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


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3 minutes ago, Graham In Oz said:

So things maybe don't look so bad

There you go!

 

Really glad the man at 26 has helped, bodes well for us all.

 

Looking forward to watching this one evolve ...................... 😁

 

Terry

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Graham, hoping all's going well, and you're just waiting for a delivery of new decal sheet in worldwide postal service.

 

Funny enough, I just got my first set ever of 26decals when I picked up a little Viscount kit at the weekend - 26 has done the Eagle Airways décor for it.

There's a BOAC VC 10 by the same maker that I'm thinking seriously about😚

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3 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

Hi Graham, hoping all's going well, and you're just waiting for a delivery of new decal sheet in worldwide postal service.

 

Funny enough, I just got my first set ever of 26decals when I picked up a little Viscount kit at the weekend - 26 has done the Eagle Airways décor for it.

There's a BOAC VC 10 by the same maker that I'm thinking seriously about😚

Hi Rob,

 

Well... I haven't posted since then because I don't want to be that guy who's always moaning about something or other! I'd rather wait until I have something positive... But since you ask, yes I'm waiting on the new decals sheet, but I had to rub back the paint all the way to the primer to remove the aborted attempt. Masking and respraying the whole thing takes quite a bit of time, especially with extended drying times and having to fit it all in around work and so on. On removing the masking tape I pulled away a small bit of paint where I hadn't rubbed it back quite enough, so that'll need sorting. So at the moment it's 2 steps forward, 1 back. Hopefully will have some progress soon. Really, there's very little left to do - just the undercarriage, final paint, decals and glue all the big bits together.

 

Thinking about next projects - I have a Britannia and a Boeing 720 to do (both Roden) with 26 Decals' Monarch livery for both. Beyond that, not sure. If I'm going to be building models, I want to have some sort of coherent plan for era, scale, etc rather than just build randomly. The 'Luton '73' thing is one strand (hence the Monarch planes) but I also quite fancy doing some British military aircraft of the 50s and 60s. Also British airliners of the same era, so a VC10 would definitely be on the list at some point.

Edited by Graham In Oz
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Hi Graham,

 

I feel your pain with regards to having to strip back the paint. I have to do this every so often and it can be soul destroying! But better than finishing a model that you're really not happy with!

 

I know it's too late now but if you need to remove decals again you could try covering them with sellotape and ripping them off that way if there's anything left on the model Microset can be used to loosen it and it should them float off easily.

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

Ian

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21 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

Hi Graham, hoping all's going well, and you're just waiting for a delivery of new decal sheet in worldwide postal service.

 

Funny enough, I just got my first set ever of 26decals when I picked up a little Viscount kit at the weekend - 26 has done the Eagle Airways décor for it.

There's a BOAC VC 10 by the same maker that I'm thinking seriously about😚

Rob, I recently used the 26 BOAC SVC-10 sheet and I was a bit disappointed with it. Like Graham with Halcyon Days I found the decals stiff and reluctant to conform, particularly around the nose. They also refused to bed into the detail on the fin, no matter what I did to them. I got there in the end but it’s not a model I’m pleased with. I’m a great fan of 26 Decals and the problems were as unexpected as they were disappointing. I know Ray is now using BOA to do his printing so hopefully these issues will be a thing of the past but I thought I should give you a heads up.

 

(Apologies for thread drift)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very quick update - new decals have arrived. They seem to be superior in every way to the first edition sheets, not only in terms of print quality and flexibility, but also in detail rendering. I'm going to attempt to use the colour stripe once again, though in the repainting of the fuselage I left a white stripe there that could be used to paint the colour stripe. One of the other things that's holding me up at the moment is the weather - it's winter here in Australia and I do my modelling in the garage, an unheated space. It's f-f-f-freezing! Anyone who thinks Australia doesn't get cold is quite wrong! (plus I'm at 1000m ASL on top of the range, so we're getting -5° nights ATM). But I should have an update in a day or so all being well.

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Finally some progress! The new decals went on without any real problems, so I think I'm on the final straight now. From the disaster of this:

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2087.jpg

 

To this:

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2089.jpg

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2091.jpg

 

My plan was to stop there, and complete the decaling on the finished model - only the colour stripe really needed the wings and tailplane absent for careful application, but since I was set up for it and it was all going so well, I decided to continue with all of the  fuselage decals.

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2093.jpg

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2094.jpg

 

So I'm pretty happy with the results. Thanks again to Ray at 26 Decals for the replacement sheet - I can report that they were like night and day compared to the first sheet, and were flexible and obedient! If anyone else is contemplating building this livery, definitely make sure you get the modern sheet straight from the source, (STS44279 and NOT STS4499). This also uses the windows and cockpit from Authentic Airliners. There are still numerous small detail decals to add to this, but I'll save those for the final reveal, which shouldn't be too far off now!

 

Thanks for looking.

 

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Superb and beautiful recovery there @Graham In Oz. Its always very satisfying to be able to do something like that from a potential disaster, and I have to say, the sign of an true and expert modeller!

 

Looking forward to seeing the completed job.

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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14 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

the sign of an true and expert modeller!

Thanks for the compliment, but quite honestly I reckon a real expert would have recovered it without having to redo the paintjob almost from scratch! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, I'm calling it finished. To be honest it's not as good as I really hoped - I guess my talent is not really in line with my ambition just yet. There are lots of little things that make it less than 100%, and overall it's not quite up there with the models that inspired me from @Skodadriver and @phil1, but for my first one in 41 years, I'm trying to look on the bright side! I plan to do some proper photography in due course for RFI, but here's a quick few shots of the finished thing on the kitchen table taken on my phone, for those kind enough to have followed along with the build and encouraged me through one or two little problems.

 

I still need to make a display stand, and the 'TriStar' decal on the port side got damaged, so I need to redo that (I have the spare from the old brittle sheet). There may need to be a few final tweaks to the weathering also - what I have so far may need toning down a tad, especially on the upper wing surfaces - need to live with it for a bit see what I think.

 

Another admission is that the final detailing of all the little antennas, pitot tubes and so on defeated me. The PE parts were just too fiddly for my eyesight and patience, given that they were about 2mm long and ½ mm wide, and needed CA glue which quite frankly I absolutely loathe. Does anybody like working with that stuff? Is there an alternative? I may yet give it another go if I can find the patience!

 

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%2098.jpg

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%20100.jpg

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%20108.jpg

L1011-Court-GBAAA-2017%20-%20101.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

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3 hours ago, Graham In Oz said:

OK, I'm calling it finished.

Looks pretty good to me Graham, superb job after a 41 year break!

 

Felt some of your pain on the journey, I am experiencing similar after a similar break myself, although been back in the hobby for about 3 years now.

 

Looking forward to the RFI.

 

Terry

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Hi Graham,

I think you should be very pleased with this, it would be brilliant if it was just oob but the work you've put into the flaps just takes it to another level. And after a 41 year break, awesome!

There's nothing wrong with any weathering I can see, the wings are where most of the weathering shows up on any aircraft so if anything there's not enough!

As always the AA windows add so much realism.

Looking forward to your RFI pics and hope there's more of this kind of thing coming soon.

Cheers,

Ian

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shes a beauty graham, you should be very proud considering the problems you encountered that were no fault of your own. looking at your model brings back memories of doing mine as I can remember how much of a nightmare colour scheme it was to complete! 

The wings are very impressive with not just the flap work but also the white surfaces look far more realistic than my attempt. I don't bother with pitot tubes and aerials either as I find they get in the way especially if your giving the paintwork a nice polish or attempting to clean it up

 

well done mate!

 

Phil

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You are truly an inspiration, Graham. I mean really. This is a fantastic chronicle of a very nice build. I want to say "comeback," but it appears your just an old hat very good with your skills. This is a difficult build, in every aspect. From the quality of the EE kit, to the addition of PE parts, decisions regarding flaps and slats (which are brilliantly done, by the way), averting disaster with paint and decals, to the final display. Very very nice job. I admire your patience and honesty, too. I have learned so much from reading and observing your process. In particular, the work with metal finishes. I am not familiar with the natural metal finish you chose...I prefer the Alclad products, and have had some success with them, though care must be taken when masking. I was about to suggest polishing the surface lightly, when I read further and discovered that you had indeed polished and achieved the result you were looking for. The engines look great! I have found that most L-1011 model kits don't really have the engine intakes quite right...they are a bit thick...and I have trimmed fans so that they would fit inside the nacelle...worked pretty well. Thank you for sharing this journey. You have enhanced the community's knowledge by your experience. I am inspired to build an EE L-1011; and the MD-11 too! Congratulations. And Thank you!

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