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1/48 Hawker Hunter Mk.71 (FGA 9) Chilean Air Force - AIRFIX KIT


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Dear friends,

 

On 1967-1968 the Chilean Air Force (FACH) received the first of 54 Hawker Hunter Mk.71 that served in the skies of my country until December 1994.

Worldwide known are the images of the coup de etat of September 1973, when a flight of Hunters shot Sura P-4 rockets on the Presidential Palace helded at the time by the socialist President Salvador Allende, who commited suicide later that day.  The accuracy of the Chilean pilots to hit the Palace located at the centre of Chile's capital, Santiago, and surrounded by taller buildings was a piece of crafted markmanship. Later, on 1978, the Hunters played a starring role on the Beagle Conflict with Argentina, a few of them being armed with the israeli Shafrir II missile, as the model that I show you here. They contributed to avoid an all-scale war with our neighbours. After the Falklands conflict in 1982, Chile received 14 Hunters (mostly FGA.9) from Britain as a gift for the help provided to UK during the short war at the South Atlantic.

 

Hunter J-702 was part of the first batch received in late 1967, and served until 1994, now been at exhibition as a Monument at the Ala de Abastecimiento.

Colors on Hunter J-702 are the same as the British cammo, with Dark Sea Gray and Dark Green as the upper colours and Light Aircraft Grey as the down side color.

 

Hope you like it, a few differences with the FGA.9, and some twicks have to be made on the good Airfix kit to really represent a Chilean Cazador.

 

Cris.

 

 

IMG_E9703

 

IMG_E9719

IMG_E9716

 

IMG_E9704

 

IMG_E9702 IMG_E9746

 

Edited by Cris Garcia
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  • Cris Garcia changed the title to 1/48 Hawker Hunter Mk.71 (FGA 9) Chilean Air Force - AIRFIX KIT
45 minutes ago, Winded Penguin said:

Very nice build. Lovely details and history 👍

Can you advise where did you source the over wing ejector units?

They aren't in my kit, but I'm aware I need them for an F6A build.

Thank you very much indeed!

Oh, for the over wing ejection release units I used some spare parts from the Kinetic Sea Harrier FRS 1 flaps. Also from the Kinetic SHAR were used the large auxiliary fuel tanks, as the Airfix F.6 kit only provided the smaller ones. 

 

Best regards, Cris

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1 hour ago, luis pacheco said:

Great one.

 

Home made decals ?

Yes, but only for the "J-702" markings. I cut some masks and give them a chance, as the Vespa Models decals for the Chilean and Peruvian Hunters were intended for a different era markings of the same jet (smaller). The Chilean markings come from that set of decals by Vespa Models.

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Beautiful work👏!
I have to admit that for years I have been planning to do the very machine that attacked the presidential palace. So I would like to ask you for a profile or a picture of the said plane (if you are able).
Greetings from Serbia! Bojan

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32 minutes ago, boom.boom said:

Beautiful work👏!
I have to admit that for years I have been planning to do the very machine that attacked the presidential palace. So I would like to ask you for a profile or a picture of the said plane (if you are able).
Greetings from Serbia! Bojan

Hi Bojan, the specific planes that attacked the Presidential Palace are not known for sure as the videos and photos of the moment are quite blurry. But you can guess them regarding the unit asigned for the task. In case you want to build a Chilean Hunter I highly recommend that you can buy the excellent book (on Amazon, as e-book too) FIRST HAWKER HUNTER CHILEAN FORCE. I attached some profiles of J-702 from the book. Greeting, Cris.

 

Captura de pantalla (264)

 

IMG_9655

 

IMG_9642

 

Edited by Cris Garcia
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Really impressive Hunter Cris !!

And thanks for the story too, I appreciate when kits come with a background story !!

Congrats !!

CC

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12 hours ago, boom.boom said:


I have to admit that for years I have been planning to do the very machine that attacked the presidential palace. So I would like to ask you for a profile or a picture of the said plane (if you are able).
 

 

The pilots and some of the planes few weeks after the attack.

 

 

 

 

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@Cris Garcia @luis pacheco Thank you both! This is gold mine! ...All right, maybe not mine but gold nuggets perhaps.

We can be sure that plane from Aviation Group No.7 took part in the attack and we can see the pilot in question on the video. That should be enough to detect the exact plane too?

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2 hours ago, boom.boom said:

@Cris Garcia @luis pacheco

We can be sure that plane from Aviation Group No.7 took part in the attack and we can see the pilot in question on the video. That should be enough to detect the exact plane too?

 

J-702 from Grupo 9 flown by Colonel "Libra" attacked the radio transmitters. 

 

J-722 and J-726 were the ones from Grupo 7 used to attack La Moneda. 

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1 hour ago, luis pacheco said:

 

J-702 from Grupo 9 flown by Colonel "Libra" attacked the radio transmitters. 

 

J-722 and J-726 were the ones from Grupo 7 used to attack La Moneda. 

Hi Bojan, you can find additional info about the Hunters involved in the events of Sept. 11, 1973 on the book by David Francois titled "Chile 1973. The other 9/11. Downfall of Salvador Allende". 

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Turned out great! :thumbsup:

Playing with the thought to build  J-702 too with the Airfix kit, but in the desert scheme

Which rockets did you use? How did the Vespa decals work? Any problems?

 

Cheers, Reinhard

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1 hour ago, Reini78 said:

Turned out great! :thumbsup:

Playing with the thought to build  J-702 too with the Airfix kit, but in the desert scheme

Which rockets did you use? How did the Vespa decals work? Any problems?

 

Cheers, Reinhard

The kit in general is quite good. Just a few things missing, but not a big problem. Overall fit is very good, not Tamiya good, but very good.

I didn't use rockets as I decided to show it with the Shafrir II missiles, as the 1978 tensions with Argentina arouse regarding the Beagle Channel controversy.

 

Desert scheme! Nice! I've seen it very few times. 

Vespa models were excellent.

 

Best regards, Cris

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Lovely finish! 
Just a side note on the Airfix kit to make it more of an FGA.9. Those flaps were for the F.6 so to make it and FGA.9, all you would have to have done was cut a small corner off in the bottom left and bottom right for where the flap would form around the larger 230ltr tanks and just glue it in place to the wing instead. Easy fix for an easy conversion. 
Love this though, I'm a made Hunter fan so to see something not RAF is pleasing.

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9 hours ago, Cris Garcia said:

The kit in general is quite good. Just a few things missing, but not a big problem. Overall fit is very good, not Tamiya good, but very good.

I didn't use rockets as I decided to show it with the Shafrir II missiles, as the 1978 tensions with Argentina arouse regarding the Beagle Channel controversy.

 

With rockets I meant the Shafrir missiles. Did you use aftermarket ones, took them from another kit or from the sparesbox, or did you use suiting Sidewinders?

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