Good luck with the purchase Nerys ๐ค What size/scale is the model?
BTW: Don't knock the Chilean Navy๐
From the late 80s til about 2008 I worked with all sizeable navies in S America from Columbia down to Chile and Argentina, with the exception of Peru. Didn't fancy the cholera risk in those days!
Of all I found the Armada de Chile to be the most professional, their ships much better maintained and, although not the largest (on paper๐ which title went to Brazil) probably the most effective if push came to shove, which they have proven many times in their history.
Not too surprising as their origin goes back to Admiral O'Higgins and close cooperation with the RN.
I was impressed with their conversions of two of the Counties to upgrade aviation facilities to Heli Carriers. Came out of the radio room, along a transverse gangway, stepped through the W/T door at the end and found meself on the edge of a dark sea grey football field ๐ฎ
My job was to update and upgrade the COMMS, esp. radio systems, HF & V/UHF to include DATA transmission, LINK 11 etc. And together with a colleague from Siemens (who became a life-long friend) to design a modern digital Tactical Command Intercom system which was integrated with the radio systems.
On my first ship survey my ghast was absolutely flabbered to discover that that the Command Intercom 'Switch' still consisted of an Able Seaman with a telephone standing in front of a huge panel of sockets on the bulkhead and an equally huge cabinet on the deck housing cables with mating plugs. Phone would ring, someone requests a connection from A to Z or to radio Y ; ABS hauls cable A from cabinet and plugs it into socket Z or Y as appropriate!!!
We replaced that with a 19" rack unit about 18" high containing an automatic ISDN switch. (Later versions were Giganet LAN) Ancient Plessey? 4" cube modular user terminals (min 4 modules per station!) were replaced with compact 1/2 19" 2 height unit Intercom Boxes providing one touch connections. Don't know what the ABS did after that๐ Practised his snooker perhaps ๐
Similar with the radio systems. I surveyed the Radio Room and adjacent HF Transmitter room. Conclusion: with modern units we don't need the extra TX room anymore (it was full of huge valve amplifiers) - but it's just about big enough for a half-size snooker table with coffee bar on the port bulkhead ๐
The COMMS Officer kept a straight face but the Radio Techs / Operators looked happy!
Great fish restaurants in Valparaiso; tuna and swordfish fresh off the dock just across the street ๐๐ During lunch I used to enjoy watching the antics of the Pelicans basking on the shed roofs in the harbour. Oh Happy days ๐
And Antarctic Crab just has to be tasted to be believed!!! Used to cram as much as poss into my case on the way home. Costs a fortune here, IF you can find it.
Have also eaten
Beluga Caviar
in Moscow and fresh caught salmon in Canada and Norway - sorry - very nice, but no comparison to that crab๐
Ramblin' FLEET signing off for the night!
G'night All ๐ค๐ค๐ค