Handley Page HP42/45, Contrail vacuformed 1/72

(This is the building article, for the completed model please go here:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/09/hadley-page-hp42-hercules-modified.html

I owe the pleasure of this kit to fellow modeler John Eaton, that very kindly let it go so I could have a go at this extremely exciting build. As we corresponded, John commented on what must have been to travel to exotic places on this gentle beast, in absolute luxury that only the well-heeled could afford.

As many of you know, there were in fact two of these Handley Page types, the HP42 and HP45, four machines each. One covered the Eastern routes while the other covered the Western ones. They differed on the powerplants and seat number and arrangement. Many other external details varied from plane to plane too, so as usual photo references are a must.

I have wanted to build this vacuformed kit for a long time. And to think that I believed that I was handling a "big kit" and model when I built this same manufacturer's Blackburn Kangaroo, but this behemoth is far, far bigger, almost 55 ctms. in span (that is for you still leaving in the dark ages about 21 1/2 inches). This design epitomizes "The Beauty in the Beast" character that I so much love about vintage, Golden Age planes: ungainly, preposterous, but ultimately irresistibly charming.

Through the years I gathered so much references on this type, that only to go trough the graphic material takes me hours (I just did it, again), not to mention the written portion of it that I leave for a rainy day (or days).

The Contrail kit is not state of the art as we all know, but I believe it will provide a decent base for a good model.

The kit , reputedly released in 1982 (37 years ago!!!) comes with some goodies in the form of Aeroclub's white metal engines and four-blade props, some airfoiled material, a metal rod for the landing gear, a few molded parts (wheels and such) a cut of clear (now yellowed) plastic and some extra styrene sheet. Accompanying the package are printed instructions, quite clear for what I can tell at a glance, and clearly printed reference photographs, not the fuzzy blackened photos much newer manufacturers some times provide. A big decal sheet is also provided to cater for (I think) every HP42/45. Not sure about how it survived the passage of time, we'll see. This kit also provides a full interior, cockpit and cabin.

There is a particular piece of engineering in this kit, as the cabin interior is eventually wrapped with a shell, which sides have the curtains already molded in, and you have to cut off the "window" area. That sub-assembly is later enclosed by the fuselage sides. 

The monster kit:

 Some details included, among them Aeroclub white metal engines and props:

 Contents of the box:

 Interior well provided:

 The cabin "shells":

 A Parnall Pixie (same scale) could take off...

 ...and land on the wings:

As explained above, the kit gives the two seating options, eastern and western, with different cabin arrangements. Since I am not decided on which one yet, parts are separated for both:

And in case you flop a corrugated part, know that styrene sheets with similar patterns are available in some model train and hobby stores:

The fabrication of the home-made seats starts:

My plan is not to replace anything that doesn't really need replacement. I will work on the interior of course since it gives me joyful and playful pleasure. I don't want to mess with the flying surfaces (although I am tempted to replace those tail surfaces which I can make in a snap and would look much better), and I don't want to mess with the fuselage, other than adding the many steampunk thingies protruding everywhere seen in many photos. I will replace the tail wheel and associated parts, and perhaps the main wheels which look a bit off.
I am also thinking (DO NOT TELL ANYONE ) of replacing the whole two sections of the front and aft window areas for strips of some sturdy clear material (since those two areas were flat, not corrugated), and just mask the windows, adding vinyl window frames in metal color. The frames as they are in the kit leave much to be desired, and I don't have photoetching capabilities, so the vinyl will be ideal (I have used "chromed" vinyl frames from the Arctic Decals set for my DH89 to great effect) That will eliminate the need of individual windows painfully fitted, and/or the dubious prospect of a clear strip behind the fuselage sides and that cumbersome "fuselage capsule" that the kit provides as a (literally in this case) convoluted solution (which I don't quite like).
So far my ebil plan.

 As I look again at references (it's amazing how much is online readily available) it's clear that apparently each plane had different decoration solutions, and some photos even show seats with no upholstery pattern at all, just plain textiles. Cabin trimmings vary too.
Beware that the photo in the (otherwise very nice) "Imperial Airways, The birth of the British airline industry 1914-1940" book by Robert Bluffield, that states that the interior photo is from "Hanno" is a mistake, since those are clearly the seats of the Short S.17 Kent, even if you can see a very deceptive tailcone structure behind the cabin. The Kent had it too.
So once more modelers and scholars are mislead by miss-captions -and I must say- some lazy research, since the seats of the HP42/45 had a very particular shape with the curvaceous double slope in the middle of the back support.
So once more: once you set on which of the eight planes you want to represent, bear in mind that interior and exterior details varied from plane to plane, and not only the two marks (42/45).
Speaking of windows, the kit has a flaw in that regard, since it positions both window rows in the same baseline, which is incorrect, since photos and factory drawings clearly show the aft row "rising" a bit, to better accompany the cabin floor angle upwards towards to the tail:

And the allotation of seats is completed:

Bad (but predictable) news, the protective paper of the decal sheet fused on, after almost four decades, so new ones will have to be commissioned:

 Not even in water the protective paper will let go of the decal, that otherwise is completely ok:

Funny that the decal did not shatter or broke down, it is perfectly ok on the other side as shown, but the protective paper is firmly glued on the front:

Some parts are separated from the backing sheet. Notice the small parts still on a scrap, those are the two odd seats that are located back to back to the cockpit bulkhead, and where smaller. Needless to say they need to be replaced (only for the "high density" configuration):

The size of this giant is made evident by the comparison with the in-progress Caudron C.366:

  A hair was embedded in the plastic, most likely a wholly mammoth hair, given the age of the kit:

 The molded items are coarse and their mold halves mismatched, sanded equal here:

 The tail components are liberated. Absolutely unnecessarily thick, which will make their thinning a sanding nightmare. Why the manufacturer put this parts on the very thick sheet and not with the thinner "capsule" parts will remain as another kit industry mystery that not even Poirot could solve:

More elements are extricated from the backing sheet:

 Still more to go:

The remainder of the parts is freed.
It is of note that through a molding trick, the slats and top wing wing leading edges curve down and in, in what is called an undercut, not easy to achieve on a single mold, but if you do it only in one way, you can pull the molded sheet first a bit to one side liberating the undercut and then up. Clever.
I did not bother with the capsule since at this point I don't think I will use it:

Instead of providing a cohesive body of notes regarding the many aspects of the build (historical, technical, sociological, psychological, political, culinary and the like) all that is needed in one place, I decided to just sprinkle them here and there, which is immensely more fun and utterly impractical.
So here we start:
-The tail fins do not conform to upper stab intrados as the kit and many models present it, but are slightly separated and pinned.
-Early Hannibal shows additional diagonal strut at the wing tip (later replaced by cross wires), and small stab trim.
-Extra cargo door on some on the aft right fuselage after corrugations (not on Horsa or Hanno)
-Two finned oil coolers on diagonal struts upper engines (among the myriad of gizmos that bristle all over the surface of the planes)
-Photos show the same plane with and without nose light (Hengist) or superimposed two two-blade props and four blade ones (some of the rest).
-The lower wings have a corrugated area at their roots. Those are not to be butt joined without alteration to the fuselage, but have to be altered to partially conform to the fuselage contour as shown in photos.
All models I have seen have it just butt-joined without alteration, which is inaccurate and also slightly alters the span, augmenting it:

It's only occasionally that the goddess fortune will smile upon the modeler, but today is one of those occasions. I found good wheels to replace those not so convincing from the kit. IIRC, these came with a flying model, bless their balsa wood:

A quick rummaging through the spares produced suitable cockpit seats, some potential pantry and radio elements, possibly a support for the instrument panel, and a couple extra parts to remind myself of things needed (oil coolers, for example).
No weekender, this one:

Some bulkheads require a double corrugated surface, so they are glued to similarly-patterned styrene sheet:

Sanding begins, and then goes on, and then goes on, and on, and on...

 Reducing the thickness of the part on the left to the one on the right:

More sanding ensues. If you dpon't want a clunky-looking vac, you have to put some effort in it. I remind you that you start with this:

 And you have to get to this:

This -that loose sort of filament- usually gives you the clue that you are about right:

The double-faced bulkheads are ready, and some of the other elements have been sanded already too.

Stabs and vertical tails are united:

Doesn't look like much, but it took several hours to get there.

I decided to replace the rudder servo tabs, since the kit's, a bit chunky, wouldn't really do:

 The new parts have a better airfoil:

 A cap present in the plane is added:

 Work is a bit procrastinated due to the parallel build of an Aeroflot bus (modified 1/72 GAZ-30 kit):

The biplane, three-ruddered, twice-tabbed tail had a complex control mechanism (no kidding).
 The suggestion of the kit to glue the vertical surfaces to both stabilizer surfaces is inaccurate. It took many photos and a couple of diagrams to figure out how all works. Besides, as time went by the manufacturer introduced visible changes (horizontal servo tab ahead of the upper stabilizer or not; no bracing, two braces or four braces holding the upper stabilizer from the central fin, etc). The vertical surfaces were "glued" only at the bottom, and have quite a gap at the top, slanting backwards. The incidence on the top horizontal stabilizer is less than that of the one at the bottom (something also commonly seen in biplanes).
Accordingly slots are carved, holes drilled and metal parts inserted, besides adding the anchoring pins:

Now this:

Has to become this:

I wasn't satisfied with the kit's floor and floorplan, so I cut a new floor from styrene sheet and adjusted the locations of dividers according to another source. Besides, the same way I doubled the bulkheads with corrugated styrene where they may be seen that way from both sides, I added smooth styrene to the smooth side of the bulkheads that face the cabin, since the cabin side of those bulkheads wasn't good enough:

The kit has the spaces smaller:

The interior fits comfortably in the fuselage sides, and the two portholes align well with the bathrooms. The parts seen on top are the bathroom walls and doors. The surfaces of all parts in the kit have many pips and some imperfections, product of the vac cottage process. Those will need a few sessions of fixing:

The surface is riddled with imperfections, as you can see. Even as old as this kit is, it seems that is going through puberty, and its covered with zits:

 Oh, Lawdy Lawd, as someone infamously said:

 And yet, a valiant, if not successful attempt was made by the manufacturer to represent surface detail as rivet rows and such:

 I will have to make a tool to pass along the corrugations to clean some of those pips. The bigger one leave pinholes when removed. Oh the delights of modeling...

Work commences to clean the imperfections on the corrugations:

 Same area cleaned up (before the escape hatch)

 And again a couple of those ridges:

 And gone:

If the surface is not immaculate, it is much better than what it was:

Here is a bus in the same scale of the HP42:

 It fits comfortably inside the cabin:

To build a model of the H.P.42 with certain degree of detail and accuracy presents itself as an impossible modeling premise, so it has to be boarded with possible premises, what can you do today, what the material and information you have at hand.
The reading and processing of the reference material is on itself a monumental task, but none well worth the effort, as you discoverer so many useful things. Today I discovered that there was a service window between the steward compartment and the bar, exactly as in a bar, so to speak, so I removed the pertinent partition and practices a window, and made the seats for the passenger bar, together with the toilets, that you may need after you have visited the bar, and especially if the flight was bumpy:

I also took note today of how all those doors open (towards the inner space of the hallway and restrooms in that section, for example, and noticed that some of those doors have windows, so not to smash the face of the person coming the other way.
One of the considerations is of course as usual how much of all this will be seen. We know the answer: almost nothing.
But we can help some times: I noticed that there is a hatch that communicates the cargo haul with the mid-section hallway, and since I plan to open the external cargo compartment door, I can leave the hatch open and therefore provide a glimpse at the bar! mind you, just a hint, but hey, a welcome one since the effort is made anyway.
This is all so much fun!

Some after-market trunks are separated for later use:

Work continues: wheels caps are given their inflation access holes, the cargo hatch is opened, some structure is added, the seats are being painted and the toilets are ready to paint:

The fit of the interior and fuselage sides is tested, fortunately no need to shave anything. Keen eyes may notice that the flat spine on the fuselage top runs all the way to the end of the corrugations, which is inaccurate, since that spine only run to meet the first pair of wing "V" struts; after that is normal corrugations:

So the aft part of that spine will have to be removed, and corrugations somehow restored using the same "corrugated" styrene sheet I employed to do the reverse side of the partitions that needed it.

The inaccurate sections are excised:

 A new section is made with the "corrugated" styrene sheet, cut to size, and packed to reach proper thickness (the fuselage side are thicker than the styrene sheet):

 The patch is divided in the middle and glued to either side:

 Here is the resulting correction:

 Good news: since the fuselage sides are (of course) not mirrored, the two windows after the two small bullseyes correspond to the steward section and the bar, so the hatch on the opposite side on the cargo bay will not be the only view of that area, and more light will come to the interior:

Doors, hatches and windows start to be cut out. I removed them without damaging them, but that is totally unnecessary, as all need replacement with finer parts (the kit's detail is either soft or blotchy):

 There is one more luggage door to be removed, after the main body on the right fuselage side, but that was not present on all airframes, so I will wait a bit on that until I decide which specific registration I will be modeling:

 Things start to get more interesting, as the effect of the work is tried out:

Now is the time to excise the whole window sections. These will be replaced as stated at the beginning of the build with clear strips that will eventually be masked, and then rimmed with vinyl "chrome" flanges. Pothoetched frames will do great here, but I do not practice that art:

 Cutting out these sections will greatly debilitate the shell, so extra care must be exercised.
The shells will be now fragile and very flimsy, and extremely prone to crack at the least provocation, so this is no time for katana shenanigans alla Kill Bill:

 All sections removed without accidents, fortunately:

The patch seems to work, but it highlighted the very poor kit's emergency hatch frame, which now I will have to replace too. Sigh...
And whatever is that little square bit after the hatch (also part of the inaccurate spine?) has no correlation in reality that I can tell:

Offending bits out:

 The little area behind the hatch is restored, and a new hatch made.
I may leave the hatch out, as during refurbishing or maintenance, to grant more visual access to the interior:

Next task is the wings. Their sheer size posits some discomfort at the time of sanding the trailing edges and truing the leading edges:

 The top upper wing offers a dubious solution, the leading edge wraps around a bit:

You are supposed to do this: 

 

 But the vacuum draw of this feature has created a thin and very fragile leading edge that came pre-craked on my sample:

 Thus I will have to mend the leading edge from inside with some styrene rod, which also will confer some rigidity:

Bear in mind that if you want to cut free and use the slats deployed (I will) you have to deal with that avoiding the reinforcement there:

 The kit provides extra slats, that could be used to build their lower surfaces (the had volume, like a little wing, not just a bent surface):

 To true that leading edge is not an easy feat, given its fragility and flimsiness, and the difficulty to do it evenly on half-meter span wing. I call that "solutions that create problems that need more solutions", and I believe this is how problems procreate and disseminate:

 Also bear in mind that the lower part of the wing has to coincide at the trailing edge, so I advice you use it to trace a line on the reverted leading edge as a guide to where to stop sanding or cutting it.
I am not particularly fond of the engineering solution in this kit:

A rod is cut and bent to follow the dihedral, later to be glued against the leading edge:

 The slats are cut away:

 Since the kit does not provide patterns for the spar or wheel axle (in spite of mentioning that you should create them), a photocopy of the plan is used a guide.
The instructions, now that I am paying more attention to them, are almost laughable and of course fuzzy and uncertain (the spar for the lower wing comes to mind), as it seems to be the tradition on kit-making, with very few and honorable exceptions:

The fabricate the lower part of the slats, a thin styrene sheet is carefully bent:

 They are separated at the middle of the bend and glued to the slats. Once the glue has set, the excess will be trimmed, and the trailing edge thinned:

A three-part spliced spar made of light plywood is made:

 Then superglued to the top upper wing:

 

 The two lower wing halves are glued, and the slats (two spares) are ready to tidy-up:

The top wing is assembled, using epoxy on the top of the spar and normal plastic cement on the periphery. Care is needed here to avoid introducing warpage. Wing must be checked from front and back, and work out any deviations. Not easy with that span:

The upper wing engine fairings halves are glued together. Being prepared you can see the "triangles" that lodge the rods that connect with the slats, pivoting and allowing for its movement:

I used to consider research superfluous, thinking -in my naiveté- that kit manufacturers dutifully studied their subjects. How deeply disappointed I became after a time, discovering that many of them actually almost never go beyond the very superfluous, not to mention trying to depict something accurately.
The bright side of this is that in committing to do some research for my modeling projects, I discovered a universe of history, engineering, wonderful anecdotes and the incontrovertible fact that many things that are considered true are Mickey Mouse fantasies, blatant generalizations, bogus assumptions and hand-me-down misconceptions.
Research has become for me entertaining, exciting and pleasurable, not a duty or a burden.
And speaking of which: on this photo I found two small auxiliary struts, that are seen in only some of the HP42/45, and not consistently on the same machines through time. Visible on this image is the only roof feature, a vent, instead of the truckload of tin cans and intakes, outlets and such normally seen in this area on HP42/45s.
Of note is that the circular porthole in the area of the ladies washroom appears partially covered in many planes, or later on time on the same plane, no doubt to preserve the ladies from the curiosity of...birds? stowaways hanging from the wing struts?, hum perhaps from indiscreet sights form the maintenance crew during pit stops...ah...an euphemism, in the case of one of the sides of this story.
Study your subject...and study it along its lifetime, things may change...

The area behind the slats is filled with a "ribbed" piece of styrene:

 Both areas now done, and waiting for later refining:

 Since the wing is now "closed", and the cement is still venting, holes are drilled where the engine gondolas will later be to help with evaporation of the solvent (in turn, when the engine gondolas are cemented, the vapor will vent towards inside the wing):

The locations for the struts are marked in the kit almost everywhere they are needed (not on the aft upper engine gondolas for some reason, so you will have to measure, mark and drill holes as said on the aft part of the upper wing gondolas). Being the kind of person that needs sometimes to learn the lesson twice, I dutifully drilled all holes. But in the back of my mind memories started to creep about another Contrail Dinosaur: the Ineffable Blackburn Kangaroo that I built not long ago. And yes, the locations of the struts (and ailerons, and other things) were totally messed up, so they had to be measured, relocated where needed, etc.
And what do you know! here too, there are discrepancies between the two lower wings, some marks being 2 and 3 millimeters out of place.
While you check this on yours (if you happen to build one), bear also in mind that the distance between struts (fore and aft) is bigger in the upper wing that on the lower wing.
Hence new holes are drilled and the old elegantly plugged with some styrene rod:

The double-surfaced slats are ready:

The upper wing engine gondolas are attached. Their fit has to be adjusted:

Assembling of the tail begins:

Assembly of the tail continues, and the tail wheel complex is under way. The kit's tail wheel is inaccurate both in shape and size, so it's replaced, as were the main wheels. Furthermore, the injected parts in the kit associated with the tail wheel are laughable miseries, and were mercilessly thrown in the trash can:

I finally decided which registration the model will bear (a secret for the moment). Consequently, since that registration had the aft cargo haul, and the kit presents none, the door is drawn with pencil and the part excised, carefully. The actual door did not look like the removed part (it was smooth and had structure behind), so a new one will have to be made to replace it:

 In a sequence that very much reminds me of Jorge Luis Borges' "Garden of the forking paths", where every path divides in two, now I have to create that aft cargo haul itself, adding floor and a corrugated bulkhead:

The new cargo haul door is made:

 Some structure is placed on the opposite side of the area:

The additions are checked as always with yet another dry fit:

Holy corrugations, Batman!

Almost every model I have seen so far made form this kit presents a problem regarding the insertion of the lower wing in the fuselage. It is usually solved with a flat butt joint not shaping the corrugations on a curve, but that's not how things are in reality. The issue is that the kit's fuselage cross section is (surprise!) not very accurate, and it's more boxy (squarish) than it should be. The drawing bellow shows the differences with some exaggeration -but not much-, to make the point:

 You can see that the lower half of the wing extends further, while it should be the upper half the one that should do it, since it "mounts" over the fuselage in real life:

 This is how things should be (as per the real thing), and the pencil line shows what photos of the real plane show :

 Not only that, but the wing should be inserted with a noticeable angle of incidence:

This means that some complex shaping will have to take place on both lower wings to accomplish a realistic joint, plus meet the spar, plus achieve to be symmetric to the other wing, in all axis. Trembling and biting nails yet?

The cockpit/radio area is a bit vague in the instructions, and does not match well with I can see in photos. This assembly is a bit provisional, so I can put it in place and see how things work. As usual, the side of the kit parts that face the cabin should be smooth (the kit's parts show a wobbly surface product of the corrugations molded on the other side) and a doubler has to be glued on. The cockpit floor is oversized and will have to be trimmed back:

That particular corner of the cabin -because of the configuration created by the partition angle- had an odd, smaller, asymmetrical seat, that needs to fashioned:

Research provides responses to many questions. I was looking and looking for the second pair of oil coolers, and couldn't find until today, because it was located on the plane's armpit:

Several ebil plans are taking form.
To start with, there is no problem with normal modeling on shaping and thinning the plastic, it can be brought to adequate gauge sanding the corrugations on the wing root from underneath, and the rest of the root can be carefully conformed to the fuselage shape (besides the fuselage area that it will cover could be lightly sanded a bit):

As per the spar, I will try to circumvent the kit's solution of a flat 1.5mm spar made of sheet, and instead will try to apply what I used on my Rohrbach Roland, aluminium spars within aluminium sleeves (images of the Rohrbach model):

This arrangement has the advantage of self-alignment, i.e. the dihedral is set as well as at the same time the wings can not deviate back or forth, nor change their incidence (they can't "twist") a movement that a round spar/sleeve could have allowed.
Just in case, I pulled from the bottom of the magic drawer some corrugated aluminium sheets I bought about 12 or 14 years ago. One has its label, the other I have no idea of the brand. Both were bought from model train stores that are no more (like all the hobby shops that were in my area). This in case I need to change the plan and use something like that:

Preparing the spar and sleeve of adequate size:

 

Sumarizing: this is what most builders did, but joint and leaving all corrugations outside the fuselage. Again, not a mortal sin, but ideally those corrugations should have mounted on top of the fuselage:

 This is approximately the incidence of the wing, the leading edge more or less coincides with the stiffener that runs the length of the fuselage, whilst the trailing edge "drops" to a place about mid-way from the stiffener and the top edge of the windows' panel:

 Viewed from the top, we can see that some sizeable amount of material will have to be removed for those corrugations to mount over the roof. If that happens to have a not very pleasant finish (being the corrugations too thick and not blending well on the roof), then the real corrugated aluminium sheet will be used):

Accordingly, a spar and sleeves are fashioned following the angles on the plan, BUT not the measures on the plan, that do not correspond to the actual kit parts (i.e. width of fuselage):

 The exit points are measured and cut on the fuselage sides, with just a bit of wiggling, to have some adjusting latitude:

 The spar will attach to that partial bulkhead and divider:

 Then, eventually, the sockets/sleeves are going to be epoxied inside the wing roots before any assembly, that is: the sleeves will on the spar (the loose spar, that is, off the fuselage), epoxy applied to the sleeves as the wings are rigged on the board at the proper position. Once the epoxy is set, the wings are removed from the spar, and eventually the spar glued in the fuselage. At a later stage the wings will rejoin the assembly, with their sockets firmly in place and correctly pre-aligned:

The front emergency hatch is removed, to provide yet another visual and illumination access:

The tail assembly is completed. I'll leave the rigging and a couple of structural members until paint is done:

Interesting how it looks when you provide scale:

Now it's time cut cut away the cockpit window panes. Instead of cutting three individual panes, the area is removed and the frames will be later added as decals or aluminium strips. The first side panels are carefully cut with a new blade:

 The front panels are approached in a different way: a hole is drilled, and then an then a bit on the rotary tool is used to enlarge it:

 Then an Xacto or files can be used to remove the rest:

 The top windows are incorrectly depicted in the kit, so they are re-traced in pencil:

 The same procedure is repeated, some drilling, some carving and the refining. At this point the are has been weakened, so caution is needed when carving, cutting and filing:

If you commit a mistake, vacs are in general more tolerant, and you just simply glue a piece of styrene where you carved too much and wait until is completely set before re-carving or cutting again.
Another approach will be to remove the whole area and build the glazing up with clear material sections, or carve a master and vac the glazing. I have done all of these in other models, but here, given the astronomical amount of work still needed in this model, I will keep it simple.

All the openings that can or need to be practiced are already done:

Now it's the turn of the landing gear. The metal rod provided with the kit is too big and can't, in any way, be wrapped by or inserted in the leg parts provided. Yet another aspect of kit fantasy here. There are two solutions: to make the "wraps" in embossed styrene and keep the thick rod or to get another, thinner piece of metal, which I did, with some brass "Strutz".

 The legs as they come are very long (intentionally?) so eventually they will have to be cut to size:

 The mounting holes are drilled and the metal part tried out, to good result:

Next is the window areas. I started cutting CD liners, but since some of the windows had a slight curvature, I switched to polycarbonate of about the thickness of the fuselage walls. Both materials are not easy to cut or sand. A thin interior flange (to be applied) will eventually keep them in place with some glue. The kit's clear plastic is unusable due to yellowing:

The cockpit and radio sections are added to the floor:

 Always checking that the structures coincide with the openings as they should:

The work to furnish the cockpit begins. To the left, the instrument panel provided in the kit, to the right, the home-made one:

 Dressing continues:

Other parts are adapted:

For relief and brief change of scenery a 1/10th Cox Baby Bee engine is done:

Some of the parts are added:

A little bit here, a little bit there:

Some of the parts are given a coat of primer to asses the surfaces and details. In the foreground the interior of the civil Ju-52:

I hope it's enough for 40 passengers...

A few more details, and some painting go on:

Two interesting links to era newsreels and documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6CeQiXHlAU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kuDb9h_b9M

Meanwhile, the masks and frames arrived from Arctic Decals:

In doing some trials for the insertion of the clear strips in the fuselage sides I realized that normal cement wouldn't do, so I tried Plastruct Plastic Weld which worked well on scraps.

Now that I have gotten the masks, the transparencies are are carefully glued:

More details on the interior, and preparation of door, hatches and the like:

Some details are taken care of:

More elements are added to the interior in preparation for the seats. One of the trunks is seen with labels pasted on it:

The seats are now given a base color:

The seats are glued in position:

The kit's mudguards are awfully inadequate, so I first tried to make them with engraved and pressed  styrene:

 But that did not work, so I used one of the wheels I substituted for the kit's (awful too) to vac a couple of mudguards:

 Some tweaking and a better result, but still have to add the ribbing and "flatten" a bit the trailing edge:

The tables between opposite seats -as seen in photos- are added.
I asked my British wife if she would use the brand of hygienic paper suggested here by some members, and she blanched and was outraged. She said it was unladylike and ungentlemanly-like. So my passengers will most emphatically be using toilet roll, which I added too, and thank you very much but you can keep the creased sandpaper called Izal to yourselves as used in your flying saucers, offices or schools. My passengers were reputedly paying the equivalent of 20,000 pounds for the longest trips, so I think they deserve at the very least the courtesy of civilized toilet rolls, even if they lack bidets, which is on itself a scandal and not at all posh:

Finally the task of masking the windows inside and out for painting is on:

A series of interlocking tabs -generally utilized in vac kits- is added to augment gluing surface and confer rigidity. Care must be exerted not to interfere with the location of bulkheads, hatches and such:

The ceiling for the two cabin sections will be proved as separate parts -with lights and such-, doubling as tabs too.

The cockpit glazing is tackled. There only six panes, but it took some time to measure, cut and adjust them one by one:

 Once the interior painting is done, they are going to be installed and masked before joining the fuselage sides:

With a bit of masking and unmasking the different sections get their base colors. Once the paint is dry, details like ceiling lights and luggage racks are going to be added, before peeling off the inner masks on the windows:

Details, and more details: the inner structure of the fore door:

Luggage racks built, and spare windows adapted as light fixtures:

And added to the fuselage:

Hum...did I forget something?...yes, the curtains. These were just a very translucent sort of lace, perhaps white, very light in any case. To the board now, lets take some measures and get at it. Internal masks removed first:

The cockpit glazing is added:

By the way, the kit's original "shells" have the wrong window curtains. No photo of the several dozen I have shows that kind of curtain (as molded in the parts), but a parallel two-rail (above/below) endeavor:

The fuselage is finally put together, a nerve-wracking business:

 

State of the union:

White metal parts are cleaned up and polished in preparation for priming and painting:

Da Monsta:

The tedious and insipid work of tidying the seams begins:

The kit was not particularly precise on this regard, and the edges were somewhat wobbly and of course did not coincide in a natural fashion, hence the need of those tabs. A lot to do here.

Primer is applied to the fuselage. Now all major structures have been primed:

The superb decal set arrived from Arctic Decals:

The task of correcting blemishes on the mold seems never to end:

More little blemishes are corrected:

 The tailwheel structure is glues in place, the fairings of the landing gear legs are added. These have to be trimmed and carved in order to fit:

The white metal parts are primed:

Needless to say, the seat of the tail group requires re-shaping and re-angling via a shim. I am grateful that this kit exists at all, but frankly I get wary of correcting Contrail mishaps:

Some color is applied to the metal parts:

Part of the slat and aileron mechanisms are added:

The detail on top of the upper wing is being added now:

Now some of the detail under the nose:

The original plane had walkways around the engine nacelles, so those are replicated with alu foil:

 The key part of the build, one that will determine the alignment of the whole structure, is sorely misrepresented by the kit engineering.
We have determined early in the build that the lower wings DO NOT butt-join the fuselage on its sides where it's flat, but instead the top skin mounts over the fuselage top in the shape of an arc (as photos of the original plane show), and the bottom of the lower wing is what touches the fuselage side.
This implies adjusting the root to a complex and changing shape, not to mention that the wing has also incidence.
I devised previously a spar-and-socket anchoring method, and now have to adjust both wing roots in all axis, as I install the sockets inside them with epoxy.
Bellow you can see the hole where the spar will go:

 And below the very beginnings of the shaping of the root.
Again, this is by far the most sensitive part of the building. Not only that, but butt-joining as the kit suggests displaces the lower wings by a whole centimeter out, producing -down the lane- strut geometry issues (since the lower wing span is inaccurately increased):

Many details require attention and planning. Here the holes for two control cables that run from the upper wing to the fuselage:

Here is a photo from the Net showing the cables and the way the upper skin of the lower wing mounts over the fuselage:

Each carburetor had two intake pipes, one on each side of the lower nacelle:

The lower wing spar is epoxied in place:

Slowly and little by little the proper shape is given at the wing root to match the fuselage:

 To add the carb intakes unfortunately, for no valid reason, I had followed the wing mold partition line as a true horizontal reference, which was an incorrect assumption, so a new reference line is traced with pencil to later re-position the intakes parallel to the ground:

The HP42 is seen in many photos being pulled by a small vehicle, a Citroën auto-chenille kegresse P-17 (a half-track vehicle). Friend Mika (thanks!) was very kind and generous and sent a resin kit of that vehicle as a gift. Here we see the contents. This is a typical kit of cottage industry, with its pros and cons. It needs careful cleanup and the instructions are not at all what they should for a kit, so references are a must. No doubt when completed this will be a nice addition that will enhance the model presentation:

 Parts cleanup. The detail is good and much care has been put into the masters, but the molding process created some mismatches and rough areas. There are parts for many versions, many won't be used here:

 The drawing is close to useless for any serious purposes, so plans and photos need to be consulted:

I wash small parts in a fine mesh coffee filter cup with soap and a somewhat bristled brush, then rinse thoroughly:

 Assembly begins, some fiddling needed. To the right the discarded parts not pertinent to this variant:

 The scratched flat top in place:

 A couple details added from the spares (hook, eyelet).
The model is now ready for basic painting:

I molded another pair of mudguards for the HP42, a bit wider, and glued thin strips to them that later will be subdued, in the third iteration of those parts (the kit's parts are ridiculous) since I wasn't quite satisfied so far:

The lower wings are glued in place, a somewhat tense operation, as one went in and was adjusted for angle of incidence and swept while the fast-curing  epoxy was setting, and then the other matching the first. The overlapping portion was sanded from bellow to thin it, but there is some more filing, filling and sanding to be done to better blend the surfaces. All in all, satisfied that this went on without major crisis:

The LG struts that run from nacelle to LG leg are prepared now:

The LG struts are dry-fitted in place to check length and angle, and then removed to facilitate later painting:

Parts belonging to the brake mechanism are made:

The beginning of the task of measuring and cutting the wing struts. Enough material is provided, but just, so no mistakes here:

Other small parts that grow over the skin of the plane are fabricated:

The slats are being prepared:

A dry run:

I was doing quite well with the Kegresse, priming:

 Applying the color and fiddling with alternate lights:

 Adding a light seen in photos to the windshield frame and cutting a "glass" for it:

 Painting the undersides:

...And then I removed the masks. Previous photos show that I thoroughly cleaned the parts. I used the paints and masks I am using currently without issues in other models. So this looks to me as extremely stubborn de-molding agent, you know, the bad quality type.
I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am:

 All paint removed and back to square 1:

The flare dispensers are made. I can see three slightly different models used over a period of time on the same plane:

Finally, the paint stuck on the energetically scrubbed surface of the resin:

Another coat of primer after all the patching and sanding:

A coat of Alclad gloss black base. After handling the minute Short Satellite this feels like trying to airbrush and elephant:

The tail unit, that will require the addition of minor struts and rigging, is painted first in white aluminium:

Photos clearly show tonal variations on the surface of the plane, due to different skin materials (fabric, metal), and areas of high-polish (the nose).
The first areas to by dealt with are those highly-reflective ones, that later will be masked to proceed with other tones of metal:

The high gloss metal areas are masked:

 And then another metal hue airbrushed:

A few more parts are getting ready:

In turn the last hue is masked, in order to apply the next one:

Waiting for a few touches and the clear coat. After that, it will be unmasked and some details will be added:

The usual approach of handling and painting all the model's components at the same time was not practical here, so early on I decided to treat this build as composed of one monoplane, a flying wing (the upper wing) and a medium size biplane (tail unit).
The tail is ready for its rigging, and now the monoplane is getting close to its final stages:

I started to install the Arctic Decals "chromed" vinyl window frames, which are used in conjunction with their window masks. They confer that extra touch of niceness:

The tail unit starts to receive its rigging:

Shifted attention to the upper wing now:

Different hues of aluminium color are airbrushed:

The three main elements are now ready for final assembly:

The wing struts are being shaped and given a locating pin:

Some airbrushing goes on together with other projects' parts:

The door is being dressed, including a placard from the Arctic Decals set:

 Other parts have been painted and sealed (oil coolers and vents). A garland seen in photos is added to the door, above the placard:

 Struts, Venturis, generator prop, etc., already painted and sealed:

Solder is drilled on one end, and attached to a pin that is part of the exhaust ring of the engines. Once in place it will be bent according to photos. The two lower ones had what looks like silencers, perhaps for the benefit of the passengers:

 For new elements (diagonal streamlined braces and rods going back on the wing) were added to the L.G. assembly, as well as the two lower oil coolers:

In my thermoluminescent and unfathomable wisdom I realized that, contrary to custom, in this particular case, decals should be applied before final assembly and detailing, considering how magnificently encumbering will be trying to operate the lumbering giant once finished,  turning it this way and that, with all those prickly and delicate things and its massive bearing:

And better do the same with the tail unit:

The tail unit is glued to the fuselage:

The engines of the upper wing are glued on, their exhausts anchored. Their positions (asymmetrical) are mirrored, the right engine (viewed form the front) external exhaust coming from 4 o'clock relative to the engine, and the internal at 10 o'clock (i.e. the internal pipes will be shorter):

 The heat exchange sleeves (mirrored) for the external exhausts of the lower engines are fabricated. They will be painted, anchored to the nacelles, and then the pipe coming from the engine inserted:

The plumbing for the lower wing engines exhausts is in place now:

A small hatch on the fuselage side and what looks like some drainage below the restrooms area are added:

Before proceeding with the final assembly, more decals are added and other details added in hard-to-reach areas:

 The cargo hatch and the brake wires are added:

The decals from Arctic Decals are very nice indeed:

A major build landmark was reached today, the upper wing is finally on:

 Only the external struts were glued, the rest will be inserted gradually mirror-fashion, checking that no distortions are induced, and adjusting lengths as (and if) needed:

With each pair of struts the whole becomes more rigid.
I twisted myself and contorted so amazingly to put those struts on that I could work on a circus:

I knew, as I was taking measures from the plan to make the struts, that their relation to reality (i.e. : the model) would be vague, to put it mildly, so I made only a partial set, and left the rest for now, that the first group is in position, to take measures directly from the model in order to make the remaining eight struts the right length. Here are a few (on the desk, to the right of the model):

The remaining struts being painted:

Almost all struts in place, only missing the diagonal in the engine area:

Diagonal struts are added:

 Cross-rigging and upper engines oil coolers in place:

The remaining decals, antenna wire and four masts, air klaxon, the lost wind-driven generator prop, the weight for the trailing antenna, all the Campbell Soup cans, the hatches lids, two additional rigging wires for the tail, and so on and so forth, are now added:

 The hubcaps I forgot to make to anchor the external rods of the mudguards:

Here is the step stair in process:

Some H.P.42s had a small reinforcement strut, but not Heracles:

The step stair is close to completion. The Arctic Decals sheet includes a metallic ink lettering image for the stair steps, as seen in photos:

A few more details, and if everything goes right the model will be ready:

The step ladder is completed as per images:

Here we can see a similar step ladder being transited by two mature Sloane Rangers:

To be continued...