Boeing 247 airliner - Backdated Williams Brothers 1/72nd kit with Arctic Decals

Firstly my thanks to fellow modelers Keith Hudson and John Newcome who inspired me for this project of backdating the venerable Williams Bros. Boeing 247D kit (first issued in 1973 according to Scalemates!) and to Arctic Decals who produced the markings for this model.

Looking for specific subjects of this early version I came across some Mexican machines with an interesting history. Details can be found in the step-by-step building article, as well as the differences between the early Boeing 247 and the later and more common 247D (which is the subject of WB’s kit):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/08/boeing-247-backdated-modified-williams.html

Also described there are the necessary steps for the conversion and contemporary pages on the type.

After some reading I finally decided on this Compañía Mexicana de Aviación plane. These planes were often painted while in service, as the original finish sported a very patchy anodized treatment. A sample of that patchy original finish can be seen in one of my previous builds, a National Parks machine (for which Arctic Decals also offers a very nice set):

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

Some modifications are needed to backdate the Williams Bros kit, involving a bit of surgery and scratchbuilding. As with my previous build, I also opened the nose hold, the cargo hold, the cockpit hatch, and left the kit’s posable cabin door open. The small bathroom window was added too. The interior was modified and a bathroom added. Props and other several details were home-made or converted. The narrower engine nacelles used by this type -Townend rings included- were scratchbuilt, and Khee-Kha Art Products Wasp aftermarket resin engines were used. This plane didn’t have the anti-glare shields seen in other 247s to the side of the wing landing lights which were modified adding home-made lenses. Nav. lights were also added. Antennas differed from the ones provided in the kit so those were fabricated. The vertical tail was modified to backdate it and the forward-leaning canopy option provided in the kit was used. According to literature, XA-BEZ belonged to Mexicana from 1938 to 1941, passing to Aeronaves de México S.A. from 1941 to 1946 -changing color schemes and details. It is reported that later it went (re-registered as XA-KAD) to Servicio Aéreo Panini, of which unfortunately I only got one very bad photo from the Net that shows essentially nothing useful. It could have been perhaps a more colorful subject in that livery, but no other (better) photo or reliable drawing could be found. Many early 247s are consistently and erroneously being described in various sources as “D”, even when they were never converted/upgraded to that variant, as it’s the case with XA-BEZ / XA-KAD. There was no real consistency in the plane’s livery details from airframe to airframe, or over time. I think LAMSA (Líneas Aéreas Mexicanas Sociedad Anónima) is the one that more or less kept within livery design parameters. Design details that look similar in Mexican diverse airlines (bands and letters on the vertical tail, location and size of regs, company name, or even the legend “México” on the wings) that were perhaps applied following some regulation are also inconsistent.

The Boeing 247 had many re-incarnations as it went into service with second and third tier airlines, a number of them in the US, but also in Latin America. This old kit can still be rendered into a fair model with little work, 50 years after its original release to-date. Therefore there are a large number of possible liveries, since many airlines, big and small, utilized it.

“Boeing Aircraft since 1916” and “The Boeing 247, The First Modern Airliner” are interesting readings.