A lot of different appraoches to the question...
Mine is this.. First of all, I don't buy "High Dollar" kits, lol... To me, a high-dollar kit is anything over 30-35 bucks, so very few ever see me and the kit together outside the LHS.. I'm in the 12.00-25.00 range, with the 25.00 part of it being the final price after the "40% off" Hobby Lobby Coupon is applied..
Anything that's needed as far as interior detail parts go, I either make myself with "Creative Gizmology" and a well-stocked parts-box, or avoid having to do it at all if it's not essential to the story the diorama's telling... By that I mean, there's np point in pain-stakingly building and super-detailing a 1/48th scale R-2800 radial, complete with pushrods and ignition harnesses if the model's depicting a ditched F6F that's nose-down in the water, and little or nothing in the front row is showing...
Using the same scenario, a ditched Hellcat (Let's make it a Monogram F6F), would need to show the cockpit, since the canopy's either slid back or jettisoned (all Navy aircraft took off and landed with the canopies open in those days, provided they were equipped w/sliding canopies and didn't have clam-shell or side-hinged ones in the first place, like the radioman's canopy on the TBF Avenger).
The rudder would likely be postioned to one side or the other (typically to the left if the pilot goes out the left side, since the left rudder pedal would get stepped on during egress most of the time). Also, the stick would likely be full-forward, since the pilot's gonna get it outta the way ASAP, causing the elevators to be full-down.. There may or may not be aileron deflection, that's a judgement call on the builder's part..
Flaps could be up or down, depending on the aircraft and what's called for on the ditching checklist, and gear up, since ditching with the gear down wouldn't be advised if he insisted on remaining upright after the ditch.
That takes care of the control surfaces and the cockpit/engine/gear-bay... Simply cutting and repositioning the surfaces would be a relatively easy job (depending on the flap-types), and any kit with recessed joints there would work fine...
Our Monogram Hellcat has a one-piece canopy.. That needs to be cut open, or vacuformed from thinner material.. Only the windscreen is needed, BTW... The engine isn't viewable, so we don't need the 25.00 resin aftermarket replacement or it's companion P/E valve & pushrod and wiring harness assy either , those white metal landing gear struts are useless, so let's pocket that 20.00 too...
The Hellcat's cockpit is relatively simple in design, not much going on in there either... We've got some panels to build from sheet and strip, along with a seat and stick/pedals/panel... The basic shapes can be done with Plastruct rectangular tubing, and the inside structure is duplicated, or suggested, rather, with Evergreen Styrene stip...
So far, I've got about .50 cents in materials into this "build" right now, so let's take a break there... I'll be back...