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Sarcife Part Deux – Special Hobby Fouga CM.170R Magister “TR-KFJ” Groupment Aerient Presidentiel de Gabon 1/72


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Hi all,

 

I am finally able to get the second member of the Sarcife trio rolled out and RFI for your delectation 😊. It follows my earlier AD-4N,

 

 

The link being the French pilot, Jacques Borne. Jacques had 663 hours on the Magister. The Groupment Aerient Presidentiel de Gabon (GAP) received four of these machines, while the Gabon Air Force is reported to have also received three (to be confirmed). While their role was formally to protect the head of state in practical terms it was ceremonial to a very great extent. These aircraft came from Austrian stock and, following Gabonese service, this machine – TR-KFJ/368 – went to the Congolese Air Force as 9Q-CPC.  It was previously 4D-YQ in Austrian service.

 

https://fougastribute.forumgratuit.org/t192-le-fouga-au-gabon-entre-1975-et-1990

 

jb21flickr

 

 

The kit used here is the exceptionally fine Special Hobby offering. It is super-detailed, and I’d venture to suggest that it is the best in scale for this machine. There are a few fit issues but essentially it is a nicely engineered kit. My main area of angst was the upper nose gun section – which is slightly narrower than the lower section. To correct that I inserted a small shim after halving the section vertically (thanks for the encouragement @Wez). For anyone contemplating a similar build be aware that there are many minute parts! Also, the French liking for complex canopy mechanisms did not help, either. Having said that I managed to corral them and get them in the intended locations. Note also that the nose guns do not fit too well. I replaced them with Plastruct rod.

 

For the markings I used the Max Decals set Fouga Magisters Part 1 (7205). The decals settle beautifully but I quickly discovered that they are not accurate in dimensions. The wing roundels are too small, the side pennants are too big, for example. In fairness it was a set that was designed before the SH kit came along. Anyhow, as it is the only option (to my knowledge) I soldiered on and got a nearly decent representation of the aircraft early in its Gabonese career.

 

fouga7

 

What did I use?

 

1.       Kit – Special Hobby Fouga CM.170 Magister (72284) 1/72

2.       Aftermarket – none

3.       Decals – Max Decals (7205) See above, some kit stencilling and warning marks,

4.       Paints – Humbrol Polished Aluminium (27002), Matt Black, Steel (27003), Gunmetal. Model Masters Fluorescent Orange-Red undercoated with white and yellow. Various other Humbrols. All enamel. Finished with Humbrol Satincote.

5.       Other – broom bristle for the dorsal aerial.

6.       Weathering etc – Flory Dark dirt to accentuate the numerous hatches etc, kept to a minimum plus a few wipes with Tamiya Weathering Powders here and there.

 

I hope you like her. Now on with the third part of the trio 😊

 

Martin

 

PS: now to get the Harvard III done :)

 

fouga1

 

fouga2

 

fouga6

 

fouga5

 

fouga3

 

fouga4

 

 

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Lovely, lovely Magister.  The canopy and struts may have been a pain, but it looks really good with the canopy open; something only achievable with some (scary) surgery with the venerable Heller or Airfix kits.

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I'd read that some Magisters were armed but never seen a picture of one or a model of one either. Your model captures the elegance of the real airplane especially well. Tremendous build!

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@RidgeRunner

That is an excellent model! thanks for sharing.

The silver finish is just right. Very colorful and unusual roundel colors.

 

Ive been contemplating if to prime the luminescent orange with white or yellow? as i might fade the orange by some light sanding or just a light spraying session.

 

The landing gear bays always puzzle me with Magisters. As sometimes they seem yellow and others seem peachy or whitish.

Did you use chromate?

 

 

Edited by AdriaN (MLT)
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22 hours ago, Wulfman said:

Beautiful looking Magister, great modelling !

 

Wulfman

Thanks mate :)

 

21 hours ago, Natter said:

Lovely, lovely Magister.  The canopy and struts may have been a pain, but it looks really good with the canopy open; something only achievable with some (scary) surgery with the venerable Heller or Airfix kits.

Much appreciated, Dave. Yes, the SH does at least give you all the options - canopy open/closed, gun nose/not, aerials & antennae, etc. It is very accurate too.

 

21 hours ago, PhantomLover said:

Very, very nice. Love the exotic subject (never heard of these Fouga's..) and the build looks splendid!

 

Kind regards,

Gerben

I'm glad you like her, Gerben :). There are many colourful possibilities with the Fouga!

 

20 hours ago, replicant said:

Very nice "Mouse Killer": "Mäusetöter"

Cheers,

Tom

Thanks Tom

 

19 hours ago, SAT69 said:

I'd read that some Magisters were armed but never seen a picture of one or a model of one either. Your model captures the elegance of the real airplane especially well. Tremendous build!

Now you have! ;) Thanks a lot! :)

 

19 hours ago, ForestFan said:

Are you sure it’s 1/72 scale?! Fabulous

Thanks for your comment, mate! :)

 

17 hours ago, Konrad said:

I like it very much! :)

 

Good :). Thanks a million, Konrad.

 

16 hours ago, Shorty84 said:

Hi Martin,

 

"nearly decent" he says...bit of an understatement isn't it :winkgrin: It's magnifique, looks really nice in such exotic markings.

 

Cheers

Markus

Many, many thanks, Markus. :)

 

16 hours ago, AdriaN (MLT) said:

@RidgeRunner

That is an excellent model! thanks for sharing.

The silver finish is just right. Very colorful and unusual roundel colors.

 

Ive been contemplating if to prime the luminescent orange with white or yellow? as i might fade the orange by some light sanding or just a light spraying session.

 

The landing gear bays always puzzle me with Magisters. As sometimes they seem yellow and others seem peachy or whitish.

Did you use chromate?

 

 

Thanks Adrian. Yes, for the dayglo you at least need a white undercoat. I often use both white and yellow. It brings out the orange. For the whell wells I actually left them NMF but weathered a bit. The inner faces of the doors were done with Humbrol Sand. Kit instructions show yellow but it really wasn't. No chromate involved. 

 

I actually received a very complimentary email from Jacques Borne (“Sarfice”) last night. I was flattered :). He has been shown this and the Skyraider by Fred, his son.

 

Martin

 

 

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Hi Martin, very nice to see another Special Hobby Magister completed.

I do like the look of those markings against that well painted aluminium.

Well done with those canopy struts & their attachment. I ended up painting mine Matt black to hide the errors!

I'm still undecided as to my next Magister subject. I've got the Valom Luftwaffe kit in the stash for a future build & I'll see how that goes together.

 

Martin

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19 hours ago, AdriaN (MLT) said:

The landing gear bays always puzzle me with Magisters. As sometimes they seem yellow and others seem peachy or whitish.

Did you use chromate?

Martin ( @RidgeRunner  ) and I had a bit of an e-mail exchange on this.  Special Hobby quote a pale yellow but both Model Art sheet 72/066 and Modeldecal 37 buff or light stone, Model Art call this colour "Chamois" and is very reminiscent of the colour seen on certain French aircraft I've worked on.

 

The excellent MMP book on the Magister by Tine Soetaert has some good colour photos as you'd expect and the various interior components range from a pale ivory colour to a much darker mid-brown.  We discussed it, I felt that Humbrol 63 was too dark and that Humbrol 121 was closer to the mark as an average.  Some panels are obviously much lighter.  I can't recall which way Martin went now although I think it was the 121.

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Martin............I`m going to start calling you “Martin-a-pedia”.  I learn so much from your presentations that I forget how nice the model you replicated is.  Outstanding as usual!!!!!! :worthy:

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That is a fantastic Fouga Martin.

I have been looking at that site and the pictures of Gabonese aircraft for a while and have got the decals for some of them but have not had the chance to build any yet, something that I really must remedy.

Hopefully your excellent builds will get a few more looking at some more exotic finishes for their aircraft.

Very well done mate.

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On 7/28/2020 at 5:12 PM, Spitfire31 said:

Beautiful Magister, hard to believe it's 1:72!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

Thanks a lot, Joachim

 

On 7/28/2020 at 5:44 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Wonderful work and as others have said hard to imagine it's a 72nd scale kit.  An interesting and unusual subject and  great finish too.

 

thanks mate. I reckon the 1/72 or 1/48 credit should go to the kit. It is beautifully engineered apart from the small irritants that I've mentioned. 
 

On 7/28/2020 at 6:59 PM, Lightningboy2000 said:

Hi Martin, very nice to see another Special Hobby Magister completed.

I do like the look of those markings against that well painted aluminium.

Well done with those canopy struts & their attachment. I ended up painting mine Matt black to hide the errors!

I'm still undecided as to my next Magister subject. I've got the Valom Luftwaffe kit in the stash for a future build & I'll see how that goes together.

 

Martin

Thanks Martin. Regarding the canopy struts I think they should actually be black! My door! I’ll get the black paint and a hairy stick out ;)

 

On 7/28/2020 at 7:04 PM, Wez said:

Martin ( @RidgeRunner  ) and I had a bit of an e-mail exchange on this.  Special Hobby quote a pale yellow but both Model Art sheet 72/066 and Modeldecal 37 buff or light stone, Model Art call this colour "Chamois" and is very reminiscent of the colour seen on certain French aircraft I've worked on.

 

The excellent MMP book on the Magister by Tine Soetaert has some good colour photos as you'd expect and the various interior components range from a pale ivory colour to a much darker mid-brown.  We discussed it, I felt that Humbrol 63 was too dark and that Humbrol 121 was closer to the mark as an average.  Some panels are obviously much lighter.  I can't recall which way Martin went now although I think it was the 121.

Actually, Wez, I went for sand and then added a thinned wash over the top to bring out some detail. I contemplated the 121 but thought the Sand would add a bit more scale colour. :)

 

19 hours ago, Sky Keg said:

Martin............I`m going to start calling you “Martin-a-pedia”.  I learn so much from your presentations that I forget how nice the model you replicated is.  Outstanding as usual!!!!!! :worthy:

Thanks Mike. I just love to get a reason for the build and then relay that to the RFI audience to add interest. :)

 

19 hours ago, kapam said:

Excellent work, Mate!  Fantastic looking Magister and in my favourite scale!  :clap:

Thanks mate! Yes, the gentleman’s scale for me every time :). 
 

14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

That is a fantastic Fouga Martin.

I have been looking at that site and the pictures of Gabonese aircraft for a while and have got the decals for some of them but have not had the chance to build any yet, something that I really must remedy.

Hopefully your excellent builds will get a few more looking at some more exotic finishes for their aircraft.

Very well done mate.

Thanks MM. I’d like to think that some of the attraction of these lesser known markings and operators will catch the attention of more modellers :)

 

Martin

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  • 1 month later...

@Ignacio Hola Ignacio!! I’m sorry to hear about your work, my friend. It sounds like you have a new project, though!? That is great news. I am similar here with my contract ending two months go :(. 
 

Thank you for your kind words about the Fouga :).

 

Keep safe and smiling,
 

Martin

 

 

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Wow. I missed this little gem completely back in July. A brilliant job there Martin. Goes well with the AD-4N I would imagine.

 

Did I miss the Harvard, which you suggest is the third Gabonese aircraft in the set?

 

Terry

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