Junkers Ju-52 "Ibaté" airliner, Aeroposta Argentina - Modified Italeri 1/72nd kit

Beautifully clunky, or clunkily beautiful, the Junkers Ju-52 is known by all.

 

The necessary set was commissioned from Arctic Decals, no model would exists without them.

Historical notes pertinent to the Argentinean machines and model construction intricacies can be found in the building article:

 https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/04/junkers-ju-52-aeroposta-argentina.html

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).

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.

And it goes in the box with two other friends so it can converse:

 A 1/48th scale set was released by Arctic Decals: