Kukkopilli - Finnish Fouga Magister

[Mjoo]

Kukkopilli (literally ”rooster whistle”) is a type of rustic vessel flute. Much like ocarina, it is a hollow body of fired clay, producing a sound when blown into. Depending on the design, kukkopilli may produce one or few notes. It always has a distinct rooster shape, else it would just be an ocarina with limited scale. Wikipedia has a quite representative picture of kukkopilli. They come in several sizes, and frankly, most of the are more ornamental than musical. The largest I’ve seen was about foot tall and very elaborately decorated; smallest was about the size of a thumb. They typically produce a fairly high pitched sound which to some was similar enough to the wizzing of a twin Turbomeca Marboré turbojets in Fouga CM 170 Magister, hence earning the Fouga it’s nickname in finnish service - kukkopilli.

 

The type was also referrered just as Fouga. Finland procured 18 French built planes and a building license at the end of the fifties. Over the next ten years a total of 62 Fougas were built in Finland. They were in use for 30 years, replaced by BAE Hawk in the 80s. About 20 were sold to civilian buyers, some transferred to museums/memorials and the rest scrapped.

 

My godparents lived near the approach to Pori airfield. Visiting them as a wee kid in the late 70s/early 80s I remember seeing (and hearing) Fougas either landing or taking off. It was probably the first aeroplane I could recognise and name.

 

I’ll be building Special Hobby’s take on Fouga. I have the ”German, FInnish and Austrian” boxing of the kit and my intention is to do this OOB. I am ignorant of any mistakes in the kit and intend to stay that way 😉. Decal sheet looks nice and provides for one finnish plane, namely ill-fated FM-65, which was one of the planes built in Finland. Ten Fougas were lost in fatal accidents, FM-65 being one of them. I’d rather have built one of ”survivors”, like FM-51, but the kit decals will do.

 

This will be slow build. I have other builds in progess and I’ll try to finish them first. I’ll work on this while paint dries on the others.

 

Cheers,

-M

Edited September 4, 2021 by Mjoo

[Mjoo]

Some handsome box art

 

 

I built Heller’s version as a kid. I don’t remember it having this much plastic in the box. Seems quite crisply moulded. There's some flash but nothing excessive.

 

 

The decals say ”Cartograph” in the low left corner, they look quite nice.

 

 

Canopy is to be made from gazillion parts. I'll pose it closed, so would've preferred a single piece canopy. But maybe it'll fit well.

 

Cheers,

-M

[John Masters]

This is looking good @Mjoo.  I have the same kit and will also attempt it but much later.  I will follow your build with interest!

[vppelt68]

I could copy here what I just wrote in Reini's thread!

[Mjoo]

16 hours ago, John Masters said:

I will follow your build with interest!

Reini is building Fouga, too. He’ll show you how it is supposed to go together. I’ll illustrate the errors that can be done while trying 😉

 

Cheers,

-M

Edited September 5, 2021 by Mjoo
Grammar. As always.

[reini]

@Mjoo@Mjoo Thanks but I wouldn't be so sure, I'm sure I'll find problems that don't really exist

[Marlin]

Great another Magister, the more the merrier.

Good luck with your build Mjoo. 

 

/Bosse

[Mjoo]

Thanks, @Marlin!

[trickyrich]

welcome along M with the 2nd one of these wee beauties! 

 

It's a great looking aircraft I think and it'll look great in that scheme as well!

 

Good luck with the build, I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to seeing her in the galley at the end. 

[Col.]

Such a lovely aircraft deserves some attention

[PattheCat]

One more Fouga in this GB. I'm doubly happy.

[Mjoo]

This is a dud. I haven’t broken the plastic yet and my other builds have stalled, too. No way I am able to finish this in the four weeks there is left in this group build. Alas, there is KUTA but I prefer to work on my Farman which will tomorrow miss the deadline for High Wing GB.

 

 Thanks,

-M

[reini]

@Mjoo Don't worry about it. GB's are fun but sometimes you just gotta build whatever you fancy in a pace that suits you 

[trickyrich]

On 11/27/2021 at 9:21 PM, Mjoo said:

This is a dud. I haven’t broken the plastic yet and my other builds have stalled, too. No way I am able to finish this in the four weeks there is left in this group build. Alas, there is KUTA but I prefer to work on my Farman which will tomorrow miss the deadline for High Wing GB.

 

 Thanks,

-M

don't worry too much we all have that problem every now and again.