Well, after all these years, I gotta do it.  A few years after I sold my full scale Pawnee in 1979, I built a semi-scale stunter of it and really liked it.  Trouble is, the garage sale OS I put in it quit in a very inopportune place and I destroyed it.  (Is there an opportune place, you ask.  Dunno of one.)
I now have a new Evolution 60 that is in desperate need of a ride, and there happened to be a large, straight (Spell that "no taper") wing hanging on the wall from who-knows-when.  Okay, here we go, Pawnee time!
Here's a picture of the fuse as it is currently, I've been having a lot of fun doing the greenhouse cockpit.  The rub here is that I had to go online to re-establish the way the bloody greenhouse was actually shaped in the rear!  Wow, time sure does things to old minds!
I'll post a picture of the interior in the next post since I've never bothered to learn how to get more than one pic in a post.

Looking good.

You've been looking at too many Al Rabe videos.   

Quote from Randy, "You've been looking at too many Al Rabe videos."   

Maybe that's why it's such a slooooooww build?

 Will:
 This is so cool. Do you get extra pattern points for actually spraying?   Now that would be really cool!!! 

 Larry

Crist, the cockpit area was actually positively pressured for the reason you're thinking about - nasty spray chemicals.
I still always wore a pesticide mask unless foliar feeding.  Then I flew with the doors open.  Really was cool, almost like an open cockpit plane!!

Quote from Crist,  "They are neat to watch as they do their work.   "

I agree, especially from the INSIDE!

All right, Crist and Bill, here's yer dadblamed respirator mask!  I had a few minutes while some epoxy on a fretboard inlay cured so I whipped this up.  Didn't take too long on it and it shows.  May restrict his vision just a little, but at least he can breath okay.

The "pressurization" on my Pawnee lacked effectiveness, so I wore the mask.  The convincing thing for me was when I flew over the airport and saw the shape of the Pawnee drawn in dead grass at my tie-down spot!!  You're right some of that stuff is awful.
I also did a really dumb thing one day after finishing a field and starting home.  I could smell the nasty stuff even through the mask so decided to open the doors!  How stupid can ya get?  That poor door tried to punch its way through the side of the fuse' when it slammed down!  Bent the top door frame where it hit the stop and I had a heck of a time getting it straight again.  Never tried that again.

You are sooo right.  (And even those can have a deer sleeping in the middle!)

I'm sorry to learn of this, Glen.  The thought jumped into my mind of the aerobatic pilot who was killed during a show and they determined he had been bitten by a black widow spider and lost vision capabilities.  I fail to remember who it was.
Whatever the pesticide, even fungicide, it's nothing to take for granted.  There are dozens of ways they can turn on a pilot.  I was blessed to only have one incident during my rather short career, and that one was my oversight and rather minor.

Thanks Wade, I think you're right.  The closer I get to being a platinum blond, the farther away my memory gets!  I agree with you on the pilot type for ag, but there's just something special about making that final pass and seeing the hopper be empty just as you start the pull up.

Will, I have to agree the view from the inside of a Pawnee is the best! What a great flying airplane!! I never sprayed, but towed many a banner with them. Even with the hopper cut and re-glassed into an aux. fuel tank, the thing still smelled like pesticide! I can only imagine what they were like with a hopper load of parathion. What a great subject for a model, if not only to bring back memories.

You guys got any 188 time? BIG difference from a Pawnee.

I helped a young man load his on a trailer out of a milo field. He was over loaded, and it was hot. He thought he was alright after he hit the first terrace, but then it started sinking again. When he hit the second terrace, it was just to much and down he came. Wiped out the landing gear and the prop, otherwise it seemed to be in pretty good shape. We took the wings off to get it on the trailer for the ride to the shop.

When I worked for a Motorola service shop back in the 70's, I use to do a lot of radio work for spray pilots. Most were old WWII fighter pilots, and they all walked with a limp. I had a lot of fun installing radios in Stearmans, AgCats, and Pawnees. All of those guys wanted their push to talk button on the stick, and transmit audio fed back into there head phones like they had in their fighters so they could hear themselves talk.

Where were we? Oh Yeah; Great looking Pawnee Will. Every time I watch one spraying I think it would make a great model.

On the subject of the tank, the fellow who owned the plane was a bit of a mad scientist. He cut the bottom 2/3's off the hopper and re-glassed the bottom and made a nifty fuel tank. Installed a Facet pump for transfer that pumped sloooowwwwlllyyy! Had to stay on top of it, but it worked well for what we were doing. We always had 4 hooks rigged, so we could pull 4 banners without landing. Usually needed a bit more fuel than the Pawnee's standard tank would hold to get 4 full signs flown. That particular Pawnee had a Hutch wing and was a great plane for picking up banners, but the lighter wing loading made it a rough ride down the beach! The rag wing was not as nimble on the pickup, but rode much better while towing. I liked both. Our MO was to fly with no doors, on both the Pawnee's and Bellanca Scout. Summer in South Alabama gets fairly hot, but I still looked like a tanned piece of leather at the end of the season with the sun and wind burn!!! The Pawnee was just such a great plane! Honest flier and predictable. First flight was interesting. Geting used to the angle of the nose was the only thing of note. Made wheel landings a little hairy at first!! Good luck with the model and please post pics as progress is made.
PS, Wade, never got to fly a 188, but always wanted to! One of my favorite ag planes of all time! Loved that long 2-blade prop howl! Planning on modifying a Twister into a stunt 188!

Here's the back of the beast, and that koa shows up really well against the walnut and maple striping.

Will,

Nice work, kudos!!

Hey! What are the vitals on your great Pawnee. It's coming along nice.

You have plans right?

Got a dummy radial? Will you build one?

Charles

Is that an AG-1 in the background?

Roger

That looks like it's shaping up to be a nice one.

Is that an AG-1 in the background?

Roger

Brave.

Will,

Progress is slow but looking really good!

Told you I had interest in this model, so don't through any of the fuselage drawings away, I'll need them. 

My interest is in the bi-plane.

Charles

I'll build this next year. With drawings. Just in case someone wants to build one.

You're right, Mark, and the seat belt may have been a little loose!  I  think the Ag Cat you may be referring to was from Jean Pailet.  It was featured in the June 1972 issue of the American Aircraft Modeler on page 38.  I happen to have saved that issue because Jack Sheeks and I also had biplanes in the article by Al Rabe.
There's only one small picture of Jean's ship, from the left side rear, but it looks super nice.  (It was a profile.)  The Ag-Cat is a work horse, we still have a couple around here in northwest Ohio, but the  the Thrush is taking over, especially the turbo powered.
Up in the west side of the Michigan thumb the Cessnas are king, still much smaller than the 'Cat.  I had my ag training in a Super Cub!

as part of my benefits from working on them, and designing the conversion, I have a complete set of factory drawings and parts catologs ,, so I have all the documentation I need for whatever I want to do,, up to and including a full scale version. We purchased wrecked airframes from the insurance componaies and completely rebuilt them. we were one of the only factory authorized repair stations . I had the pleasure of meeting Leland Snow in Reno at the ag convention when we unveiled our conversion. I was very honered to have him spend a fair amount of time walking around our desing and asking me questions,,
http://cascadeaircraftconversions.com/products.html
there is a link for ya,,
the biggest handicap in making this a competative stunter is the hershey bar wing,, no taper,, and it concerns me that it will have some built in compromise,, but still, worth the effort at some point. Since I have leterally touched every part of the airplane before, I have a good insight into making a very scale stunter,,
and the color of yellow on the original is far more vivid than the ag cat pale yellow,,
Incidently, for those that dont know,, Leland Snow designed the " Snow S-1 " one of the first purpose built appplicators. then as a progression of that he designed what later became the Thrush,, which was bought by Rockwell and Leland had to sign a no competition clause for I think it was 7 years.. During that time he thought, and deisginged the Air Tractor which if one looks at the thrush and the AT side by side you can see the lineage. Sadly, Leland passed away last year IIRC, His designs are very direct, simple and easy to work on,, well except for trying to fit the stainless gate box assembly under the hopper,, that is a royal pain,,