Potez 25 Aeropostale/Aeroposta Argentina - Converted Special Hobby/Azur/FRROM 1/72nd scale + Arctic Decals

 

The aviation feats of the small bunch of French pilots and mechanics opening the Argentinean skies through Aéropostale/Aeroposta are legendary. To have an idea of the magnitude and scale of the pioneering French endeavor uniting Europe and South America -and also creating the internal connections- have a look at this article:

 And this PDF (where the other Potez 25 model posted on the blog, F-AJDZ, is featured):

https://potez-25-une-passion.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Bs-As-Santiago-Exploitation.pdf

This is the second model obtained by kitbashing the Special Hobby/Azur/FRROM Lorraine-engined TOE and A2 kits of the Potez 25, plus some scratch and corrections. This particular plane is one of the five operating in Argentina by Aéropostale/Aeroposta (F-AJDX, F-AJDY, F-AJDZ, F-AJZS, F-AJZR) and the only found so far in photos and newsreels with a bi-color scheme, but it can also be seen in overall white aluminum.

The step-by-step building article is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/01/potez-25-f-ajdx-aeropostale-aeroposta.html

The other model built (F-AJDZ) of The Andes fame can be found here:

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

The five Argentinean Potez 25 were not standardized, and they differ from each other in many details, and much more so from their military origins. Even the way their marks in civil service were applied is inconsistent as it can be easily verified from existing photos. Modifications, some scratch-building and corrections are necessary to represent these civil planes. FRROM has issued a decal sheet that covers several of these machines, and Arctic Decals has a sheet to cover this bi-color version of F-AJDX.

It took many long hours of reading and looking at images to disentangle the details of the two machines modeled, in the process discovering all the areas that needed addressing. The modifications, deletions and additions needed to adapt the kits to portray the different civil machines are all depicted in the two building posts.

My thanks to Francisco Halbritter, Gilles Fontaine and Mika Jernfors, among others, for the help and comments received while building the models. 

 

 

Gruman Widgeon - KP 1/72nd kit civil conversion + Arctic Decals

 

The Grumman Widgeon started as a project for the civil market, but ended up serving mostly in a military capacity; it reverted, nonetheless, to its original planned role and it’s still flying today. It can be seen in a number of very beautiful civil schemes and serving in many capacities, pity that many manufacturers don’t care much about civil machines. Here are ten pages of civil Widgeons (some converted to other powerplants):

https://www.airhistory.net/original-type/718/Grumman-G-44-Widgeon

So as an alternative to the not particularly appealing schemes offered in the different boxings of this kit,  here is the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service Grumman Widgeon, based on the relatively recently released KP kit. This in turn is most likely based on the Pavla kit, with some improvements and some other things that were lost in translation. For the complete, extensive report and the step-by-step article please go here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/02/grumman-widgeon-civil-conversion-of-kp.html

I would buy and build this kit again in spite of its few shortcomings. Some features were deleted, others modified, and more than a few things were added to obtain a more convincing replica, all within the scope of some healthy modeling and a little scratchbuilding; so nothing to fear but fear itself… and yet it has to be said that this kit is better suited for modelers with some experience. This kit would be in a much desirable league if released with photo-etched and resin parts, and masks.

To represent this particular machine a set from Arctic Decals was used.

Work on the kit:

-Control horns, aileron and flap linkages were added

-Aftermarket nav. lights used

-Cabin door and mooring hatch were both opened

-Cabin interior was added

-Wing light replaced with home-made reflective lens

-Aft bulkhead and a couple of structural features added

-Cleats and handles added from spares

-Antenna added

-New scratchbuilt propellers

-Side windows replaced with acrylic panes to improve clarity

-Elevator mass balances replaced with home-made items

-Pitot replaced by home-made item

-Molded-in dihedral corrected

I could find at least three Widgeons that operated for the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service. They differed in minor details, like the type of propellers they used and small variations of their painting schemes.

Thanks to Patrice Roman who provided photos that helped a lot with details and to Mika Jernfors for his –as usual excellent- work on the decal set.

So now you can visit on the blog two Fish and Wildlife Service planes (the other being a Republic Seabee), a Boeing 247 with National Parks, and a Norseman from the Forest Service. These agencies -and many others- are invaluable in a number of capacities for the benefit of all the population. Any government damaging in any way these institutions with a long tradition of service for the common good (by indiscriminately firing its employees and cutting without further study their budgets) demonstrates very little intelligence and understanding and a complete disregard for the common citizen. A healthy democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people, and not a free for all for billionaires.