For various personnal reasons, the Fouga Magister in the Ecole de l'Air livery is the model I have dreamt of for years. Since none was available, I decided in 2019 to create my own model. I don't mean I designed the model. I started from an existing very old and faded Geli kit and decided to rework and repaint it. I did not anticipate the long way it would be to get an acceptable result. Only the third and final attempt has been satisfying (more or less) in … 2024.
The modifications have been the following:
Overall refurbishing of the grey color, redrawing of the lines of rivets to make them symmetrical on both sides of the plane, light weathering.
Specific features of the Ecole de l'Air livery : the emblem “Eagle feeding its little eagles in the nest” in addition to the French roundels, the stenciled ID “312-TK” and the anti-collision orange stripes on the V-tail.
Other improved features:
Landing light with clear cover.
Front landing gear with doubled-wheels.
Nose aerials.
Hydraulic pipes on the main landing gears.
New cockpit, instrument panels and seats (Actually those of Yoav's model . Thanks a lot Yoav).
I'm not a beginner in this hobby. I already have built more than 25 models, some builds were challenging but this Fouga has surpassed them. There has been no single step that went straight forward and easy. However, in no way this is criticism against the kit. It was designed at a time computers did not exist, so it was an acceptable model drawn by hand.
