Search the Community

Here is at last finally completed the model of the Chilean airliner that journeyed the long distances of its South American adoptive country. And a long building journey this was too, given the fact that the Italeri kit is just a hasty and half-way effort to provide the features of the real civil version. All the mishaps and necessary corrections/additions can be visited in the step-by-step building article: The companion Airlines of Australia plane is here: A full interior was provided, and the original short tail had to be modified into a long tailcone. The box art of this kit will completely mislead you into believing that you are acquiring a long tailcone version. Bummer. The most blatant mistake of this old kit is that the two sets of windows were staggered in the original plane, a fact ignored by Italeri that takes a lot of time and some skill to correct. Other many modifications were needed, and of course the addition of the aftermarket Kora set that provides resin radial engines and nacelles plus the decals for this version. On that, I can comment that the fit of the Kora nacelles is not, let's say, comfortable, and if you don't need the decal sheet it provides or the other bits, you are better off buying the radial engines and long tail version offered in one of Italeri's releases (4260). If I had noticed that before, I would have done exactly that. On a secondary note on the decals, the ones provided for the prop blades seem inaccurate, since all photos of the radial versions show invariably a Junkers triangular logo on those blades. Photos show at least two different liveries, the one provided by Kora and another that has a more stylized lettering for "Línea Aérea Nacional" above the windows, instead of on the aft fuselage. Other features can be glimpsed in photos: a LAN big lettering under the right wing, and at least in one machine an anti-glare panel on the nose. I drew immense pleasure from the conversion of a machine of sinister origins and use, into an airliner that happily is not wearing despicable symbols, but instead had a good use transporting civilians and goods, and being useful for peace, not war. LAN (Línea Aérea Nacional) had four of these Junkers, starting flying them in 1937-8 (depending on the source), they were capable of carrying 10 passengers in relative comfort with the necessary sturdiness for the rough conditions that many times the airline industry of the time had to operate in. This old kit as said is not very accurate and it is devoid of cabin detail, having also raised panel lines, but the fit is quite good, and the engineering uncomplicated, which is appreciated. As many other old vintage kits, it can be converted into a fair representation of the original withy some love and time. I would say that the skill required for this conversion is within the reach of committed modelers that had already ventured into some kit-improving and detailing. Provided you invest some time and effort, you can obtain a large number of civil airliners from this kit. As stated in the building article, Kora Models has some sets that cover a few of the choices (not sure how accurate they are, mine had some glitches), but combining different issues of the Italeri kit (radial, inline, short tailcone, long tailcone) and doing your decals you are also set for a nice ride. Since there is so little material about this Chilean machines (I have all what is to be found online, by the way), I am eager to know if fellow aviation enthusiast from Chile could come forth with more photos. For what I can tell, no registrations or logos were painted on the upper surfaces of the wings,. and only one photo hints at "LAN" painted underneath the right wing.

Beautifully clunky, or clunkily beautiful, the Junkers Ju-52 is known by all. Historical notes pertinent to the Argentinean machines and model construction intricacies can be found in the building article: A product of the great mind of Hugo Junkers -who the despicable and utterly rotten nazis ousted of his own company and basically pushed to death- the Ju-52 became a symbol of roughness and endurance, flying even today. I have chosen for this model a more uplifting role and destiny, a nicer guise under which its industrial lines can be better appreciated, with a colorful scheme used in the southern routes by Aeroposta Argentina, in vivid red and metal to make it as conspicuous as possible during cold weather there. That high-vis scheme saved many lives on July 1946, since Ibaté had a panne on the snow and ice during bad weather, but was quickly spotted by another Aeroposta plane. It took a few days for a land-based rescue party to arrive and evacuate the crew and passengers (during that time they stayed inside the plane), and some more days of walking and horse-riding for all of them to arrive to safety. The plane was later repaired in situ, and eventually flown off to continue its service. The incredible saga of Aeropostale -and its successor Aeroposta Argentina- is a wonderful tale of adventure and daring, a romantic endeavor elevated to mythical proportions, and its pilots, French and Argentinean, legendary for their skill and courage. All of the available 1/72 kits of the Ju-52 need many corrections to depict the truly civil version of the type, since the kits in the market (and many of the converted real machines) are just ex-military frames adapted to civil use (which poses for the modeler a doors and hatches issue). The necessary set was commissioned from Arctic Decals, no model would exists without them. So here it is, a strange metallic bird flying over the Argentinean coastal and Patagonian landscapes, bravely enduring the harsh weather conditions and the scarcity of resources, aptly and boldly flown by its pilots.

I am ever looking for conversion projects in order to redeem boring and drab doom machines into colorful, joyful, useful and uplifting models. Many times the suitable kit happens to be a very old and outdated one. Perfect examples of those endeavors are -among many I posted here- the two Westland Everest planes: That, coincidentally, were re-issued by the same company that boxed the Proctor: Air Lines. This for what I can tell was originally a Frog mold, and it also more recently came out as a NOVO boxing (which already gives you the clue that you are communicating with the spirits of the departed kits...). On the pro side: you can get them for an affordable price, they are abundant as most modelers moved on the better and newer releases (and for good reasons), and if you botch one you just trash it mercilessly and forget about it, no stress ruining a good kit here. So, I got this old and humble kit and started to look for nice civil liveries, of which I found a lot. But soon I discovered that many of my potential subjects actually belonged to other variants of the type, and would require some modifications. Since a reasonable improvement and detailing of the kit already would consume certain time, and not wanting to get into a building quagmire, I discarded the subjects that belonged to other marks of the Proctor and centered on a few candidates that were more or less a direct adaptation of these machines into civil use. The parts were liberated from the ever-present flash, cleaned up, and slightly refined. My boxing -bought 334,677th hand- was missing a side window, no big deal. This area needs to be opened up, so one hole and two razor cuts do the trick: Vent drilled: Another small intake drilled: All locating pins were removed since invariably they actually dis-located the parts they were supposed to seamlessly align, and stabs and wing halves were shaved a bit, since they sinned of fatulence (yes, correct word, no typo, it describes a known kit malady that makes kit parts -especially flying surfaces- look excessively fat).