Introduction to Modelling Ecuador

 INTRODUCTION

This will be the first entry in a new blog series I want to do about modelling the Ecuadorian military.

Ecuador has a certain fascination for me, & it is part of my long-term plans to emigrate there at some point. Naturally as a model builder I have an interest in modeling the Ecuadorian military, as a consequence.

I primarily model armor models, but I occasionally dabble in aircraft or naval models. The most challenging part of this process is that Ecuador uses several non-mainstream suppliers for equipment, or some older systems. The modeling world tends to focus on either new kits of modern equipment, or on major historical periods (like, for example, WWII). In addition, references for equipment are not always easy to find. 

The objective here isn't just to highlight the models I build, but also to provide English language references for the subject as well as suggestions for others if they wish to model Ecuador's military.

BRIEF MILITARY HISTORY OF MODERN ECUADOR

Since the beginning of the 20th Century, Ecuador has been involved in 3 different military conflicts, all of which have been with Peru.

The first conflict (& opportunity for modelers) is the 1941 conflict with Peru (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuadorian%E2%80%93Peruvian_War). Very little documentation or references exist for the Ecuadorian side of this conflict, so there is little modeling opportunities here (though so I understand Ecuador used a lot of Italian equipment, including Italian style webgear for their official uniforms). There is much more information for the Peruvian side, including some good modeling opportunities. Peru was the second nation in South America to use tanks (the first was Bolivia, using the Vicker's 6-ton, though technically Paraguay could be counted as the second, as they may have captured some tanks from Bolivia during the Gran Chaco war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaco_War).

The next conflict occurred in 1981 & is called in English Paquisha War (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paquisha_War). This conflict gives modelers more opportunities for subjects than in the past. While Ecuador has maintained an air force since at least the end of WWII, this was the first opportunity for that air force to prove it's ability in combat. In that conflict Ecuador used both the Mirage F.1 (still very new for the country at that time) as well as the A-37. There was at least one dogfight between Ecuadorian & Peruvian A-37s during the conflict.

Finally, the most recent conflict was the Cenepa War (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenepa_War) in 1991. In this conflict, Ecuador was still flying the Mirage F.1, but was also supplemented by Israeli built Kfir C.2s as well as SEPECAT Jaguars. This is a more interesting period to model.

Unfortunately, these last two conflicts were, on the ground, a light infantry fight. So there was not a lot of opportunity to use armor. That being said, there was a lot of interesting equipment on the side of the Ecuadorians that could potentially been used in combat, had it occurred.

SCOPE OF THIS BLOG

In following additions to this blog, it is my intention to outline what kits are available, divided between air forces & ground forces, as well as follow up articles when I end up building these subjects.

The next article I will write will go over the current equipment structure of the Ecuadorian Air Force, & what kits are available. Later I will do an article about the Ecuadorian Army & the kits available.

This is not the totality of equipment used by Ecuador historically, & may follow up in the future with discussions about other equipment used by Ecuador in the past.