long, the doors, bonnet, and boot open and close, and the wheels and steering wheel turn! The only major difference is the back wheel wells - the 1961 has cutout wells that show the entire back wheel, and this one has a more hooded quarter panel that covers the top part of the wheel. I got over it.
The first task was to take that nice shiny finish off. I used steel wool while wearing rubber gloves (don't attempt anything without the gloves!). It was a bastard trying to get that stuff between the headlamps - I used broken swab sticks to push the steel wool around between things.
In this photo you can see I started creating the dents and scratches. Used a screwdriver to carve the dents in - the diecast metal of this car was much too heavy to actually hammer dents in without risking breaking the door hinges and other moving parts.
I was lucky enough to find a model car paint in the exact shade of bluish-grey that Withnail's Jag sports, and matte, too! It looks like shite here because I used the paint for both primer and finish. Took three coats to get it done right. More in some places.
Withnail's Jag, as shown here, had a super-crappy old red leather interior.
Since they don't sell paint in "super-crappy red leather interior" color, I had to mix my own. I used acrylic paints because they dry flat and crappy looking... just what I needed!
The pale beige plastic of the model's seats shone through the red paint, giving me the exact mottled crappy look that I was hoping for!
In many movies, they remove the rear view mirror for easier viewing of characters when filmed from the outside. Bruce Robinson chose to leave the rear view mirror in, so I did too.
In this shot, the paint job is complete, as well as the removal of the appropriate windscreen wiper (the right one) and headlamp lens (the left one). I also blacked out the headlamp well.
Using screencaps from the movie as my guide, I mixed my own rust-colored paint and applied it. Also dressed up the dents with some shading.
The ass-end of Withnail's Jag.
I had to paint that license plate with a toothpick - it's so tiny I was worried I wouldn't be able to get the details readable, but I'm pretty chuffed with how it came out.
Withnail's Jag.
The finished product... Withnail's Jag model! The color looks weird because of interior lighting, but it really is the same color as Withnail's car in person. The front license plate was a lot easier to paint, since I made it first and applied it to the car later.
I used pliers to clip off the fancy wheel centers, then applied modelling clay to cover up the chrome wire spokes. Then I painted the clay and center hub and lug nuts to resemble the wheels on the Withnail Jag. Not sure I'm entirely happy with the results, but it's sure a lot closer to the movie Jag without those chrome spokes!
They never show a shot of the trunk in the movie, but I went ahead and painted it to match the interior, since the real car probably would have had the same thing. It would have annoyed me to know it was shiny green in there.
I'm really happy with the way the dents and rust came out!
My "piece de resistance" is the above-pictured empty tissue box. It's only visible in two shots during the movie, while Withnail is drunk and driving agressively through traffic, and they are being chased by a police van.
I hand-made what I believe may be the smallest cardboard box in existence. With a razor, I scored and folded a piece of the thinnest cardboard I could find, painted it hot pink and added the green flowers, and with my trusty toothpick again, painted the crack where the tissues would come out, if the box had any tissues, which of course it didn't.
So there you have it, my friends... my lunacy has crescendoed to full-on CRAZY ABOUT WITHNAIL!
This model is going to feature prominently on my "Wall-O-Withnail". And if Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann don't respond to my letters, I am going to photograph the wall and send the photos to them. If that doesn't work, then I'll have to think of something else.
Wow! You have outdone yourself on this project! This is amazing.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding Marcheline! Great job. If the boys don't respond to this work of art, they're just prostitutes for the bees.
ReplyDeleteWow that's a fantastic reproduction - if you ever want a new career as a movie prop modelling whizz this should give you a head-start!
ReplyDeleteThanks, guys. Now that I'm re-looking at all the photos, I see some inconsistencies that will have to be remedied.
ReplyDelete1. The wheels - have to repaint the centers, they're much too light.
2. I didn't continue the flowers up to the opposite corner of the tissue box - must add the rest of the flowers.
3. I put rust around the left rear tail light, and there is none in the movie. Also, I neglected to put rust on the front left runner light, and it's there in the movie.
This is where you find out how bad your memory really is. I was doing the project downstairs in my kitchen, and my computer (with the pics of the real Jag) is upstairs. My printer sucks arse, so printing the pics out wouldn't have helped with details, either.
Happily, these are all easily fixed.
You are insane...and I want you to make one for me...
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing. Slightly bonkers. But astonishing.
ReplyDeleteEdinburgh's Disgrace (in answer to your question) is a monument planned as a memorial, begun in 1822, to soldiers killed in the Napoleonic War. It looks like the Parthenon in its ruined state. History varies in its account - some say that the money ran out so that it wasn't finished; others say that it was always meant to look like that. It has a base and only 12 columns and looks quite dramatic against the skyline.
I'm sensing a dual trend here... my mental state is in question even as I am being praised. I LIKE IT! 8-)
ReplyDeleteTess - that would be like you writing a poem for me. It's the pain and agony you experience during the creation that makes it so good at the end! 8-)
Isabelle - For a minute there I thought you were voicing an extreme dislike of Edinburgh Castle, and I couldn't figure out why... thanks for the enlightenment!
Your commitment to a project is just amazing.......I don't entirely understand it, but I do think your zeal is fantastic....well done.
ReplyDeleteYou're a nut, Marcheline.
ReplyDeleteBut then, most of the best and most creative people are.
Onward and upward! :o)
Happy New Year!
I love the way libby and Canadian Chickadee both say the same thing, but in such different ways. Libby is like one of Uncle Monty's silk handkerchiefs, and CC is like the wrecking ball that takes down Withnail's neighbor's house ... and I love them both! 8-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. You deserve an evening out in the Crow and Crown Inn with Jake, Withnail & Marwood and all drinks on the house!!
ReplyDelete