SPA Modeler

I started to build my Fouga already last week, without unfortunately too many WIP pictures..

First verdict of the build so far:

First of all, the instruction sheet is a joke.. Missing information, information that does not match the reality etc. Painting instructions that are, excuse my French, it's crap..
The quality of sprues has not been that good either. A lot of "leakage" of plastic, don't really know the correct term of that, so a lot of cleaning to be done.

A pretty straight forward and simple cockpit. One would have expected at least some sort of belts (PE of so) included in the kit, but no. Just two chairs.. Well, that's why we scratch build... :-)

But on the positive side, the fitting so far (knock knock on the wood) has been good. At least the fuselage snapped nicely together.
Below some testfitting..



Still I am a little bit disappointed... Somehow I had thought (until now), that Kinetic is a "premium" brand, that radiates quality... but at least their Fouga does not do that.

Of course, while working with the excellent Mig-21 from Eduard, the contrast with the Kinetic kit is huge.. I must say, even the small Heller 1/72 Fouga kit had much better sprue quality than this step brother of it.. Yes, step brother, because they are not relatives.. :-)

Nevertheless, the cockpit is now done (will be just an out of the box construction) and the fuselage parts joined...




Exciting to see when the wings need to be attached, landing gears etc, is the fitting still as sharp.

Still not sure regarding the paint job, will it be a Belgian or a Finnish or something else...

- Kari

Very nice. Are these kits still in production?

"Watching"!!!

"Flash" is the term for that leakage you're talking about...(thin layer of plastic, around the edges of the parts)
I haven't heard a whole lot of good about Kinetic kits. I've only done a couple...and although they looked great on the sprues...engineering and fit left a bit to be desired.
Think I'll hold out for a new one in 72nd...IIRC, MPM(?) has one in the works!

scorpiomikey wrote:Very nice. Are these kits still in production?

Yes I think so, Kinetic just came out with a new version of the kit with decals belonging to the Austrian air force (kit nr: K48059)

Fermis wrote:"Watching"!!!

"Flash" is the term for that leakage you're talking about...(thin layer of plastic, around the edges of the parts)
I haven't heard a whole lot of good about Kinetic kits. I've only done a couple...and although they looked great on the sprues...engineering and fit left a bit to be desired.
Think I'll hold out for a new one in 72nd...IIRC, MPM(?) has one in the works!

Leakage was the word I was looking for, thanks Fermis!

- Kari

Work continues and as I "expressed" myself earlier, the instructions are not that good..

Below just an example of the quality.. wrong part numbering, no instructions at all where to glue those small details etc etc..
Luckily there is a lot of reference pictures on the net, so not that big problem, but still...




I was (still) happy of the fit when putting the fuselage halves together... But not any longer as seen in the picture below.. Luckily pretty easy fix..







As last thing today, the wings are attached and drying... while under supervision from a little lady called Shoka.
The right wing fitted perfectly, while the left not that good.





Let's see what next...

- Kari

Well well , waiting to found the smaller Heller follow the greater fouga wip

Good work till now

Fermis wrote:"Watching"!!!
... and although they (Kinetic kits) looked great on the sprues...engineering and fit left a bit to be desired.
...

I so far had only one of myself, a Tracker. It got the kit, checked the sprues closely and wasn´t excited from looking at the parts. I gave it away...
Heidi has made some good progress with her 1/48 scale Hawkeye, but lots of fit problems and unnecessary gaps due to poor engineering had stopped this project so far.

Looking great Kari....

A "slightly" late.. But thanks Lawdog! :-)


To repeat myself, almost 5 months later the work continues with some details..

The airbreaks PE stuff on the upperwing, flaps in resting mode, started with masking the canopy, some work done with the undercarriage... and that's it folks... let's see how far i am with this build when next 5 months go... :-)
Underneath my new A3 sized cutting mat... at least it is clean..




- Kari

It's looking great despite the issues.

That's what sucks about Kinetic is that they make kits that no one else does.