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 is F-AJDZ (the one that went down in the Andes with Guillaumet):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/03/potez-25-aeropostaleaeroposta.html

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 (this was found to be inaccurate, so go down to the actual section of the build where this is dealt with)

-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:

The instrument panel goes in. The fit is perfect:

Then the cockpit assembly carefully goes in. At the front there are two small prongs that go on holes in the fuselage. Again, perfect fit:

Then the parts that I used for the aft opening go in, overlapping a bit the cockpit parts. Once more excellent fit:

And then the beveled floor, that I suspected was -and commented above about it- a not very good. I have seen this solution tried by other manufacturers, and it usually doesn't works well. Looks good in the designer's computer I am sure, but not in reality, due to many reasons. Some filler and sanding will be needed here to get a good surface:

But the assembly sequence worked, and that's the main thing. Next, a bit surprisingly, is the lower wing.

To avoid marring other areas, I confined with the tape exactly the little gap that needs the filler. It'll sanded down, the tape removed, and then lightly sanded flush:

Then with that seam solved, other areas are puttied:

When inserting the lower wing, be sure you don't create negative dihedral (anhedral), as the fit is somewhat tight. Judicious and careful sanding will fix it:

The exhausts are glued from inside. Now using the Lorraine kit parts with the shallow tank part (this was found to be inaccurate, go down to the section that actually deals with this part) the nose is assembled and glued to the fuselage. This is a finicky assembly of the type I call "computer guy thought of it", as it is not easy to put together (you will see why when you do it). I see two locating features inside the "cheeks"  that may have been for a reinforcement/alignment part, but instructions show none:

The fit is fair enough, but you have to keep an eye:

The remaining three parts (two upper cowl halves, radiator) are set in place. The wobbly nature of the whole nose creates a challenge here, and doesn't help with fit. Both, the lower part and upper part of the nose definitely needed some -unfortunately missing- internal parts to stabilize them and provide an accurate overall shape. Still, if can be done, it won't impair your build, but this is a little bit of a let down on an otherwise excellent kit(s). This particular issue has been commented on by other modelers too. 

(forgot to add the front fuselage struts before this step, which had to be added later!):

 Once the nose is set, the next task would be to fill the gun trough on the right side of the cowl and make the surface flush and smooth. To start the process, bits of half-round and rectangular styrene rod are glued in place, so as to not use too much putty, that always tends to shrink forcing to re-apply:

Almost ready for the first coat of primer:

Working now on the many seams:

Further study of photos revealed that this configuration (shallow fuselage bottom) didn't have either the "thinner" or the "thicker" belly tank, but a sort of protruding, angular one. This was made carving a spare tank part, and it will be added on top of the one already glued during the fuselage assembly:

First coat of primer:

Oopsie! I forgot to glue the front fuselage struts while adding the front fuselage top!:

They are separated at the center

And added from each side taking care of the correct separation and angle (they angle slightly backwards). The funnel-shaped carb intakes are glued at this point too:

 Landing gear in place. The engineering is sound and precise, just needs attention and proper handling to go in. Just to keeps tabs, the model on this thread (F-AJDX) is in the background. Both models need the "fatter" landing gear legs option offered in the sprues:

Upper wing and struts ready for primer:
 

The windshields were modified for these civil planes, so you can't use the ones provided in the kits. They will need to be patterned and made from flexible clear plastic:

 The kit and the instructions omit the radiator cap. I first installed a short length of pipe, but later realized looking at photos that the pipe was airfoiled:

So I cut short lengths from an airfoiled strut and added a tiny cap on them:

The fuselage is painted gloss white first, instead of the usual base for Alclad metallics, which is gloss black, to help achieve the hue used by these French machines. The rest is being given a primer coat:

Once the white is set, a mist of aluminium color will be airbrushed to replicate the original color. Then the fuselage will be masked to only expose the nose and LG, and the maroon color applied there as well as on the wing struts. The front wing struts are kept separated to be able to ID them. 

A map of the Aéropostale routes:

The model is masked to paint the maroon area (together with the struts):

 

Getting ready for the final assembly:

As the struts are to-scale, mounting the upper wing could be a bit tense. 

But before the exhaust area has to be repainted (as it was not possible to mask it). It would have been better if the manufacturer would have made these parts to be plugged from the outside upon completion, than as they are, to be plugged from within at an early stage. Another clue that the computer guy and the modeler guy over there were not in sync in this regard:

The model is given a coat of acrylic varnish, in preparation for the final assembly and decaling. The new windshields that in these civil planes were different than those provided in the kit are fabricated from clear styrene sheet (in the foreground). The third row of exhaust stacks is added, as well as the second pair of cabane struts, measuring the distances from the first ones and among them comparing to the sockets on the upper wing. As the kit is engineered, you are left with the hair-rising prospect of attaching the upper wing without any secure guide. Why these second pair were not treated as the first (an insert uniting them and giving them the proper angles as with the front tones) we will never know. Actually, it would have brilliant if all those fours struts would have been provided as an insert in one piece, all together, all angles already taken care of:

Replacement windshields, tail rigging and tail struts on:

As this plane had lettering and color lines on the sides at the front, it's better to add those decals first to facilitate application. The scratchbuilt wind-driven generator -seen in photos and clips of the real plane- will be added after the fuselage decals too. 

This time I went for the masking of the upper wing to paint the black on the LE instead of the decal thin line as with the other Potez 25:

 

To be continued...