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Yet Another L-1011 TriStar G-BAAA "Halcyon Days"


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Hi, new member here.

 

The Story (feel free to skip)

 

I am getting back into modelling after a brief suspension of, oh, about 41 years. I'm pretty sure the last model I built was in 1977 - I can't remember doing any in 1978 - that would have been an 1/72nd A6E Intruder... Back then I was in my teens, and a prolific if not exactly pro standard modeller. I'd model anything and everything, mixing all eras, scales, nearly always OOB, and they'd all end up festooning my bedroom ceiling gathering dust. After leaving home my parents reclaimed my room and unceremoniously dumped the lot; I don't think any survive.

 

I started the hobby back in 1973, inspired by the jets I saw streaming out over our newly moved-to house in Hemel Hempstead. These were the Comets, Boeing 720s, 737s, Britannias, BAC 1-11s, and the best of the lot - the Court Line L-1011 TriStar that was brand new to Court and the UK that year. These colourful jets really made an impression on me, with that characteristic RB211 growl still at under 2000ft as they took off out of Luton over our house and school. Me and a friend would cycle up to Luton and gawp at the jets taxiing past the chainlink fence that marked the 'spectator area' in those days. I loved the Court liveries, they seemed so exciting and modern back then, and the TriStars were especially awesome. My planespotting friend and I vowed to become pilots. He did, I didn't - he now flies for EasyJet from Luton. I just write software.

 

Anyway those planes inspired me in other ways, and one of the very first models I built was the Airfix TriStar. Of course it had to be in Court markings, not whatever the kit came with back in those days (maybe Air Canada?). I had no idea. There were no aftermarket decals available, and even if there were I wouldn't have known about them. I hand-painted the lot (with brushes) using approximations to the colours from the Humbrol range. The result was over garish, with horrible hand-painted cheat lines (not even masked). Gloss paint onto bare plastic, dust and fingerprints everywhere, seams unfilled. Yup, the typical rushed effort of a 11-year-old with no skills or patience. Still, I was happy enough with it. I did improve over the years, and the Intruder I built as my last effort to date was done pretty well I think (I owned the extremely crappy Humbrol hobby airbrush by then, powered by canned air).

 

In thinking of restarting the hobby, I decided to see what was around on this internet resource thingy we have today, and discovered there are now aftermarket decals for the Court Line liveries. I also discovered this site, thanks to the inspirational efforts of others who have also 'done' the Court Tristars. In the intervening years I've forgotten a lot of the skills I'd gradually acquired, for what they were ever worth. But also, there are lots of new products and support for the hobby that I wasn't aware of back then. And of course there are a million YouTube videos to help learn how others do it - back in the day I rarely met other modellers, and I was usually ahead of where they were at (which nevertheless isn't saying much). 

 

The Model

 

OK, so I have my subject. Initially, my first thought was simply to retread my steps and do the Airfix L-1011. I ordered one, but in the meantime thanks to this site and others I discovered that the Airfix version is not considered very accurate, and so I was advised (thanks Phil and Skodadriver) that the Eastern Express kit might be a better starting point. Once it arrived I compared the two and I can see that the Airfix one does have numerous shortcomings, so it was sound advice. The Eastern moulding also has excellent fine surface detail, though the overall quality of the parts fit and engineering is crude compared to Airfix. Still, I'll manage. I want to bring myself up to speed with the more realistic modelling that is in vogue these days (may have been back then, but I tended to build to a relatively pristine, unweathered finish), use a proper airbrush, photo-etch add-ons, extra detailing and scratching where needed to build something a bit more interesting. But also, since I'm so rusty, an airliner is a relatively simple build that shouldn't end up going unfinished due to overextending myself. But having said that, I decided to build it as if on short finals, with all the flaps hanging out, as that was often how I saw the plane in real life (or else shortly after take off). There's enough work in cutting out the flaps and building up additional details in the flaps mechanisms and undercarriage to make this a pretty good challenge. I'll also be using the Authentic Airliners decals for the windows, 26 Decals for the livery, and the Metallic Details PE kit.

 

So I've made a start by tackling the most difficult bit (I think) first - the flaps. I carefully cut the flaps from the kit wings and used them with added styrene to build up the deployed flap shape. I then added the track fairings to the ends and shaped them. Using piano wire I made up the tracks/mountings. These will be hidden with some further styrene work and an added second upper flap (still to make), and some detailing on the exposed wing internals. At this stage I'm in two minds about the leading edges. I would like to set them deployed, but I'm not sure how to do it. Cutting out the leading edges of the wings would leave them with no material to join the upper and lower halves very well, so I'd prefer to simply add something over the top of the existing parts. Or I may end up deciding it's not worth the trouble.

 

If anyone's actually interested in this build, I'm very keen to hear all possible advice and criticism - I want to do the best I can, but after so long there are probably good ways to do things that an experienced modeller can point out that I wouldn't be aware of. So please don't hold back if you see me doing something stupid, or think there's a better way to accomplish something. I'm hoping the build will take 6-8 weeks, work and other things permitting, but knowing me it'll probably overrun the estimate.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%201.jpg

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%205.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%206.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2014.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2015.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2018.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2017.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Graham In Oz
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Most large aircraft wings deploy the trailing edge AND leading edge devices at the same time, normally in the first selection of flap from a clean wing. Therefore if you have the trailing edge flaps deployed, I would expect to see the leading edge flaps/slats out as well.

Please note, whilst this is pretty normal operation, I never flew the 1011, so can't actually confirm this is correct in this case.

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1 hour ago, isaneng said:

Most large aircraft wings deploy the trailing edge AND leading edge devices at the same time, normally in the first selection of flap from a clean wing. Therefore if you have the trailing edge flaps deployed, I would expect to see the leading edge flaps/slats out as well.

Please note, whilst this is pretty normal operation, I never flew the 1011, so can't actually confirm this is correct in this case.

You are absolutely right - the leading edges should be extended in this configuration. The question is how to actually model it. If I can find some plastruct bits that can go together (with some filler) to get the shape and simply add them 'on top', I'll do that, but if it means cutting out the slats from the kit, I'm reluctant due to the structural integrity problem, and I may decide it's just too hard.

 

Here's one of my reference images, which shows the overall appearance I'm going for:

 

1193562362.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress update.

 

Started work on the fuselage. Because of the fairly poor engineering of the kit, I decided to add some plasticard strips to help align and reinforce the joint. I also added a vertical tube with a neodymium magnet CA'd into the bottom. The idea is so that when the model is finished, I can make up a matching magnetic stand that will display the model in a flight attitude but without any slot or hole for the stand being needed. Neat idea, huh? We'll see if it works.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2019.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2020.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2021.jpgL1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2032.JPG

 

So the fuselage halves were glued together and the plasticard worked quite well - I was able to get the seams more or less aligned without a great deal of trouble. I added some lead weights to the cockpit area so it'll sit on its wheels, and filled all the seams. I forgot to take photos during all that work, so here's the fuselage after fitting the windscreen and main wheel doors, levelling all the seams and adding filler where needed and sanding it all back smooth, and rescribing panel lines.

 

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2022.JPG

 

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2023.JPG

 

I also started to add some of the PE details to the fuselage, like the ventilation louvre above. This involved cutting out a rectangular hole in the fuselage as the PE part is actually a small box section. The first one was a little rough, hence the copious filler. The other two went better.

 

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2028.JPG

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2029.JPG

 

This shows the second louvre fitted, but before filler was added around it. There are also 3 NACA ducts in PE to fit, hence the rough scraped area. I added one of these - fiddly beyond belief. I'll add the other two another day.

 

I also made further progress on the wings. Though the kit engineering is crude in places, some parts are very finely moulded - the wings being a case in point. The plastic is super thin, and with all my cutting to modify the flaps, I was concerned that they wouldn't have much stiffness and would tend to warp. So, just in case, I glued in some small brass tube "spars" on the inside of the upper half of the wings with CA glue to make sure they stayed completely straight. This may have been an unfounded concern, but it was only a small extra step. Then the wing halves were joined and the exposed rear of the flap wells were patched up with a thin piece of plasticard. Since the PE parts include a lot of details for the main wheel wells that I won't be using, I decided  to repurpose them to add some bogus details to the back edge of the flap wells. While these will be almost impossible to see when it's finished, if anyone does take a peek in there at least there's something other than a flat surface.

 

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2031.JPG

 

The brass "spar" can just be seen inside the engine pylon slot.

 

With the flaps dry fitted and some plasticard secondary flaps inserted, the eventual look of the wing can start to be seen:

 

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2035.JPG

 

The sharp-eyed obsessives among you will notice there's no central flap track "spur" yet fitted. So voilà, here they are:

 

L1011=Court_GBAAA-2017%20-%2025.JPG

 

These will need a bit of filler and shaping once the very fragile joins have fully cured. So that's about it for this week. Thanks for looking!

Edited by Graham In Oz
fixed inverted images
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49 minutes ago, Graham In Oz said:

I also added a vertical tube with a neodymium magnet CA'd into the bottom.

Very clever! I may steal that idea at some point (particularly if it works!).

Edited by Bell209
Correction
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On 03/04/2018 at 6:46 AM, isaneng said:

Most large aircraft wings deploy the trailing edge AND leading edge devices at the same time, normally in the first selection of flap from a clean wing. Therefore if you have the trailing edge flaps deployed, I would expect to see the leading edge flaps/slats out as well.

Please note, whilst this is pretty normal operation, I never flew the 1011, so can't actually confirm this is correct in this case.

This is of course correct but its your model you build it how you want.

I would be far happier with a very well built technically incorrect model than a poorly built technically correct one

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Update. I turned my attention to the vexatious issue of the missing S-duct. The Eastern kit doesn't have the No. 2 engine S-duct (the Tristar 500 model does apparently, but not this one). So the question is how to make one. It doesn't have to be all that accurate, as honestly it's an internal detail that very few will notice. But I prefer it to be there rather than just a gaping hole or a blanking piece. In thinking of various solutions, I came across the fact that a ½" copper pipe joining piece has almost exactly the right diameter. The internal diameter is slightly small, but the outside diameter is larger than the opening. So some filing to flare one side to a slightly bell-shaped curve matches the air intake perfectly. Then I made a round sausage from modelling clay to fit the aperture, and bent it into the S-duct shape:

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2036.jpg

 

I decided to form the tube by using a thin layer of polyester resin of the type used for fibreglassing. Ideally this would use fibreglass 'tissue' as a matrix but I was unable to source any locally, so I found some nylon ribbon in my daughter's dress-up box that would do the job:

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2038.jpg

 

The ribbon was sliced lengthways and CA'd to the copper tubing. I put the whole jig in the fridge for ½ hr to get very cold to harden the plasticine so it was a lot stiffer for wrapping. Vaseline was used for a release agent, though this turned out to somewhat dissolve the surface of the plasticine and ended up being more or less useless. I then wrapped and resined the form. After an hour or two it had set totally hard and the clay could be pushed and pulled out. Then the inside surface was cleaned down using thinners to remove any plasticine residue and sprayed with primer. The outside surface is rough but the inside is quite smooth.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2039.jpgL1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2043.jpg

 

The whole thing was then CA'd into place within the fuselage half. The final duct ended up not quite in alignment with the engine fan, so I just cut the end a bit shorter and went with it. You can just see the fan through the air intake, but it's really dark inside there and not worth any further trouble. I painted the inside of the duct matt black so it really is just a 'black hole' that seemingly leads nowhere. From the outside, it looks absolutely fine.

 

Another issue with the tail section is that the flange area around the pivot point for the all-moving tailplanes is incorrectly moulded on the kit. In any case, I have a PE part for the 'cover plate' that moves with the tailplane. I also want to position these in the up elevator position, because I'm depicting the jet in landing configuration. So all-in-all, this region needs some modding. The kit moulding was removed, and the tailplane slot tabs slimmed down to slot into the PE part. The openings in the fuselage were modified to allow the tabs to slot in in the up elevator position, and the position of the cover plate was used in the up position and normal straight position to determine where the true edges of the moving tailplane flange should be, while referring to suitable photographs of this area of the plane. This image shows the modified flange area on the left and the original one on the right:

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2040.jpg

 

One of my reference images:

 

elevator_flange_ref1.jpg

 

When combined with the PE part and painted appropriately, this should be a lot closer to the real thing. Here's the tailplane dry-fitted in the 'up' position showing the PE flange cover and masking tape used to mark the edges of the flange prior to scribing new panel lines around it.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2041.jpg

 

Finally, the two rear fuselage halves were joined and the seams levelled and filled, ready to mount to the main fuselage.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2046.jpg

 

Edited by Graham In Oz
final image
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Nice work

 

Regarding the leading edge slats, could you not maybe form some aluminium (take away food tray etc) over the leading edge of the wing to give the correct shape, then just file back a bit of the leading edge (that'd be the visible part when slat deployed) to give the impression of the recess from which the slat is extending..?

 

Not totally clear on how the slat is configured so this may not work..

 

Matt

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23 minutes ago, Mattlow said:

Nice work

 

Regarding the leading edge slats, could you not maybe form some aluminium (take away food tray etc) over the leading edge of the wing to give the correct shape, then just file back a bit of the leading edge (that'd be the visible part when slat deployed) to give the impression of the recess from which the slat is extending..?

 

Not totally clear on how the slat is configured so this may not work..

 

Matt

Interesting thought Matt...

 

I think making the slat isn't too hard - I tried out a combination of a half-round styrene strip with a thin piece of flat attached to the round side, the underside filled with EPO putty. It was easy to sand to the right shape (diagram below shows the general idea), but I made them the wrong size (a bit big), but the method seemed sound. The harder part may be attaching to the wing convincingly. As you suggest, recessing the existing slat is what's needed, but the plastic is so thin right there. In hindsight I should have filled the leading edges with EPO so there's no worry about going through, but it's too late now. Deepening certain panel lines and using a darker shade of paint for the exposed area under the slat might be good enough to produce an adequate illusion at this scale - need to experiment.

 

Untitled_0001-26.png

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I see

 

On a Bf 109 or 110 I would carefully cut the entire slat area out, Sheet over the 'hole' and if I'd done it carefully enough re-use the removed slat parts. But if the wing is thin and likely to be structurally compromised by cutting then it may be best to slate this for your next...?

 

Matt

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On the ground it is possible to lower the flaps without extending the slats by using the slat lock button on the flight engineers panel. As I'm not aircrew I couldn't say if it was used in the air but it would have been possible 

 

Adam

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update: Not been able to make as much progress as I'd like ideally over the last few weeks, but managed to get back to it today. The main work has been to get the fuselage to the point where it can get its main paint ready for decals, because these are pretty tricky and need to go on before the wings and tailplane are attached.Probably more experienced modellers could handle it with wings in situ, but I've decided I can't, so the build is a bit out of order.

 

There are quite a few PE details on the fuselage, including the very fiddly NACA ducts which require the moulded representations to be removed entirely, and the fuselage to be cut into to accept the PE part. These then need filling and sanding on a very minute scale, so that part was very time consuming.There are also numerous pads and bases for antennae and the pitot tubes, though these will be fitted as a final step so I don't knock them off when working on the paint job.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2058.jpg

 

This shows the NACA ducts and numerous other PE details like the louvres, forward nosewheel doors, cargo door and various antennae bases. A base coat of gloss white over grey primer was applied and rubbed back with 3000 grit ready for the main paint.

 

Getting really good colour references for the Court livery is pretty hard. No doubt somewhere, someone has drawings with the paint codes, but I don't, so I've had to go by what photographic references I can find and my own memory. Obviously this is notoriously unreliable (both), but one thing I do feel fairly certain about is that the main upper yellow colour is not that strong - more custardy than lemony. The Gemini Jets diecast has this utterly wrong. To try and get a grip on it, I grabbed a bunch of colour cards from my local hardware store and tried to find one that seemed right when put alongside the decals. This is what I settled on:

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2064.jpg

 

The lower orange colour was easier, and I used a Dulux 'duramax' off-the-shelf colour for that. The upper yellow was mixed from Tamiya gloss yellow and white standard colours (X-2 and X-8), adding white to the yellow until it matched the colour card. The paint ended up looking incredibly pale with remarkably little yellow in it, and I was almost tempted to go yellower, but in the end I stuck with it and the final colour looks really authentic. It looks yellower in the photos that it does in daylight.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2047.jpg

 

Then it was on with the orange. Bear in mind that the decals cover the line between the yellow and orange with a third colour, so the line is positioned so it should end up covered entirely. Only the white stripe along the belly is a masked and painted feature.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2050.jpg

 

I was also keen to try out the use of the AK Interactive 'XTreme Metal' paints that I bought to do the various natural metal areas, so I also masked up the rear engine, moving tailplane area and air intake and sprayed these. They look pretty good :) The intake is Polished Aluminium, the engine is Aluminium for the main part and Pale Burnt Metal for the inner part (not clearly visible here). The tailplane area is Steel, but is mostly hidden by a cover plate that will have bright Aluminium edges when it's placed. Using the darker Steel is to try and give this area the illusion of depth. Hummm... Anyway, overall I was pretty impressed with these paints.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2056.jpg

 

I think the lighting here is really exaggerating the panel lines - in the flesh they don't look anything like as prominent. At least I hope so...

 

So that's about it so far. I also made a start on the engines, but I'll put those in another update later in the week. I also decided I'm definitely going to make up some leading edge droops, so I made a start by modifying the wings to take them. More on that later also.

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4 hours ago, phil1 said:

graham this is outstanding, take a bow! you'll know why I'm interested in this one in particular 

Thanks Phil! As you know yours was a big inspiration, and your early advice was very significant in getting this off the ground. Still a fair way to go, and I'm not posting all the silly little mistakes I'm making (like rubbing through the paint just now, requiring another full mask-up to repair it  - sigh.) Your comments regarding the brittleness of the decals is also giving me sleepless nights! All that joy to come...

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15 hours ago, Graham In Oz said:

Thanks Phil! As you know yours was a big inspiration, and your early advice was very significant in getting this off the ground. Still a fair way to go, and I'm not posting all the silly little mistakes I'm making (like rubbing through the paint just now, requiring another full mask-up to repair it  - sigh.) Your comments regarding the brittleness of the decals is also giving me sleepless nights! All that joy to come...

well if you have a disaster mate i think i have a spare set as i painted the decal section!

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For someone who has had a 41 year sabbatical, you certainly have some real skills, I really like the S Duct, and the extra detail with the flaps out, I think the Slats are a lot less of a problem than you think, and remember that where they retract back to is smooth, so you only need to cut back the leading edge.

 

I note that you are going for the decal to cover the join between the 2 colours, I can't make out whose decals they are, but beware if they are Lazer printed they have no opacity, and the 2 colours will show through, I would be scanning or photocopying the decal sheet well before hand, then at least you can then sort a backup plan.  

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1 hour ago, Graeme H said:

I note that you are going for the decal to cover the join between the 2 colours, I can't make out whose decals they are, but beware if they are Lazer printed they have no opacity, and the 2 colours will show through, I would be scanning or photocopying the decal sheet well before hand, then at least you can then sort a backup plan.  

Ah, that's something I hadn't considered. They are the 26 Decals set, I believe they are screen printed. (http://www.26decals.com/epages/62035508.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62035508/Products/STS44279)

 

Perhaps @phil1 could comment on their opacity? I'd hate to discover a problem after it's too late, and it's a tricky thing to try out without a spare!

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Welcome back to the hobby Graham! I can relate to your break, having only been back into the hobby myself (proper) for the last 2 or 3 years, after about a 40 year break. Funny also, I wanted to become a pilot, but ended up writing software for most of my working life!

 

I can only quote Graeme H...........

10 hours ago, Graeme H said:

For someone who has had a 41 year sabbatical, you certainly have some real skills,

Sums it up really. I'm loving this build and looking forward to seeing this complete.

 

Do you have any ideas on other projects yet?

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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20 hours ago, Graham In Oz said:

Ah, that's something I hadn't considered. They are the 26 Decals set, I believe they are screen printed. (http://www.26decals.com/epages/62035508.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62035508/Products/STS44279)

 

Perhaps @phil1 could comment on their opacity? I'd hate to discover a problem after it's too late, and it's a tricky thing to try out without a spare!

The 26 decals are definitely screen printed. I built Halcyon Breeze a while ago and had no issues with opacity although I did mask between the light pink and dark pink along the line of the bottom of the decal so I was applying the medium pink decals on a light pink background and not really using them to hide the colour demarcation.

 

One method you might consider is to photocopy the decals and use the copy to make an “underlay” from white decal sheet.

 

 

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