Heller 1/72 Fouga Magister

[Kevan Vogler]

Hello all:

I'm putting myself into this GB with Heller's 1/72 Fouga Magister. It wasn't the absolute first kit I ever built, but I did build it once back when I was a kid who didn't care about accuracy and hadn't a clue what putty and a #11 blade were. I'm going with a little bit of aftermarket in the form of a resin cockpit and canopy from Pavla and some decals from IPMS Austria.

My goal is not to bring all my modeling skills to bear on it, but enough of them that I can build it better than I did before and have something to a standard of finish that will make me generally happy to have it on my shelf.

Here's where she stands so far:

The wing and tip tank halves are together and the landing gear and cockpit areas are painted:

I couldn't put my finger quite on what the gear well colour was from pictures. It looked like chromate yellow, yet not quite; eventually, I chose a desert yellow shade from Vallejo and I think it will work alright.

Here's a couple of pics of the resin pit components after an initial base coat and some washes. Still a ways to go, but we have time:

Here's the decals:

With any luck, I'll end up with a model that will give me a nice representation of one of these:

net photo

[jester292]

Hey Kevan! Glad to see you in the GB! Nice choice of kit, and great markings choice too. Can't wait to see more!

Aaron

[Kevan Vogler]

Today saw me cutting out sections of the kit plastic as per the instructions of the resin cockpit set and cutting out the vac formed canopy and trimming it.

Here's the work of the day all in dry fit:

Still some fine tuning to do, but that will come in due course.

[HOLMES]

Hello Kevan.

Ooh that is very good choice to build.

Quite excited and look forward to more of this great start. :thumbsup:

[geedubelyer]

Hi Kevan,

I agree with HOLMES, great choice.

You really can't go wrong with silver and orange. I'm looking forward to seeing how this little kit builds up, especially with the neat additions.

Cheers,

[Kevan Vogler]

Thanks all:

There are a couple of details missing from the Pavla cockpit that I might scratch build if I feel they're really needed, but it's not a bad pit for the scale and price. Certainly not what you'd get if Aires took the notion to do one, but then the Pavla pit comes at a significantly less than Aires price and with a vac formed canopy.

I'm particularly happy to have the canopy as the kit part is a bit clunky and gives a very distorted view of the pit.

I agree about silver and orange schemes, they look great and contrast well with other things that might be on the shelf. Thankfully, the orange in this scheme is just a plain orange and not some fluorescent type.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Kevan Vogler

[Kevan Vogler]

With the new academic year starting, a lot more of my time is going to teaching. As such, I don't have too much to show on the Magister.

Most of the time has been spent around the intakes and exhaust.

I got the intakes built and attached to the fuselage and have been spending a fair bit of time with some fine sanding sticks getting them smoothed in:

I also decided to use a couple of short lengths of tube styrene to represent exhaust outlets. The kit is pretty weak in the exhaust area and I couldn't let it go without a small bit of filling up:

I've done some dry brushing in the cockpit too, but I probably won't show more pit pictures until it's completed and ready to have the fuselage closed up around it.

[Andre]

Nice work!

Where did you get the decal sheet, by the way? My girlfriend is Austrian.

Cheers,

Andre