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Airfix - Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 500 TAP Air Portugal


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The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 500 is my dad's favorite aircraft. He flew on it at least 4 times when he was a kid from Portugal towards the South America back in the 80's. This year it will turn 25 years since my dad joined TAP Air Portugal and to celebrate that mark, he decided to make this model that is very special to him. Since he doesn't have time to share his work online, he asked me if I could share it here on his behalf. I didn't mind at all and on this topic I will show you all his work. This job is not mine, but in order to facilitate the writing I will write on the first person, although the credits belong to my dad!

 

The L-1011 operated with TAP Air Portugal between 1983 and 1997 and it played a very important role on the long haul network of the airline through those years. But let's go to the kit itself! 

 

The beginning of this project started actually with the decals and by mistake! I was searching online for decals for a 747 and I found by accident the L-1011 ones. Immediately I've order them just in case they ran out of stock. The next step was finding a kit. Thing that probably wouldn't be that easy. But I had time and I wasn't in a rush for starting it so I've waited, until I've found this kit on a bargain on eBay that costed my around 20€. It's a very old kit and the funny fact is that is from the same year as I. Among other models I had in queue I kept the Lockheed stored until this week when I've started to work on it. The instructions were in a very bad shape and the box didn't brought any original British Airways decals but I wouldn't mind that because I had my own ones already. 

 

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The first part was to glue all main and cargo doors onto the main fuselage, the next step was gluing the cabin windows and assemble the mainframe. This cabin layout is different from the TAP one, which means I have to putty and sand the doors (I would have to do that one way or another). That would be the next step! 

 

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One thing that always captivated me was the L-1011's S-Duct on Engine 2. It gives the airplane a very own style. I will for sure work this area very much when details and weathering are concerned! And once more, Airfix did a great job with this L-1011 when it comes to fitting and when it comes to details. The back is very well done! 

 

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Looking forward to continue this model and share the progress with you all! 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Diogo Monteiro
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Looks like a lot of work ahead, but good on you for pushing ahead with this!  I flew on the L-1011 only once, with Delta, and its interior was straight out of the '70s in every way.  Otherwise, it was a comfortable ride!

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3 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Looks like a lot of work ahead, but good on you for pushing ahead with this!  I flew on the L-1011 only once, with Delta, and its interior was straight out of the '70s in every way.  Otherwise, it was a comfortable ride!

Yeah compared with my DC-10, my dad will have a loooots to sand and to adjust! Also for what I've been searching too the silver belly has two tones so sanding in first and masking in second! But it will be a very nice challenge! 

You did flew on a L1011? Wow! You guys are really lucky indeed! Aviation is still fascinating nowadays but those old airplanes are just beautiful and definitely legends! The most vintage I could be on a plane was on a flight with Azores Airlines from Ponta Delgada to Lisbon on a A310 (CS-TKN) and in another flight from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro with an A340 (CS-TOA) with TAP. Kings of the skies for sure! 

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3 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

Wasn't the 500 a shorter fuselage version of the Tristar?

 

Welsh Models do a part vac-form/resin 500.

Shorter fuselage and longer span wings if you want to be accurate. Eastern Express do the 500 as well as the 100/200, one of their better kits.

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10 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

My goodness, even in 1.144 scale this is BIG! 

I'm looking forward to seeing this project 👍

Yeah! Actually it is big! From comprising it with my DC-10 side by side it think the L-1011 is just a little bit big! 

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17 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Shorter fuselage and longer span wings if you want to be accurate. Eastern Express do the 500 as well as the 100/200, one of their better kits.

Yes it is right!

 

"The L-1011-500 was shortened by 4.3 m and MTOW increased to allow higher fuel loads (...) More powerful RB.211-524 engines, increased wingspan, active-load-control ailerons and other improved systems were features introduced by Lockheed to exploit newly available technologies in the late 1970s." according Wikipedia

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This is going to be interesting

The TriStar is my favorite airliner aside from the 747.

The TriStar is one of Airfix's lesser efforts,but with some work and TLC,can be build into a very nice model.

I stay tuned:popcorn:

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On 26/03/2021 at 20:41, Alex1978 said:

This is going to be interesting

The TriStar is my favorite airliner aside from the 747.

The TriStar is one of Airfix's lesser efforts,but with some work and TLC,can be build into a very nice model.

I stay tuned:popcorn:

The first impression I had the airplane was big, so as the kit! Both 747 and L1011 are marvelous when it comes to design! 

My dad loves this airplane very much, I'm pretty sure he will make a good job on it :D 

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  • 1 month later...

Some nice and good progress on the L-1011! 

Unfortunately my dad give an advance at the model without my presence so I don't have many pictures for you guys but I can say the aircraft is sanded already and no marks in the main fuselage can be found. Despite of all those massive gaps, Revell's putty is indeed a good tool to fill all the big gaps. 

 

As you can see here TAP Air Portugal livery on the Tristar is a white upper fuselage with a silver and a grey belly. Thats what we've did today. Yes I did some help this time. The fuselage was painted today in white by the morning and when I've went to my dad's I've helped him to paint the silver section. I'll leave you with some updates on the next days 

 

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Some progress on my dad's garage! 

 

He wants to have the model done until Saturday (I think), so he is kinda running against the time, so he decided to rush and do some progress without my presence. The wings, elevators and also the engines are painted and also attached to the model itself already. For the 98% the pictures we've saw together, the L1011 Rolls-Royce engines had a light grey part in the middle so he did it in the same way we've saw on the pics.

Next time for what I've saw is to apply the decals actually. And that will be my job! Left you with the pictures he sent to me! 

 

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Very nice paintjob.Clean and shiny.

 

One thing that came to my mind though about the decals.

Did you measure them for length ?

The -500 is significantly shorter than the standard TriStar.

Airfix's kit is based on the standard version.

Just as a reminder if you are about to start decalling the model,IF  the decal set is already designed for the -500 version (depending on the age of release of that sheet,ITS possible that the model would need to be shortened,or its designed for the Welsh or Eastern Express -500 kit)

Otherwise you would end up with a too short red/green stripe.

In that case maybe painting the stripes and use only the titles and logos would save you a lot of trouble.

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10 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

Nice neat painting.

 

I plan to finish my Airfix Tristar in the hybrid BEA/Eastern scheme worn by N305EA when it carried out a European sales tour in 1972.

Honestly I don't like the hybrid schemes but I must say that hybrid between BEA & Eastern is really amazing! Looking forward to see your job! 

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10 hours ago, Alex1978 said:

Very nice paintjob.Clean and shiny.

 

One thing that came to my mind though about the decals.

Did you measure them for length ?

The -500 is significantly shorter than the standard TriStar.

Airfix's kit is based on the standard version.

Just as a reminder if you are about to start decalling the model,IF  the decal set is already designed for the -500 version (depending on the age of release of that sheet,ITS possible that the model would need to be shortened,or its designed for the Welsh or Eastern Express -500 kit)

Otherwise you would end up with a too short red/green stripe.

In that case maybe painting the stripes and use only the titles and logos would save you a lot of trouble.

Alex nothing escapes to you! You are very right! I had that problem! But we could fix it! :D 

I'll show in on the trend now! 

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So yesterday I've went to my dad and give an advance to the L-1011. 

The decal process could have been more easy... My dad attached the elevators without applying the stripes which turned the process a bit complicated. They broke a bit and in some parts it needs some adjustments with a brush for sure. 

Also, Like @Alex1978 & I talked above, the Airfix L1011 is a standard version of the L1011. TAP operated with the -500 version which was a bit shorter. So the model was bigger for the decals. No worries. We've used some spare decals from previous models and we've placed it without further incidents! Honestly I got a bit disappointed because of the elevator thing, but those things just happened. Hope we can make some good work hiding the small mistakes. Maybe the weathering helps :D 

 

 

51181874079_cacdd9c1fd_b.jpg

 

 

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Hi Diogo,

 

Glad that you could sort it out with spare decals.

It looks great already,the paintjob is fabulous,esp. I like the engines,lots of attention to detail.

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Just now, Alex1978 said:

Hi Diogo,

 

Glad that you could sort it out with spare decals.

It looks great already,the paintjob is fabulous,esp. I like the engines,lots of attention to detail.

Very appreciated Alex! Maybe on that elevator part we can hide the errors because we still have to use a decal and paint that part because is supposed to be white actually!

Lets see how it goes! :D Unfortunately we can't made the Sunday timeline but as soon as possible this one will be finished! 

Well about the engines, we got very in doubt because in every single picture we've checked, the engines looked differently, so we just picked one photo and we've based on that! Thanks a lot :D

 

TAP_Air_Portugal_L-1011-500_CS-TEF_LIS_1

 

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Welcome.

26decals provides a great detail set with the airline markings.

If you use those elevator mount decals,a lot of that will be hidden.

Engine colours often change,if they need to replace some parts,sometimes they were not painted to match ,so whatever way you chose,its right.

I remember seeing the TAP TriStar at Zurich airport in the early 90s.

It was not a frequent visitor,usually 727s and 737s were used on that route.

So I was pleasantly surprised and happy to take some pictures of the TriStar.

She looked like new back then and it was a fabulous sight.

Too bad,I never managed to fly on a TriStar

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23 hours ago, Alex1978 said:

Welcome.

26decals provides a great detail set with the airline markings.

If you use those elevator mount decals,a lot of that will be hidden.

Engine colours often change,if they need to replace some parts,sometimes they were not painted to match ,so whatever way you chose,its right.

I remember seeing the TAP TriStar at Zurich airport in the early 90s.

It was not a frequent visitor,usually 727s and 737s were used on that route.

So I was pleasantly surprised and happy to take some pictures of the TriStar.

She looked like new back then and it was a fabulous sight.

Too bad,I never managed to fly on a TriStar

Zürich used to have during Swissair era very interesting movements. Actually it still has in my opinion. The 727/737 were normally the airplanes used for the routes but perhaps because the big amount of Portuguese emigrants in Switzerland TAP used to upgrade the airplane type. Actually SWISS did that to Oporto with flights being operated with the 777 A330 & A340. 

Well you must have seen many Cathay Tristar's in Kai Tap I presume no? :D 

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Unfortunately not.

Cathay Pacific phased out their TriStars in 1995/96 ,my first trip was in february 1998.

But I managed to visit the famous carpark before I went to check-in,from where a spectacular view and photos were possible.

It also marked my first ever flight with a 747.

The flight from Zurich to Hongkong was on the magnificent MD-11 but the return flight saw a 747-300.

We went with the bus out to the stand,and boarding via the stairs,standing underneath that giant ,was just awesome.The flight was terrific and thus I became such a big lover of the 747.

After I found out which Zurich-Hongkong flights were 747 operated by Swissair,I booked the next trip accordingly because I wanted to experience the famous approach to Kai-Tak on board the queen.An unforgettable experience

 

Zurich was once really interesting.

It had lots of airlines coming wit various aircraft types.

For example TWA,they came with 747,767 or TriStar,Delta visited with either A310,767 or TriStar- 100 or -500,Mandarin Airlines with MD-11 or 747SP from Thai Airways you would see every type of 747 they operated ,MD-11 and occasionally their sole DC-10.

So every visit to Zurich airport was interesing because I never knew what aircraft I would see.

Today its actually quite boring when it comes to airlines/aircrafts visiting Zurich.The variety has gone.

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