Boeing 247, backdated - Modified Williams Bros 1/72 kit

 The earlier 247, with different engine, prop, nacelle and Townend ring instead of NACA cowl.

The 247 protagonized a famous movie:

 

 

You can watch the movie (it has scenes filmed in the airplane) here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJriTN82Tk

The skinnier nacelles and rings are more obvious in this photo:

(The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/11/boeing-247-airliner-backdated-williams.html

Williams Bros. Boeing 247D is one of those almost eternal kits that seem to defy time, still holding on after decades of providing modelers with the only 247 available. Contrary to other kits, the Williams Bros. 247D is still built in numbers -as a quick search will corroborate, something surprising for a non-military kit. I have built not that long ago one in the National Parks Airways livery, modifying the kit to expand its possibilities, adding a bit of detail and opening the nose hold, the fuselage hold hatch, the cabin and cockpit internal doors, adding the missing restroom window pane -even providing a well-appointed restroom- and topping the build with a beautiful Arctic Decals set for it:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/01/boeing-247-national-parks-airways.html

Recently a lengthy chat on the type was started with fellow modeler Keith as he wanted to backdate the kit to the original configuration, with the narrower nacelle and the Townend ring, using the kit's alternate forward-leaning windshield. This reminded me that other fellow modeler, John Newcome, had already a go at it some time ago, still when our dearest friend Jim Schubert was among us. Jim was of great help for John's project, and we keep benefiting from his generous legacy of wisdom.

Regarding the specific plane represented here, Winston Churchill famously said:

"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."

And this is such a story, although in this particular case, the "right thing" never happened.

During the Spanish Civil War the Spanish extreme right wing supported by deranged military elements did a coup d'etat to overthrow the legitimately-elected government (I bet this sounds vaguely familiar to you). Supporting the insurrection where the P.O.S. nassis (surprise!) and no less despicable  (but rather pathetic) Italian fascists. The Legitimate Spanish government pleaded for help, and started to try to acquire material to defend itself. One such attempt was to buy several planes fabricated in the US via México (as the US stepped aside and looked the other way), three of which were Boeing 247. The US government (Roosevelt) blocked the attempt -following the well-known and short-sighted policy of burying the head in the sand- and the planes, forbidden from leaving the country, eventually found their way into local Mexican airlines. The US government will later pay a high price for this move, as the nassis pummeled Spanish civil populations "practicing" for what will become the Second World War. Not weeding the evil in time, and instead looking the other way, not supporting the legitimate Spanish government that eventually collapsed, will later on cost a great number of American lives and mountains of money, loosing in the process the potential ally democratic Spain would have been, and resulting in having to cope with a hostile franco (lower case) Spain that was obviously helping the nassis. Welcome to US foreign policy.

One of those Boeing 247 was the plane portrayed here, XA-BEZ, of Aeronaves de México / Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, later to become Aeroméxico. To reconstruct the history of these planes operating in Mexico in the late 30's and early 40's is quite difficult, and I encountered many contradictions between sources, and to my surprise almost all of them have these planes as model "D", which is of course inaccurate. The "D" (the model most people identify with the type) had an engine nacelle noticeably bigger in diameter, a NACA cowl instead of a Townend ring, a twin-row, geared P&W Wasp instead of the single row direct drive one, a different rudder hinge line, and in most cases a "conventional" windshield instead of the forward-leaning one.

What's involved in this conversion, as explained, is replacing the whole engine+nacelles, something easier said than done, and modifying the tail feathers. Still, we modelers are used to toil when we really want something.

Therefore in order to build the early variant you have to backdate the Williams Bros kit, with some labor involved. As mentioned above, I have seen this done in the past by fellow modeler John Newcome, the article can be seen here:

https://www.internetmodeler.com/scalemodels/aviation/Backdating-a-Williams-Brothers-1-72-Boeing-247.php

Scalemates gives the birth day of this kit as 1973, exactly 50 years to the date, yet as mentioned above this is still a viable kit, and in good hands can become a nice replica. Nonetheless, some archaisms are present, like the silly rendition of the antenna mast and tailwheel, presented in halves attached to each fuselage side, and the raised panel lines.  In my sample, this is compounded by a very white plastic, one of the stupidest choices of plastic color, as it impedes a clear and sharp view of the details you have to work on, deceiving your eye, if you will. Heller sometimes did this too, as well as other manufacturers, thinking perhaps that it was a good paint base. It isn't, and it's a pain. Needless to say flash is present too. 

 Work started by creating the basic cylindrical shapes from which to shape the narrower nacelles and the Townend rings, scrounging a single-row Pratt & Whitney Wasp and it's "pie plate" (thanks Lars Opland!). 

 Then the prominent oil cooler at the top of the nacelle was fabricated.

Photos show a "bubble" on top of the left engine nacelle. Present here are the home-made vacuformed nose hatches:

 One characteristic of the 247 that will contribute to his lack of success was that the wing spars impeded free transit on the cabin floor, and you had actual steps to get over them. The spars basic shape is represented in the kit, but as solid, thus they were "hollowed" to match photos (this is a part from a kit rescued from the torture chambers of Ebil Geniuz Zönke in Volkania):

 

Cabin door was left opened, cargo hold door drilled and another created and left again open, and  the small window on top of the restroom opened, the nose hold was fabricated to pose it again open, the exhausts replaced, more interior added (restroom and internal door), etc. etc. 

The reworked horizontal tail, other remnants of Zönke's dungeons:

The hinge line of the vertical tail needs a good reworking to backdate it:

The ejector tower pips need removal:

To clean the parts up took many long hours, showing the age of the kit, plus some genius at WB decided to locate the (mismatched) mold line in the middle of the seat, marring in the process all of them. A lot of scraping and sanding fixed that:

The early type used two or or three-blade props, unfortunately not the ones in the kit:

Tailwheel off, no more hindering cleaning:

Missing restroom window opened, luggage hold drilled open too:

Nose chopped to fabricate the small hold there:

 Internal doors are opened. The seats are assembled. For its vintage, the Williams Bros kit had a very nice interior:

The aft cabin door has a hole behind the molded seat that has to be plugged if presenting as I will do the door opened:

In the middle of this the need to redistribute some models arose due to the disrupting visit of friend David the Tall, so a long session of model storage gymnastics was endured:

Boxes with models on top of the bookcase:

Boxes with models under the desk:

Boxes with models on top of the closet:

Boxes with models under the bed:

Being a prolific modeler requires a very patient and understanding spouse.

To give an idea of the complexity of the airline field in Mexico during the 40's, here is a page from a Jane's book of the time. Planes would change hands or move airlines frequently:

Even from its very beginnings many "Mexican" airlines were "infiltrated" by American capital, either directly and overtly or, as business usually likes it, through more subtle channels:

The epitome of this shameless take over was represented by Pan Am and Juan Trippe, justly known as "La tripa" (the gut, the intestine, the bowels) in Mexico (rotten gut would be more appropriate, actually, due to his extended despicable business practices). In time, many countries were able to shake off this practice of domination and interference in their sovereignty, and create their own national airlines; unfortunately in many cases in turn rotten from inside by corruption, mismanagement, and political wars of tug. Human nature, it seems.

I thought it's better to show how to modify the spars and steps. First drill into the flange and prepare the "rubber pads" to cover the steps:

Then shape the hollowed area in the spars. The spars were covered in padded leather to avoid bruised ankles and shins:

Photos show a two-blade prop, later replaced almost invariably by a three-blade prop:

 Notice that the machine below (most likely the prototype seen at the Chicago Fair) did not have the wing light shields to protect the pilot from the glare at night:

The clear panes on top of the cockpit varied quite a bit, from none to several. The escape hatch sometimes was clear too as some photos show. The later model "D" (depicted in the kit) had no windows above the cockpit, but the escape hatch had sometimes a window. The kit made no attempt to mold the escape hatch:

Now the more difficult stage begins, removing the nacelles and installing the new ones. First the rough cuts:

And then little by little approximating to a shape that seems easier to match with the new nacelles, taking in consideration the sizes from plans and especially comparing with photos. I don't think that there is an easy way to do this, so some work and trial and error will be involved:

A lot of filling the voids and then shaping will no doubt take place on the way:

The hinges that will later be installed and blended with the fin are fashioned shaping a styrene stick:

The hatch for the fuselage aft hold is made:

The cabin door has  a style seen in few planes, amongst them on Turner´s "racer". The structure has to go, as airliners had that door lined:

Once sanded a liner is provided:

Here is another early configuration 247, accompanied by -reputedly- a Stout Scarab. I have many photos of the Scarab in its many iterations, and wasn't able to match that exact, specific car to any of them, but yet again the Scarab had many faces (photo SDASM photostream):

The transparencies have two little triangular pips that lock on a recess in the fuselage, actually more hindering than helping, and the real plane did not have that. The little pointy bits are removed from the clear parts, and small triangular inserts are glued to the fuselage:

I want to represent the escape hatch open, so I pre-carved the canopy halves before gluing them together, to later refine the shape of the cut out without stressing the seam too much. To the left you see two clear bits that I am using as Guinea pigs to test one of the glues I have, that I think may weld the clear plastic more firmly:

The cabin pan:

Additional bulkheads are fabricated and added for the luggage hold. A hatch seen in photos on the last bulkhead is represented too:

The nose hold bulkheads are added in "corrugated" styrene. Parts for other interior details are being made:

The canopy is hollowed to make the escape hatch, reinforced from inside with a couple of styrene strips, and given the customarily bath in acrylic:

A resemblance of structural surface is added on the wheel wells:

Another session priming and painting the base colors:

The laminated tubes that will make the new nacelles are capped with thick styrene sheet, as at the engine end there is a small radius curve:

Now ready after contouring and sanding:

The wing is assembled. As mentioned, once the new nacelles are in place, quite a bit of filling and contouring will be needed. The nacelle will meet the wing sooner at the bottom, and continue as a "half-reed" to meet the top:

The exhausts are carved at the end of the pipes and duct, and a new section will be made of soldering wire to match the new arrangement:

Painting of the interior parts is already done:

The nacelle cavities are lined, so whatever I later use to fill the gaps won't go into the wheel bays. The curve at the top is supplemented internally with styrene in case I have to do a little re-contouring:

Note: some of these earlier models did not have the wing light shields to protect the pilot from the glare. As always, check with photos of the intended plane you want to represent. Needless to say, antennas and other minor details (fuselage top cabin air vents, for example), also varied.

The nav lights are molded on the wing, but I drilled them out as I want to install my own, in the form of tinted clear lenses:

More painting:

The new nacelles, smaller in diameter than the originals, are glued. The voids will be filled and contoured to shape with styrene and Milliput:

Protective masking:

Milliput applied to fill the voids. More work will be needed to bland the shapes seamlessly:

Ready to close after installing curtains, luggage net, toilet, sink, tap and mirror, and opening the front and back internal cabin doors, plus adding the front and back cargo holds:

The fuselage halves are united. The fit is not good, and you have the press here and there for the seams to be more or less ok, but much work will ensue no doubt. The fit of the wing again needed sanding, rasping, and fussing to be ok. This is common with kits of this vintage, and a reasonably experienced modeler would be able to work on that (I stress "work", though). AS the kit has raised panel lines, these will be obliterated in some areas. In my previous build of this kit I solved that by "paneling" with different hues of grey, but one of my options is depicted with white upper fuselage, which will require a light re-engraving or the addition of fine resin-printed panel lines (I got a sheet of those just in case):

Horizontal tail added:

All the seams receive copious amounts of filler, as the fit is not good and the thickness of the mold is uneven (the thickness in one fuselage half doesn't match the other half). The two-part canopy (also a dubious fit and a finicky gluing prospect) is lodged in place after a 20-minute adjusting session (dry run here). Still  so much to do. I call this time in the build the "Regret Stage" ("Why oh why I got into this") -I think I can blame Keith in this case:

Canopy and rudder are glued in place:

The filled-up transition areas between nacelle and wing are given a last touch by masking the area in the shape of panels and using more filler to ease the contours and obtain a smooth surface. Once the windows are given their individual masks, a coat of primer will follow:

The grey primer revealed that some work will be needed, which is good, as the inexplicably silly white plastic hinders the discovery of defect on the surfaces. Now we know where we stand:

Getting close to a good surface:

The later "D" variant had the rudder trim tab divided in two sections, upper and lower, but this early model had a single surface with small control horns and leads on each side. Thus the recess representing the divide is filled with putty after masking:

A (hopefully) final coat of primer after some sanding and the addition of detail on the new nacelles:

Props are home-made repurposing Khee-Kha Art Products blades:

A "football" antenna is pulled from the spares, and a nose mast is fabricated:

The home-made nose is given some internal structure, and the engine crank fabricated with solder:

The general grey color is airbrushed. These airframes later in live were painted, so they don't show anymore the original patchy anodized finish. The cockpit escape hatch is fabricated from clear plastic, masked and painted too:

Many planes show no anti-glare panel before the canopy, the photo of this particular plane seems to indicated it was one of those.

The next task, as I wait for the set commissioned from Arctic Decals, would be to fabricate the annular exhaust collectors for both engines.

Tail wheels and LG legs on:

Home-made props and annular exhaust collector made with solder:

Decals will be used to simulate the myriad of vents on the nacelles:

The home-made exhaust rings are completed:

Townend rings on, shields on, engines ready to go in:

Engines on:

Elevator trim tab actuators, landing lights, navigation lights, exhausts and wheels are added:

Remaining details will be added after the decals are applied:

The home-made decals representing the nacelle louvers are applied. They were given a bit of "depth" through shading during their design. They are convincing in this scale:

The Arctic Decals set arrived:

The perfectly printed decals go on smoothly. After they set the last parts (nose, cockpit and cargo hatches, cabin door, wing Pitot, antennas, props, etc.) will be added:

Et voilà. Photo session and post with the completed model to follow as weather and spare time allow:

 To be continued...