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Westland Wallace G-ACBR Everest Flight, 1/72nd


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A build from 2 years ago:

 

(The WiP is posted here:

 

 

 

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 below. I used the Arctic Decals set for the Wallace G-ACBR, and also for G-ACAZ:
 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.

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Edited by Moa
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Very nice indeed!

You did great job with this kit, nevertheless that kit is not that bad as one could think. Actually, I have good experience with this old Frog . Some ten years ago I did it twice - both as  conversions - once to Wapiti and once to Wallace Mk II...

Cheers

J-W

 

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Beautiful job! Having spent the past few months working on my Antarctic expedition Ford Trimotor, I've become very interested in other aircraft used for exploration. The Everest Westland Wallace is on my short list, and I'm very happy to have your build available for my future reference. 

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5 hours ago, spruecutter said:

Lovely work, as always. 

 

3 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Superb work as usual Moa,magnificent transformation of the ancient Frog kit.

 

3 hours ago, Silenoz said:

superbly done, nice work turning this in a gem (a pair of them actually...)

You are all extremely kind, thanks!

Cheers

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For experienced modellers. Some modelling skills required. 

 

And duly applied. Seriously nice outcome. I do like it and it from the golden age of flight so that’s another bonus

 

one small question cum criticism. When are you finishing the 1/72 Mount Everest to go with it?

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14 minutes ago, JohnT said:

one small question cum criticism. When are you finishing the 1/72 Mount Everest to go with it?

John: budgetary and time constrains are preventing me from completing the diorama you suggest, but I am told that any suitable hill of about 123 meters will do.

And since I happen to live on one:

Palos_Verdes_(aerial_view).jpg

 

...in fact any photos of the model in flight already posted should qualify.

As for the snow, we may have to wait a few million years or so.

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I love record breakers, world firsts and Golden Age aircraft so this ticks all the boxes 👍.

 

A beautifully built and presented model, gorgeous photography. I like the lighting and the black and white photography. Also a very informative and useful introduction. Thank you for sharing this Moa; great and inspiring work 🥇.

 

Now where’s my old Novo copy of this kit and the address of Arctic Decals... 😉 

 

Best regards

TonyT

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1 hour ago, TonyTiger66 said:

I love record breakers, world firsts and Golden Age aircraft so this ticks all the boxes 👍.

 

A beautifully built and presented model, gorgeous photography. I like the lighting and the black and white photography. Also a very informative and useful introduction. Thank you for sharing this Moa; great and inspiring work 🥇.

 

Now where’s my old Novo copy of this kit and the address of Arctic Decals... 😉 

 

Best regards

TonyT

Tony, you are exceedingly kind, thanks very much.

 

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35 minutes ago, Pin said:

I remember we spoke about that already, but

- where did you get the expedition logo (or whatever is below the fin) from? 

- is there any evidence about the blue top ? 

I vaguely remember we did too.

No time to go back and look for the details, but the logo came from blurry photos that led to printed material.

The color on the top is not straight blue but more like a teal. It changes hue depending on light and angle.

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2 minutes ago, Moa said:

The color on the top is not straight blue but more like a teal. It changes hue depending on light and angle.

I made a logo from a post stamp that was sent by the expedition, I thought that I could recognize Everest outline on the photo and this outline was also prenent on the stamp

What I meant, why is it not black as depicted in some sources? 

 

I think I found a missing rivet in your wonderful model - a pitot fork on outer starboard wing strut? 

g-acbr_westland_wallace_houston_everest_

 

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2 hours ago, Pin said:

What I meant, why is it not black as depicted in some sources? 

Again, I will have to go back to all the material collected, the email exchanges, the chats in the forums to find that.

At one point, consulting among fellow modelers and historians, looking at photos it was determined not to be black, and more like something between blue and green.

But just have a look at these, which have black registrations to compare with, and tell me it it looks like black to you:

5-4.jpg

 

5-1.jpg

 

https://www.wondersofworldaviation.com/everest.html

 

 

 

Edited by Moa
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