Hawker Hunter FGA9 FACH...

Friends, Hunter is one of the most relevant military aircraft in my country. The first jet in Chile's air force was the British Vampire a first generation jet fighter, but Hawker Hunter was the backbone of our air force for many years. Early in the sixties, HH increase our air force inventory and, soon, became the main support for almost every kind of military missions. Moreover, it did operate in the north part (desert) of our land and in the extreme south (at the bottom end of American Continent). For that reason, our HH wore the typical british mediterranean camo scheme and the desert scheme based in sand tones paints.

Despite its fifties vintage appearance, we should agree that this is one of the most elegant and beautiful airplanes ever designed. 

This model was made with the very old Airfix 1/72 kit. I wanted to do a tribute to both: the marvelous FACH Hawker Hunter and the Airfix kit (that takes me back to childhood), reason why I do and Out Of the Box version. My only effort was thin the trailing edges and fix the moving part (two of the most obvious problems with old kits according to actual standards), getting a very decent model.

To do a Hawker Hunter model is a must for every chilean modeler. Next, I'll try a new one with the excellent Academy 1/48 kit.

T-6 Texan FACH

Just before USA entered the war, Chile put an order for the excellent AT-6 advanced trainer.
This machine flew over every zone in our extensive territory. It's was sturdy and dependable and had a long operational life.

This is the Academy kit in 1/72th scale. Easy to build. FACH T-6 wore a lot of schemes, some very attractive indeed. But I choose the boring natural metal finish of the early service times because I needed to practice and test some Model Master buffing paint shades.

The result was very close to old pics shows...

P.S.: (03/2015) The numeral of my subject didn't exist. FACH T-6 was numbered between 200 and 299 and I modeled a non existent plane, because, en rigeur, no one T-6 in FACH inventory used this kind of loop antenna.

C-45 Expeditor FACH 481

I was born in Punta Arenas, Chile, besides Magellan Street in front of Fire-land Island at the extreme south of American continent. At first part of sixties, Chilean Air Force (FACH) still operates C-45 in that city. I remember that was an old, slow but sturdy enough to fight against the strong wind in the area. A small air flight company operates C-45 between Punta Arenas and Porvenir across Magellan Street. I did this trip some times (I was a kid then) and will never forget the terrifying impression of those flights, specially in the returning trip to Punta Arenas when the wind caught us in the middle of the Street...the five or six passengers prying in silent, some crying with both hands in there faces...in the last flight, I told my father NEVER MORE, PLEASE...after that I flew over the Street in DC-3 and in AVRO HS-748...but this is another story.

This model represents a typical C-45 in FACH livery of that era. The kit is the simple Pioneer 1/72th scale...the clear parts are horrendous and needs a lot of work to get an acceptable result.

Nardi FN-305 FACH 1

Our country was one of the few foreign customer of that ship. The only batch arrived in 1940 and had a very short operational life, basically for the unusually high rate of accidents caused by the fact of the high landing speed and the retractile undercarriage. Many pilots forgot to down the undercarriage with the consequent results.

My father in law tell me that when he was an air force recruit in the second half of forties, several times he and his squad was carried to backyards to disassemble Nardi's putting its pieces apart by means of axes!!

This is the Azur 1/72th kit.

 

DHC-6 Twin Otter FACH 956

This extraordinary plane has a long and proud operational life servicing our extreme south territory in the hands of our air force pilots. Chile was the very first customer of that plane (before canadian air force or civilian use in Canada) and quickly became a winner. FACH Twin Otter's still be the most important media to reach isolated places in my country.

The old Matchbox in 1/72th scale is a very good rendition of this beauty ship. I'd decide to paint her in actual continental service scheme...my next DHC-6 project will be dressed in overall red antarctic scheme.

This model represents a DHC-6/300 operating in Puerto Montt air force base.