Potez 25 F-AJDX Aéropostale / Aeroposta Argentina - Azur/FRROM/Special Hobby 1/72nd scale conversion

 

(Still frame from a widely posted clip on the Internet)

This post deals with the second Potez 25 for the Aéropostale / Aeroposta Argentina F-AJDX.

As explained in the original post found here...

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/01/potez-25-aeropostaleaeroposta-argentina.html

...it was decided to create a second post -covering the build of this second model- for the sake of clarity, but both had that common origin where many details were discussed and some additional info provided, so you may go and have a look if you are building these versions.

The other model, whose assembly will continue to be posted in that original post, is F-AJDZ (the one that went down in the Andes with Guillaumet). 

The five Potez 25 in civil service in Argentina belonged to two types, and all in turn differed from the previous military versions they derived from to some extent.

So I will proceed here with F-AJDX, the plane that at one point was painted differently than the rest (fuselage front, wing struts and LG in maroon as other Aéropostale planes), had a different fuselage bottom, and various other particular details.

For the two builds I am combining parts from the TOE and A2 Lorraine boxings, as they offer many duplicates and alternate parts. Still, to obtain two different models some mods are needed, and a bit of scratchbuilding too.

This second model is being built using mainly the TOE boxing, but many parts as explained need work to be accurate for the Aéropostale plane depicted.

-All military equipment needs to be deleted, internally and externally, and its traces which are molded on fuselage and wings, erased

-The cylinder fairings on the nose cheeks have to be modified (this boxing has a different type)

-The smaller radiator is the one to be used

-The “fatter” strut landing gear is the one needed

-The second position in the fuselage needs cutting off and reshaping (beware that the cutout shape was not consistent from plane to plane)

-An aftermarket decal set by FRROM that covers the Aéropostale markings needs to be acquired

-A “flat” metal prop needs to be fabricated copying the one provided in the A2 Lorraine boxing

-The “thin” fuselage bottom is the one to use (deleting completely any detail on it by filling and sanding)

-The shallower belly fuel tank is the one to use

-The detail on the back of the bulkhead that separates the cockpits needs to be deleted 

-A wind-driven generator has to be fabricated and added to the right of the fuselage front

As mentioned, the fuselage "cheeks" need to be modified. First, the wrongly shaped cylinder fairings for this version covers are removed:

A wall of styrene sheet glued on with the cutouts for the exhausts:

A tube is cut in half, a small section matching the cutout removed:

A rod the same diameter of the cover is rounded at the tip:

The tip is cut off, and halved:

The half glued at the front of the cover:

Any small differences when gluing the radiator can be dealt with with a pass of a sanding stick:

The front of the cylinder fairing needs a hole drilled, and the radiator a cap added:

A prop needs fabricating copying the one in the A2 Lorraine boxing. The wood prop provided goes to spares bin, as none of the five Potez 25 in Aéropostale service used it:

The fuselage second opening needs redoing. The molded detail is removed, that rectangular relief on the side needs deleting:

The area in red will need to be fabricated with curved styrene sheet. (This opening is different on F-AJDZ):

The fuselage bottoms once readied. The one to use here -as explained- is the lower one:

A little airbrushing with base colors:

The wing has some locating holes for accessories belonging to other types, and they should be filled (pity they didn't just indicate them in the instructions, as they did with the extra fuel tanks, as it is not easy to fill them and re-establish the ribs detail). The holes are plugged with styrene rod:

They are cut flush:

Tape is used to frame the now missing rib detail, leaving a narrow gap:

Putty is applied. Once dry, it's sanded and the tapes removed:

Like the exhaust stacks on the sides, the one at the top is impractical to hollow, so the detail is removed and the locations of the stacks drilled (I am working here on the parts for the two models at the same time):

Metal tubes will be added later (dry run here):

The exhausts on the sides again are replaced by fabricated ones with tubes instead of pips:

Work on the interior. The kit doesn't provide instrument decals (in spite that there an indication on the instructions), but the panel has relief. Aftermarket instruments were used. The kit's detail parts for the aft cockpit are all discarded, as they belong to the mil. versions. The space will be filled with home-made mail sacks. Photos show a cover for that mail compartment, so modelers could opt for just re-do that fuselage area with the cover -and no interior-, simplifying the build:

The same plane being modeled here also had the all-white aluminium scheme::

The aftermarket decal sheet from FRROM. It allows you to model three planes, the instructions are in  English and French, and it details the changes to be made to the kit to match the planes flown in Argentina. This sheet can be used with the photo right above, but if you want to model the plane with the maroon color additional decals will be needed:

The rib detail reconstructed over the filled spots:

The locations for the wires are drilled on stab and fin. A notch is made and an aftermarket control horn is glued to the rudder. The measurement corrects a typo in the kit's instructions:

This plane had as mentioned a wind-driven generator. I made a couple (I always make two of any accessories to choose the better one) of teardrop-shaped ones, mounted on a toothpick in the photo, but looking at photos I realized the shape was different, as in the other two:

As a building strategy I like to have ready all the ancillaries, rather than be hindered at the end of the build fabricating them.

This plane had mudguards, absent in the kit, so they are fabricated with thin styrene sheet:

The modular nature of the kit, which allows multiple versions to be released by changing some parts, makes the assembly somewhat more challenging. The beveled joints at the fuselage bottom add to this challenge. The approach I will attempt is to glue the fuselage sides together at the back and top, and introduce all the interior parts from below, closing the fuselage with the bottom part. Then the lower wing (which needs insertion at this stage following the instructions) and nose can be added. We'll see how this works.

An aft bulkhead and "cabin" floor are provided in the sprues for other versions. I used these parts for the two civil models. In this case, as this plane had the "thin" floor, the bottom of the bulkhead needs trimming back or it will interfere with the floor:

Painted and ready to be added later. There is a hole at the back that will carry the cable into the fuselage:

The red area is roughly what needs to be fabricated to obtain an accurate mail compartment section. As explained, in F-AJDZ the opening had a different shape:

The plug is inserted:

To be continued...