Everest Expedition Westland Wallace PV-6 G-ACBR, Frog/Novo 1/72 kit adaptation

(THis is the building article, the completed model can be seen in this post:
http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/02/172-nd-westland-wallace-g-acbr-everest.html

How many times have you heard the story of a Frog turned into a Prince by a kiss?
However, let's be clear: I am not starting to kiss Frog kits in the hopes that they will magically convert into something better, but I am willing to put a few extra hours to perhaps achieve a nice, decent result.
We civil modelers have a much reduced range of choices when it comes to kits available for our modeling tastes, so we have to take advantage of a number of kits that are out there and can easily (or painfully) be converted/adapted into civilian machines.
In this case, however, this kit was actually released in the guise intended, long ago, by several manufacturers, using -reputedly- the same molds. Frog, Novo, Maquette and even Hasegawa ( shocking!) apparently have proffered the now classical: "Release the Kraken!"
How did I come by this kit?
Well, there is this Evil Genius you may have heard of or read about in my postings : Zoenke, from Volkania (actually that's is his super-villain name, he is actually Sönke Schulz, from Lübeck, Marzipanland). He sends evil kits to torture me, usually beasts that you have to struggle with and tame into submission to create a model. And this was one of those.
He is so evil that in this case he had (on purpose) glued the fuselage halves together without the interior bits, so I had to practice some surgery to be able to install it.
Not only that: he had thrown away half the fin and the windshield (the latter surely an unusable chunk anyway). But in lieu he included a disc made of styrene sheet -see photos bellow- which use or purpose is hidden to me.
I am not breaking ground with this build, there are a number of these Everest Expedition models on the Net, built with different degrees of success. All G-ACAZ models I have seen unfortunately did not take in consideration some of the differences described immediately bellow. I am planning on using the Arctic Decals set for the Wallace G-ACBR, but I am also building G-ACAZ:

 http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2016/09/everest-expedition-westland-g-acaz-172.html

 Beware that there were many very visible differences between these two planes, some of which are: different wing tip/ailerons, different landing gear, absence (in G-ACAZ) of the little cutout inside the bigger cutout on the trailing edge above the pilot, G-ACAZ does not have a rudder/elevator trim tab whilst G-AGBR does, G-ACAZ does not have the "zippers" to access the structure from the fuselage side, but has a small rectangular window on the side towards the bottom, and many, many others that will be detailed as we go. 
By the way, G-ACBR did not fly over the Himalayas with any kind of national markings, like rudder flash or cockades. The rudder flash is visible in some photos of the plane, taken either before or after the Himalaya flight. Another quite visible difference is an additional diagonal wing strut in G-ACAZ between the two inner front and back struts (the aft one has the large thermometer visible in photos on both planes). G-ACAZ has a flat central wing panel and dihedral on the exterior panels, top and bottom wing. The strut location is also different and it is related to the different landing gear arrangement. The lower wing cut out diagonals meet the fuselage directly, and not a small straight section as in G-ACBR. G-ACAZ did not have wingtip skids like G-ACBR.

Fly with me, as we conquer our own modeling heights:

Sönke sent what you see here. As you may notice, it is the Russian incarnation of the kit, to make things more difficult for me, since the instructions use Cyrillic characters:

 The pre-glued fuselage sans interior. Thanks, Sönke, this will speed things up :-) :

 Missing fin half, missing the entire rudder, missing windshield, and "The Mysterious Disk", made in the forges of Volkania by Zoenke for some purpose that has not been yet revealed:

 Had to remove part of the floor to be able to access the interior, for which I will provide some detail:

The kit's engine is of course quite outdated for today's standards, so if you are lucky and have an Aeroclub Bristol Pegasus (E032) with the right exhaust, good for you. I don't, but I'll use a "Radial Engines and Wheels" one. The exhaust will have to be scratched (sigh...) if I don't get an Aeroclub one:

 Engine comparison: guess which one came with the old Frog/Novo kit:

The decals I purchased arrived today from Arctic Decals in Finland; neat, well-packed, comprehensive and well-researched as usual. The decals come with a bonus: a CD with references:

Making the missing vertical tail:

The vertical fin halves are glued together. Once dry the separation line is going to be engraved:

The horn is in place and the separation line engraved. G-AGBR needs a trim tab added, but G-ACAZ doesn't:

The kit's engine is bollocks. Here I am starting the process of removing the front exhaust rim, to be used on the good aftermarket engine:

 Meanwhile the kit's horrid Townend ring is sanded to shape (to the right):

 The front rim separated:

 Townend ring, front exhaust collector:

 The ring at the back of the kit's engine is sawed-off too; a cut to clear the oil sump made, and it will be used as a necessary spacer between the resin engine and the front part:

Both wings have pretty noticeable ejector pin marks underneath. The filling and sanding is confined by masked rib bays to avoid detail loss:

The ejector pin marks are gone:

 A stamp that would have put in jail in the US during the fifties...can you believe that fascist bigotry?:

 More pieces are cleaned-up and readied for the build:

 You would think that the chances of having to deflect a soccer penalty shot are minimal on-board a plane, but the pilot and navigator believe otherwise, unless of course they are naughty boys:

 The main landing gear legs have those discs, common on old kits, that have nothing to do with reality:

 They are mostly removed:

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to deal with interior of the model on the pre-glued fuselage sent by Z, I decided to have a more Gordian knot solution approach to the closed fuselage conundrum, and literally  make it or break it. Fortunately it just separated neatly, which will now allow me to work much more comfortably. Some of the bumps present in the molds have been already erased:

The engine transplant proceeds, and the exhaust pipes are being connected:

 All the pipes that connect cylinders and central rim are in place. It looks like these leftover Vega pipes will do well here as exhausts, with the side facing outwards sanded flat:

The intake manifolds (18) are made and applied, since they are quite visible:

The engine is painted:

Beware that G-ACAZ has an additional diagonal wing strut between the two closer to the fuselage. The strut that carries the thermometer (back strut to the left of the pilot) is scratchbuilt:

A groove is made to later insert the "thermometer" made of stretched clear sprue:

Some sort of vent that is located on the fuselage top behind the Townend ring is fashioned:

 Some Fotocut (Fred Hultberg's) etched parts are prepared for assembly:

 The oil radiator parts assembly in progress. I really like Fotocut etched parts, and I am sorry that Fred's health is no good, since his products were amazing:

 Radio front, steps, pedal tracks:

 The oil radiator once more in progress:

 Final result:

 The kit's pilot seat is modified. A bulkhead separating the cockpit and the navigator/photographer's position is fashioned. It seems to have a sort of teller's box to pass messages. There was not seat -as such- for the navigator/photographer, some arrangement surely was made, but it wasn't a seat as the kit's, as you can easily verify watching the contemporary documentary on Youtube :

 The base for the instrument panel:

 The exhausts added to the engine, still to be painted:

The interior being detailed with scratched parts:

 I started to modify another of these kits to build G-ACAZ:

This second kit is an "Air Lines" very old release. If you look at the box illustration, it's totally misleading, an hybrid of the military version with civil regs. :

 The side of the box shows the correct airplane, though. Go figure:

 This outfit seems to have been associated with Testor:

The mold is exactly the same, but this is a much harder plastic, very brittle, and plagued with sink holes. See the difference between the Novo (white) and Air Lines (silver). Nothing you can't deal with, but my advise is that you steer if you can towards the Novo/Maquette releases. I got a couple of these Air Lines kits for a lower than usual price, but will have to work a little more:

I will open a different post for G-ACAZ:
 http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2016/09/everest-expedition-westland-g-acaz-172.html

Since the prop axle now has to fit on the aftermarket engine and not on the kit's part a new one is added by simply cutting off, drilling, and inserting a rod:

The cockpit interior for both models advances a bit with more details:

The cabin floor and a camera are made to be added later on. G-ACBR had a window similar to G-ACAZ, but also a circular opening for the camera:

More detail is incorporated:

The interior components are painted and glued in place:

Work continues:

 The camera window is dry-fitted:

 The observer's window is dry-fitted:

Instrument panel ready to go in:

Fuselage halves glued together:

A not-so-glamorous stage: puttying and sanding:

The fuselage is stuffed and plugged and ready to go for priming, together with other projects:

Primer on:

Wing and stab in place:

 Landing gear in place. The parts break-down and assembly engineering of this gear are one of the most absurd and impractical I have seen on a kit. You have to struggle to get 5 different parts all glued and aligned at the same time. A very poor job of kit engineering, even for an old and outdated kit like this one. Many kits released in the same year or thereabouts are well engineered, so time is not an attenuating circumstance, it's brains and./or care (or lack or thereof) what counts:

Metal control horns are added to ailerons and elevators, drilling rigging and control cable holes where needed. Control surfaces are glued and the rudder trim linkage added to the vertical stabilizer:

The cabin section glazing is cut to separate the fixed parts (windows) which are glued to the fuselage. New "movable" sections will be made to replicate the real thing and be able to have a peep at the interior, where the scratched camera will be installed afterwards:

Primer goes on one more time:

This image shows the model in this post, G-ACBR, and to the right the other Everest plane, G-ACAZ, that I am building in parallel, with the modifications needed:

The skids are added to the wing (not present in G-ACAZ), as well as a scratched small structure after the tailskid. Notice the double aileron control horn, single on G-ACAZ:

The base aluminium color is applied:

Two sets of hatch panels (just in case) are prepared and masked. The windshield, which is horribly thick, it's used to vac two sets of replacements:

Other metal hue is applied where the metal was exposed, and also on the after-cabin doors (will be seen from inside). The struts are airbrushed in their color too:

The masks provided with the decal set from Arctic Decals. They cover windshield, wheel covers, hatch portholes, fuselage top color, cabin windows and more:

A few things are adjusted before masking, and a mix of colors is before painting:

 Ready to proceed:

 The masks from the Arctic Decals set are applied and the deck color is airbrushed:

Arctic Decals masks are also applied to the windshields:

Airbrushed:

A clear coat is applied in preparation for the decals and then the smaller window masks are removed:

 The camera has to be installed inside:

 The home-made struts that hold the thermometers -that will replace the kit's normal but incorrect struts- are readied:

Decal application begins:

The two siblings. Still quite a lot to do:

Struts are put in place on the lower wing:

Windshield in place. Still to go, a number of control cables and all the rigging on tail and wing:

Upper wing on: