Airfix Trident 1E with improvements- 1:144

[Viking]

Airfix Trident 1E with improvements- 1:144

 

 

The Airfix Trident first came out in 1966, and has been sporadically available since then. I have a couple in the stash and finally got around to building them. I know that the Authentic Airliners resin kit is far superior in every way, and that Eastern Express are due to release a new kit soon, but mine cost less than a fiver and have been waiting at least 20 years for me to start them. Also, I am a model builder and enjoy improving basic kits with plasticard and Milliput.

 

I actually started two kits at the same time, one modified to a Trident 2E and the other to a 1E, from the Airfix kit of a 1C. The first one to cross the finish line was the Cyprus Airways Trident 2E

so I thought I would do a WIP on the 1E as it is slightly more involved. particularly the livery I chose, BKS.

 

There are a number of improvements to make to the Airfix kit, in shoty:

• The 'Wing box', is completely missing
• The leading edge of the fin needs to be straightened
• The tail bullet needs to be more 'pointy'
• The wings need extending for a 1E (and 2E)
• Wing fences need replacing
• The noseleg needs to be places off centre.
• The wings need a bit of reshaping and a leading edge 'kink'. (I chickened out of doing this. Maybe if I get another..)
• The 1E needs a further extension to the starboard side wing box. A strake was added on the original, which is actually a re-routing of the fuel line for the Auxilliary Power Unit. Initially this was fitted in the belly of the Trident1, but problems led to it being relocated to the base of the fin. Hence running the fuel line up to it. From the Trident2 onward it was internal.

 

 

The starboard side wing box and APU fuel line mods:

 

I flitted all the glazing and filled over it with Milliput, sanding it all down flush, as I will use decals for all the windows.

Construction proceeded until the painting stage, which was Halfords Grey Primer, followed by Halfords Appliance White .

 

The decals are by Claasic-Airlines.com, laser printed. All laser decals really need to go on a light background, so a White fuselage is ideal. However all of them also have a tendency to darken if you overlap them. The two red cheatlines meet at the nose of the aircraft, and if you don't join them perfectly then you risk a small amount of overlap, and a darker red line down the nose.

 

 

There is a spare run of the cheatline red, so I cut a short section out, cut it into two and applied it to the model just to see if this shade of red would darken on an overlap.

 

Looks like it will! At this point I put it aside and got on with the Cyprus Airlines model.

Coming back to it, I decided to pant the red in preference to using the decals. I have a sheet of windows anyway,

 

First step was to cut a strip of Tamiya tape to the same width as the decal sheet cheatline, cut it into two and apply each one to the window line. The windows were still faintly visible under the paint.

 

Then apply the edges with thin strips of Tamiya tape. It is essential to take your time over this. When done, remove the two chaetline 'marker' tapes.

 

 

[Viking]

Then on to painting. Obviously I covered the whole model except the cheatlines, with more masking tape, but that makes for a boring photo! Tamiya red was airbrushed on in two coats a couple of hours apart. With all tape removed, we have this;

 

 

That's a relief, if this had gone wrong it would have been 'strip it all off and start again'.

Next up, another round of masking to protect the white top & red cheatline, and apply the grey.

 

Thanks for looking

 

John

[FortyEighter]

That's a really neat cheat line John!

[Turbofan]

Hi John,

Yes I agree a really neat bit of masking there!

This is looking good it's one of my favourite Trident liveries. Are you going to underlay the small writing forward of the front door with a little bit of white decal? That'll be some tricky cutting to get it the right size!

Just noticed, whilst looking at some pics of the original, that the blue panel on the tail decal has a slightly different bottom edge. If you want to be super accurate!

Will be following with interest.

Cheers,

Ian

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Fantastic job going on there!

[Viking]

Thanks chaps,

On 14/01/2020 at 20:01, Turbofan said:

Hi John,

Yes I agree a really neat bit of masking there!

This is looking good it's one of my favourite Trident liveries. Are you going to underlay the small writing forward of the front door with a little bit of white decal? That'll be some tricky cutting to get it the right size!

Just noticed, whilst looking at some pics of the original, that the blue panel on the tail decal has a slightly different bottom edge. If you want to be super accurate!

Will be following with interest.

Cheers,

Ian

 

Ian, the 26Decals BEA speedjack decal sheet has a couple of the small writing decals that go by the door. I'm pretty sure it was only on the port side, so I have  a spare I can use on this one.  I've also got the Authentic airliners window sheet for the 1E that also has door outlines.

I see what you mean about the bottom edge of the blue tail decal, I'll trim mine to look like that.

Some progress today, I masked up to spray the light grey on the fuselage and wings. I mixed up a shade of pale grey from Tamiya acrylics and am quite happy with the result.

 

 

All the bare metal areas to do next!

 

Thanks for looking

 

John

 

 

 

[stringbag]

This is shaping up rather nicely John.

Inspiration to get mine finished too.

 

Chris.

[DonH]

That is really neat and crisp masking! Any blemishes would really show up on that scheme and you have done a great job with it.

[woody37]

Looking superb John, those cheatlines have come out really well. Looking forwards to seeing the stickers on

 

[Eric Mc]

Lovely work so far - and great tips on the mods required.

[pinky coffeeboat]

Great work so farJohn. I like the grey underside colour, it looks like you've nailed the "British airliner grey" colour well - not quite as cold as Boeing grey it has a slight yellow tone to it. Good stuff!

 

Jeff

[Viking]

Short update, masked & sprayed the natural metal areas on the wings and engines.

 

 

 

Ready for decals, won't need the red cheatlines though!

 

Ian 'Turbofan' noticed that the bottom forward edge of the BKS logo is not straight but has a slight notch to it. It may be exaggerated by the intake curvature, but is definitely there so I trimmed the decal to suit.

 

It is actually finished now but I'll need better light conditions to do some RFI pictures tomorrow. For now here is a taster:

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John

 

 

[Turbofan]

Hi John,

Lovely, looking forward to some 'with something else' shots too. Lots in your collection to choose from!

Cheers,

Ian

Edited February 28, 2020 by Turbofan

[Skodadriver]

Hi John

 

No idea how I missed this until now! That really is a beautiful job and I look forward to seeing it in RFI.

 

The tip about using the tape "markers" to mask the cheatline is brilliant. It's so obvious when somebody shows you how but it had never occurred to me so a big thanks for that alone.

 

Out of interest what did you use for the natural metal?

 

Dave G

 

 

[Viking]

16 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

Out of interest what did you use for the natural metal?

 

 

 

 

Dave, it is Vallejo acrylic Metal color. I use 'Alumimium' and 'White Aluminium' mostly

 

I've got some better pictures now, more are in Ready For Inspection

 

 

 

Thanks for the comments and support,

 

John