Rotorrokkie I think your idea is great. BELL needs someone up there to sort them out. But why stretch a 427? Why not look to the 430 on skids and rethinking all that heavy internal stuff. Upgrading the avionics, throwing out the very heavy seats and internal fittings, using carbon composites where possible and then you'd have a really nice ship with range and a good payload.
We liked the 430 on skids but didn't buy one because it's too damm heavy to start with