Fouga CM.170 R Magister
Luftwaffe and Irish Air Corps

Wingman Models, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

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The Fouga Magister was the first purpose built two seat jet trainer aircraft.  The Magister had a distinctive V tail design. 

It was a very successful trainer having its first flight in 1952.  Nearly 1,000 Magisters were built and many were exported to a wide variety of countries. 

The Israeli Air Force operated a licensed built version, the IAI Tzukit.  While principally a trainer, it was used in the 1967 Six Day War by No 147 Squadron as a close support aircraft, attacking targets on the Egyptian front during the first day of the war when Israel’s more capable combat aircraft were deployed on Operation Focus against Arab air bases. 

The Belgian Air Force operated 50 Magisters as primary trainers.  The aerobatic team The Red Devils also used them as display aircraft.  A small number of Magisters remained in use until September 2007, as flight maintenance aircraft for senior officers.

Development of the Magister came to an end when the French Air Force selected the Alpha Jet as their new jet trainer to succeed the Magister. 

Wingman Models had a great idea. Take the plastic parts from an already good model, add their own resin, photo-etched parts, a big new decal sheet plus full colour instructions with reference, and you'll have a one-stop superdetailed kit.

In this case, Wingman Models has waved its magic wand over the Fouga Magister. Kinetic released this as a plastic kit early in 2014. This release included not one but two complete Magister kits, and featured the best and finest surface detail from a Kinetic kit to that time.

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The box contains two kits with each being made up from 146 light grey injection moulded parts, 14 clear parts and 12 etched metal parts.  The fuselage is constructed from two main parts to which are added the nose cone, wings, intakes, exhausts and V tails.  The intakes contain full ducting back to the engine compressor face and continue with the exhaust ducting from the turbine to the tail pipe outlet.

Separate flaps and ailerons are provided, which may be positioned in the up or down positions.

Wingman Models has added 16 grey resin parts, one clear resin part, three photo-etched frets, two self-adhesive masking sheets and a large Cartograf-printed decal sheet. The additional parts are sufficient to full detail one of the two models included.

The resin parts include a comprehensive upgrade of the cockpit with two new seats (harness straps cast in place), a new cockpit tub, coaming, instrument panel and more.

The webbing texture of the harness is very convincing.

A clear resin bulkhead / windshield for the rear pilot is also included.

Other resin parts include intakes, exhausts and wheels.

The three photo-etched frets offer hinges, actuators and other fine details.

The masking set provides masks for the windscreen and canopy as well as the wheels. A second larger sheet laso has masks to cover some of the trickier aspects of the special marking schemes.

The instructions are well detailed with exploded view diagrams and reference photos.

Markings

The decal sheet provides a massive amount of options thanks to the specific markings and generic numbers. The Luftwaffe markings feature the Arco aerobatic team, aircraft of Flight Training School "A" at Landsberg, Naval Wings 1 and 2 and Test and Evaluation Unit 61.

The Irish Air Corps markings depict all six delivered aircraft.

The markings instructions are another highlight, with large full colour illustrations of each of the main schemes.

The decals are beautifully printed by Cartograf and colour saturation looks excellent.

Wingman's enhanced 1/48 scale Magister is a fantastic kit with everything you could want for a superdetailed Magister straight from the box. Highly Recommended.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Wingman Models for the sample

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brett Green
(background and general Kinetic Magister description courtesy of Mick Evans)
Page Created 26 September, 2014
Last updated 26 September, 2014

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