I expect that all of us have seen ads from various companies for large-scale, highly detailed kits that can be purchased as a monthly subscription. One of those companies is Agora Models, which is based in the U.K. They recently offered the IPMS the opportunity to review one of their kits, and I had the immensely good fortune to be chosen to do the review. I was allowed to choose the kit I wanted to build, and as a life-long car modeler and lover of classic vehicles, I chose their 1/8 scale 1961 Jaguar E-Type. The kit contains over 500 parts, has working headlights and brake lights, windows that roll up and down, and opening hood, doors, and trunk. The steering wheel turns the front wheels, and the brake pedal operates the taillights. The completed kit is over 22 inches long.

Because of the complexity and the unique format of this kit, I will be doing the review in several parts. This first part will cover the “unboxing” and the building of the first 3 packages of the kit.

As I mentioned earlier, Agora offers its kits on a subscription basis. You can choose from several different plans. With the standard 12-month plan you pay $74.99 for the first “pack” and then $149.99 each month for the remaining 11 packs, which you receive monthly. Their 24-month plan cuts the monthly payment to $79.99 per month, with packs arriving every other month. They also offer an “accelerated starter” plan where you receive the first 6 packs in one shipment for $799.00 and the rest monthly at $149.99 each. And finally, you can purchase the full kit in one fell swoop for $1,599.00. They also offer a display case at $16.58 per month for 12 months, or a single payment of $250.00.

All of Agora’s model kits are priced the same. And at this price point, we should expect high-quality castings, lots of detail, and numerous working features. I’ll get into details on all these subjects as I build the model; but suffice to say that, so far, the kit does not disappoint.

To facilitate this review, Agora sent me the entire kit in one shipment. Several days after I was notified of the shipping, I was pleased to find two large boxes from Agora on my doorstep. Within the boxes were the 12 packs, each one boxed, sealed and clearly labeled as to which pack it was.

Before I could go any further, though, I needed to prepare a workspace. My normal modeling desk is fine (if a bit cramped) for my normal 1/25 scale kits, so it would never work for this kit. Plus, I needed space to photograph the kit as I went along. So, I cleared a spot in our basement and set up a 6-foot table, pulled up a lamp with 5 bulbs on goose-necks that I could point down at my work area (left over from my daughter’s dorm room days), and I was in business. My photo booth is set up on one end of the table and my workspace is on the other end. At some point, the photo booth will be too small for this kit and the work area will need to expand to that end of the table, but for now this setup is working out great.

Finally, it was time to open pack 1 and get started on the build. In the photos you can see everything that was in the box. This pack consists primarily of the engine, plus the steering wheel. This seems a bit of an odd combination, but many of the packs contain some parts unrelated to the primary assembly for that pack. I expect this was done to even out package weights and sizes and therefore shipping costs. This pack also contained a promotional poster, a piece of soft cloth, and a nice screwdriver. Everything was packaged in either blister packs or thick plastic bags, each labeled with the stage number where the instructions call for them. All the parts are either pre-painted or molded in the appropriate colors.

Oh yes, the instructions. The one thing this pack did not contain was the instructions. The instructions for all the packs must be downloaded as PDF files from Agora’s web site. Each pack has its own file, and each file contains 30 or more pages of color photographs and text describing the assembly process. My first inclination was to print the instructions out for each pack as I went. But after several paper jams and almost a full cartridge of ink for just the first two packs, I decided to consider alternatives. Since having the roughly 400 pages of instructions printed for me at Staples or some other store would be quite expensive, I decided to just use a laptop to display the files as I go. I borrowed my wife’s recently retired Chromebook, loaded the files onto USB stick, and I was good to go. The Chromebook’s small screen forces me to do a lot scrolling up and down to see the photos and instructions, but it seems to be working out so far.

Also available on the web site are videos and journals of other peoples’ builds of the kit. On-line help from Agora’s own experts is also available if you have any problems during your build.

I mentioned above that a screwdriver was included in the kit. So far, that is the only tool provided by Agora. But their instructions, some helpful tips, and some common sense dictated that other tools would be helpful. Here is a list of what I have found helpful so far:

• Refrigerator magnet: To magnetize the screwdriver so the screws stay attached to it. An absolute godsend so far.
• Small file: To clean up the occasional rough edge or modify a pin to better fit it’s intended hole.
• Needle nose pliers.
• Tweezers: Even at this large scale, some of the parts can be tiny.
• White glue: Called “PVA” glue in the instructions. Not called for in the early packs, but I have had occasion to use it several times on parts that fit looser than I liked. I personally like Alene’s Tacky glue, but I am also using Testor’s white glue. Elmer’s school glue would also work.
• Vaseline (or other lubricant): Mentioned in the instructions, I have found it beneficial to lubricate the screws any time they are biting into metal. Not needed on plastic parts.
• Scissors: To cut open the plastic bags.
• A container with a lid: This kit comes with a lot of small screws, and extra screws are provided with each assembly, so you will want some way of corralling all the spare screws in case you need extras later in the build.

With the instructions sorted out, my tools collected, and the first pack opened, it was finally time to start building. As I mentioned before, the first pack is primarily the buildup of the engine. Like most model kits of any scale, the engine block is split into left and right halves to which various other parts are attached before mating the two halves together. The cylinder head then mounts on top of the assembly. It includes a highly detailed carburetor assembly and spark plug wires. I encountered an issue almost immediately, as some of the pins on the camshafts refused to go into their respective holes on the cylinder head. A little judicious filing of the offending pins finally coaxed them into place. At the end of the engine assembly the tiny rev counter fit very loosely into its hole: a little dab of white glue secured it in place. This pack also had us install the horn button into the center of the steering wheel.

After all this was finished, I photographed the engine and steering wheel and then put them back into the box they came in until they are needed again. In one of the photographs of the finished assemblies I included a Sharpie marker to provide a better sense of the scale of this kit.

Pack 2 was next, and this pack contained the doors, one of the seats, and a tire. Nothing is done with tire at this time, so I left it in the box for later.

The first order of business in this pack is the installation of the door hinge, followed by some trim pieces. It was at this point that I discovered the value of lubricating the screws when screwing them into metal, as I was unable to drive some of the screws all the way in without it. Next up was the mechanism that allows the window to be raised and lowered, along with the window itself. This mechanism operates quite smoothly, but I added a dab of Vaseline where part of it slides back and forth against a metal bracket. Once the window mechanism was in place, the interior door panels were added, including the window crank that actually moves the window up and down. Here again, I added a dab of white glue to the window crank because it didn’t seat as firmly into the mechanism as I would have liked, especially for a part that will be manipulated. Although the mechanism works smoothly, I am somewhat disappointed that the window can only go about a third of the way down. This is due to the design of bracket that holds the window in place.

Next up in this pack is the seat. This is almost a trivial assembly, but its design makes for a seat that is realistically soft to the touch. A pliable vinyl piece represents the back seat cushion, and that is fitted into the hard plastic seat frame. The bottom cushion is also soft vinyl, but it is hollow underneath. A piece of foam goes inside it to keep it from collapsing when you press on it. A hard plastic under-frame keeps the seat and its foam cushion together, and that assembly then snaps into the seat frame.

With the second pack finished, the door assemblies were laid back into their blister packs to keep them stable and then they, the seat, and the unused tire went back into the box to save them for later.

Finally, for this part of the review was Pack 3. The primary purpose of this pack is to build the front sub-frame, but the pack also comes with the hood, some grill trim, and what looks like the knockoff cap for one of the wheels. The sub-frame assembly begins by attaching the upper and lower wishbones for the front suspension to each frame side member, then attaching both side members to the front cross-member. Angle braces are then added to each side. Lots of Vaseline was used for all the screws that hold this assembly together. Although the instructions don’t mention it, I would recommend leaving most of the screws a little bit loose until after the braces have been installed so that it is easier to get all the screw holes to line up, then going back and tightening everything up.

The last stage in this pack was to install a Jaguar badge into the center of the grill trim piece. I did not photograph this assembly (or the hood, which is an impressively large piece of metal), but you will be seeing them in later stages. As with previous stages, everything went back into the box until they are needed in later stages.

What are my impressions of this build so far? Well, the detail is amazing, but I suppose at this large scale (and at this price point) I should expect a lot more detail than what I’m used to working with. Having just completed a 1/35 scale kit, the difference is rather astounding. The engineering of the kit appears to be well thought out, and the materials are of high quality. Paint finishes are excellent, with no orange peel or other imperfections that I have detected so far, and the packaging has done an excellent job of protecting the parts from damage during shipping. The instructions are detailed and clear, and the photographs do a very good job of illustrating what things should look like. My only disappointment with the kit so far is that the windows don’t open all the way, and that’s a fairly minor issue, really. So, at this point I’m giving the kit a big thumbs up. I can’t wait to get on with the build, and I’m hoping my skills are up to some of the challenges that I know are coming.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next review installment to see how things are going.