Fouga Magister - IDF demonstration team - Special Hobby 1/72

[Dennis_C]

Hi All,

 

Here is another bird completed this year. In fact I finished this one back in August but have not made a photosession until yesterday. So here it is - Fouga Magister in IDF demonstration team colours:

 

 

Not much to say about the prototype as its history is pretty well-known. A training aircraft that flew with numerous air forces for many-many years as a basic trainer. In IDF though it made quite a career serving not only as a trainer but also as an attack aircraft and a demonstration team airplane and was further upgraded to Tzukit standard with updated avionics, engines, etc. 

 

 

The kit used is a newly released Special Hobby option. Overall a nice kit with impressive level of details in cockpit, undercarriage bays, full engine details are also provided. Fit is good but tight at times. Pay attention to cockpit as after closing the fuselage you may find out that the canopy is too narrow. Cockpit interior needs to be carefully trimmed to make sure it does not stretch fuselage sides. Also I would advise to start canopy attachment with front and rear sections, then install two-part middle section and finish with opening sections which you may trim as appropriate if they do not fit. 

 

More construction details are available at the WIP thread. 

 

 

 

Very minimal aftermarket sets were used - resin wheels from CMK (although kit wheels are not at all bad either), seat belts from spares and that is it. And I do not think I made any substantial improvements either as the kit looks very convincing out of the box.

 

 

The kit I had was for exotic African Air Forces but my intention was always to make an Israeli machine, so an Isradecal set for Fouga Magisters was bought. That one unfortunately was a disappointment almost ruining the whole project... Large white decal stripes turned out extremely brittle. While I was able to deal with them on flat surfaces, on curved area around V-tails that broke apart and in fact did not fit the area well too. Particularly poor result is on port side where I had to overpaint cracks with white paint and still not super satisfied with outcome. 

 

 

Paints used are Hobby Colour blue H328 (FS15050) well diluted with white - I tried to be as close to the blue colour of Stars of David, obviously black, white and silver from Vallejo and lastly H318 tan for undercarriage interiors. I was matching this to the photoes of real French Magisters and that seemed to be the closest match. Final finish with Gloss Tamiya clear. 

 

 

Now there are couple more shots "with others". My full IDF collection firstly: 

 

 

And all the bright jet trainers secondly:

 

 

Hope you like it

 

Kind regards,

Dennis

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Dennis_C
Spell check

[Doc72]

A very fine looking Fouga and two nice collections! It's always interesting to see the size differences between the aircraft.

[Remus389]

This model was made with remarkable precision. 😎👍

[Ilan]

Very nicely done!

[SAT69]

Very nice Magister and the two collections are very impressive. The Canadian T-Bird caught my eye. A lovely model there.

[Natter]

It's a Magister; tick. It's in Israeli colours; tick. It's a great model; tick. Yep, it ticks all the boxes.

[Sky Keg]

Delightful and beautiful!!!!!! 

 

Mike

[spejic]

Thank you for giving us those helpful hints. I have this kit and your experience will be very useful.

 

I still need a 1/72 Carl Anderson, but that's another matter.

 

[Wulfman]

A lovely addition to your collection !

 

Wulfman

[Dennis_C]

Thanks all for the nice comments and likes!!!

On 07/12/2021 at 10:35, spejic said:

Thank you for giving us those helpful hints. I have this kit and your experience will be very useful.

Let me know if you have some questions. Would be glad to help.

 

On 06/12/2021 at 17:00, SAT69 said:

The Canadian T-Bird caught my eye. A lovely model there.

I have an RFI here if you like more photoes of it

 

Kind regards,

Dennis