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Jadotville Fouga Magister 1/48


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Inspired by the movie 'Siege of Jadotville' and the incredible detailing work Wardog is doing on his 1/48 kit, I'm going to have a crack at doing some more detailing on this already very detailed kit.....though it will not be Wardog standard as re-making a scratch piece 2-3 times is my patience limit, not 5 times!  And I wish I had that nice set of drills he has.  Mine are rather limited & basic.

 

Now the jet in the movie was marked No. 93, but this is apparently incorrect as it was No. 92 which strafed and bombed the Irish troops.  I found the following interesting piece on the Interweb (which as we all know is the fount of all knowledge :rolleyes:) about the Katangese Airforce (KAT) Magisters:

"Ah yes, the Katanga Magisters, quite an intriguing chapter it was.

 

Of an order of 9, only 3 Fouga Magisters arrived to serve in combat with the Avikat, the remaining 6 being blocked in Pointe-Noir (Congo-Brazzaville) before being returned to the harbour of Antwerp where they were impounded by customs.  The fate of these remaining 6 is quite mysterious - they were purchased by abbé Fulbert Youlou, and subsequently sold to Tunisia - but according to other sources, they never left Belgium, and were subsequently used as a spares source for the Belgian Air Force's own Magisters.

 

The three Fouga Magisters that did arrive in Katanga, arrived there on February 6th 1961, being flown into Luano Airport, Elisabethville by Boeing YC-97 Stratofreighter N9538C (formerly 45-59587 c/n 15712 of the USAF) owned by Seven Seas Airlines Inc, a cargo charter airline based out of Findel airport in Luxembourg.

Of the three Fouga Magisters, only KAT-92 became famous (or infamous), mostly due to the short careers of its siblings:

- KAT-91 barely flew four months, until its loss in a flying accident on June 23rd 1961.

- KAT-93's career was curtailed two months later, when it was seized by UNOC-troops at Luano airport on August 28th 1961 during "Operation Rhum Punch", which was set up to destroy the Avikat.  She was carted aside and deposited in the airport's scrapyard.

 

KAT-92's most well-known time was between September 13th and September 19th 1961, when she was used in a series of nuissance raids and attacks on UN troops.  During that time, she scored three aircraft destroyed on the ground: UN-operated C-47 UN-209 on September 13th at Elisabethville Airport; former "Air Katanga" (seized by the UN) DC-4 OO-ADN on September 14th, also at Elisabethville Airport; and UN-leased C-54 (DC-4) G-APIN of Starways at Kamina Airport on September 16th.  She was also involved in the Battle of Jadotville (September 13th - 17th), where she provided air support to the Katangese troops, resulting in the surrender of the Irish A-Company.  Despite destroying a UN radio station and over 50 UN trucks, the Irish A-Company suffered only 5 injured during the Siege of Jadotville, this despite being outnumbered ten-to-one (and killing over 300 Katangese troops)

KAT-92s career was finally ended on December 5th 1961, when she was hit by bombs at Kolwezi airport by Indian Air Force Canberras of the UN aerial contingent; she was subsequently transported by train to Kisenge, where repairs were ultimately abandoned due to the non-availability of spare parts.

 

While the Belgian mercenary Major Joseph Delin is always portrayed as KAT-92s pilot, this was not the case - Delin was in fact the base commander of Kolwezi Airport, but posed as the aircraft's pilot to mask the fact that it was flown by José Magain, a former Belgian Air Force pilot and mercenary who had officially been evicted from Katanga on August 28th 1961, but had illegally overstayed to take part in the combats.  Occasionally, Delin would join Magain as an observer on some combat flights, but usually Magain flew his missions alone.

 

The Magister was the Katangan Air Force's most famous aircraft, it was certainly not the sole type flown - nor was it the force's only jet: the Avikat operated a mixed force of armed T-6 Texans; five newly purchased Dornier Do-28s; a handful of De Havilland DH-104 Doves converted to light bombers; a single De Havilland DH-114 Heron; a number of DC-3/C-47 Dakotas; and five Piper Carribeans.  The Avikat also received two De Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.55s from the Rhodesian Air Force, however these were destroyed by Saab J.29s of the Swedish contingent of the UN aerial forces before becoming operational.

 

One error I often encounter, is the identity-switch between KAT-92 and KAT-93 - some sources state it was KAT-92 which was impounded by the UNOC at Elisabethville and KAT-93 which did the raids, while in fact it was the other way round."

 

5MyO96w.jpg

 

mcyZmWp.jpg

 

55OjYc2.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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Got some basic paint on the wiring.  Some dry-brushing & a little wash next.

 

God Photobucket is a pile of sh*t these days - so many Ads on there now it takes an eternity to pics to upload :angry:

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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Some more cockpit work (sorry, pics a bit crap).  Not up to Wardog standard, but its going ok. Can't tell you how many times I knocked some of those wires off while handling & had to re-glue.

 

Wardog - if you are reading, what do you glue wires etc on with?  I've been using CA but it is a bit fragile.

 

 

wlK9dCd.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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  • 3 weeks later...


A little more progress. Had a Hell of a time with the oxygen bottles & tubing and fittings.  Nowhere near as good as I'd planned, but had to cut my losses and move on after numerous attempts.

 

It'd clear I just don't have Wardogs skills with this tiny stuff, but it's still fun....inbetween a fair bit of cussing!

 

mo7r42g.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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Not sure how I've missed this build before now, I'm keen to do similar but in 1/72, least then I've an excuse for bottling out of too much detail. :closedeyes: I'll still be watching this for ideas & inspiration though.

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
emoticons or rather lack thereof.
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7 hours ago, pacheco said:

In the first scene the plane doesn´t have the dayglo on the wing tips but in the scene after we can see the dayglo :) 1:18:59. 

 

Damn, you are right!  They are trying to confuse me.

 

And the continuity person from that film crew needs a kick up the arse!

 

Actually you know looking at it again, they might be there in all scenes but because they are on the outside of the wing tanks, are not really visible in the first front-on scene?

Edited by Thommo
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  • 1 month later...

Some scratched items added to the port cockpit wall.

 

This is a very slow build.  I never scratch more than one item in a sitting and they are so stupidly small & fiddly, I usually have to have a few goes at it.  But I'm enjoying going slow on this one.

 

J50BOMY.jpg

Edited by Thommo
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A bit more cockpit work.  Decided I had to add some of the sidewall mouldings as just having them dead flat as per the kit was not realistic.  Sanded some plastic card very thin, cut into little bits to fit the various flat sections, then added the raised moulding with stretched sprue sanded a bit flat, and added a few screws with sprue. Also built the radio? for the rear cockpit starboard sideshelf.

 

Pics a bit grainy as per usual as taken with my phone under a couple of lamps, and white balance set to incandescent.  They look much sharper on my phone, but not so when they get to my computer.

 

 

iAJQDXk.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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Thanks for your comments folks.  I've still got a fair bit of detail to add to the cockpit yet...and engines and other areas.

 

The trick is to get the new bits in without accidentally knocking out the tiny bits already in there :doh:

 

Thinking of turning it into a basic diorama with one engine out for repair and various panels open.  Will have to go and see my old mate Roy at the Menshed to get a little wooden base routered up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little more cockpit work.  Got the photoetch belts in too.  Should have attached them to seats BEFORE putting seats in, would have made life easier.  Still got more tiny little scratch bits to add to sidewalls.

 

Was talking to a local pilot in a bar last night about the Fouga.  He flies an L39 here (joyrides) and also races in Reno in an Iskra.  Was saying nice things about the Fouga as a strange looking (and very low to the ground) a/c, but they go ok apparently.  He's probably raced against them? 

 

An article here about Lachie.  I'll probably build his L39 next in it's current markings (can order the decals from Czecko) as he is about to re-paint it in camo colours (apparently the punters must prefer flying in a war-like looking jet than a racing-looking jet) - http://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/2563414/an-onslaught-of-hot-section-air-racing/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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  • 2 months later...

This is my slowest build ever, but I've got most of the cockpit detail done, and started scratching up some of the internals that will be visible as I'll have the port engine out as if being repaired, and many panels open.

 

The kit provides great internal detail (fuel tanks, computer bays etc) but these would only be visible if you used the transparent fuselage parts - and as I want to do mine in a realistic diorama, this would not be realistic, hence I'm opting for an engine out etc, plus adding some piping and tubing and a few other bits.

 

Can't see this one being finished till sometime 2018!

 

Photos a bit rubbish as per usual as just snapped on my phone, but when I get it done, I'll take the time to try and pose some decent ones with proper lighting etc.

 

 

CockpitDone2_zpsqlrwtrdl.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure what's happened to all my pics above from Photobucket?

 

Perhaps Photobucket got hit by this latest malware, though when I log into my account all the pics seem to be there.  But if I post the link here again I get that stuff above?

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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Right, thanks to the Photobucket debacle, I've had to delete all the links to pics above.  Going to paste in a few directly using the ARC upload process to keep this going.  They won't be as large though.

 

Update - back to big pics, ditched Photobucket, using Imagur

 

 

Edited by Thommo
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