PREVIEW

FM's 1/48 Fouga Magister

by Marc Brouyere

At last, a 1/48th scale Fouga ! FM is to be applauded for producing a nice kit of such an important airplane. The kit is made of injected plastic, resin and white metal parts, vacuform canopy, PE fret and a nice decal sheet offering no less than 7 options.

1. Plastic parts : OK so it's not Tamigawa quality, but for a cottage company, FM's plastic parts seem to improve with every kit. We get fuselage halves, wings and elevators, tip tanks and other pieces. The engraved panel lines are nice, but these parts will need some work with wet-and-dry to remove a little flash and to smooth the plastic surface.

 

 

2. Resin parts : cast in that well-known (Hi-Tech ?) though resin, these are well detailed and bubble-free. Included are the main wheel wells, wheels, cockpit tub, various intakes, some bulkheads, etc. There is also a lens in clear injected plastic to reproduce the nose-mounted landing light.

3. Metal parts. : nicely made, with a minimum of flash and no metal irregularities. Landing gear, gear doors, sticks, various jacks and boxes, and cockpit parts are to be found here.

 

 

4. PE parts : instrument panels (without acetate backing), several exterior and interior fittings and..the main landing gear doors ! Would have been better to have these in white metal. A nice touch are the small louvres to be found either side of the nose : PE is THE medium to produce these, and the corresponding areas on the fuselage are slightly recessed to accept these parts.

5. The vacu-formed canopy is probably the least-satisfying part of the kit: although well formed, there are several irregularities revealing the master's texture (wood ?). I don't know if this will show on a finished model.

6. Decals : FM went to town to give us interesting schemes; the decal sheets are nice, well printed and on register, and with good density. Markings are given for Belgium, France (2), Katanga, Algeria. Moroccan markings are also included, but there is no mention of these on the instruction sheet. On the contrary, the instructions include drawings for a "Diables Rouges" aircraft (only the team badge and roundels are included, no serial, team members name, etc..), and a "Patrouille de France" machine (team badge and serial included, but you'll have to paint the red-white-blue scheme, AND the background of the badges in gold and silver !).

Well, thanks anyway FM, there are scores of nice-looking birds to be modelled from this kit.