BEA Red Square Trident 1C in 1/144 *Completed*

[Skodadriver]

I'm coming on board with the X-Scale Trident 1C which I plan to finish in the classic BEA red square livery. Although the box includes decals for that scheme I will probably use the sheet from Two Six along with Authentic Airliners "photo real" window decals.

 

Box shot:

 

 

The most elegantly produced and comprehensive instruction booklet I've ever seen in a 1/144 airliner kit. Hopefully it will guide me through a kit I've never built before:

 

 

Decals:

 

 

I have a possible second project in mind - Roden's Boeing 720B finished in Air Malta colours - but I'll see how things go with the Trident and the stuff I need to finish for the Asia GB.

 

Dave G

[JOCKNEY]

Wow that BEA certainly takes you back 

 

I think my first ever plane journey was on a Dan Air Trident, although to be fair it was a while ago ! 

 

Good luck 

 

Cheers Pat 

[Skodadriver]

Thanks @JOCKNEY I'm old enough to remember Tridents in that livery at Edinburgh in the mid 1960s. Even by the standards of the time they were noisy.

 

It's more likely that your Dan Air flight was on a BAC 111 rather than a Trident. Dan Air never had Tridents in their fleet although they could have chartered one from BEA, BKS or Channel.

 

I'll get the build under way in the next couple of days.

 

Dave G

[JOCKNEY]

43 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

It's more likely that your Dan Air flight was on a BAC 111 rather than a Trident. Dan Air never had Tridents in their fleet although they could have chartered one from BEA, BKS or Channel

 

Oh dear, another sign that old age is catching up on me,  thanks Dave 

[Skodadriver]

OK, it's time to get the show on the road.

 

I always model a specific aircraft and the subject for this build is G-ARPR. Papa Romeo was delivered to BEA in April 1965 and withdrawn by BA in March 1981. Like many retired Tridents she became a fire training airframe (at Teeside International) before being scrapped in 1990. On 10 June 1965 flying as Bealine 343 from Paris to London she made aviation history by being the first airliner ever to make a fully automatic landing while carrying fare-paying passengers. Considering that was 59 years ago it shows how technically advanced the Trident was and it's a pity that Papa Romeo wasn't preserved.

 

Unboxing the kit doesn’t show up any serious concerns.  It has the annoyance of sprue attachment points on some of the mating faces so careful preparation will be the order of the day. There is also a plethora of small bits - the nose wheel well alone is made up of five parts and the main undercarriage looks a bundle of joy but we’ll deal with that in due course. There is a detailed cockpit (well, sort of) but I will be using window decals so I’ll just use the parts that contribute to the structural rigidity of the fuselage.

 

One minor disappointment is that the design of the kit means surgery is required if you want your model to have the characteristic backward sloping tailplane - like so - a detail which both Airfix and F-RSIN cater for. I don’t imagine the surgery would be difficult (particularly if you just graft on an Airfix tailplane) but since this is an OOB build I’ll leave it for another occasion.

 

The only other thing which jumped out at me is that the decals for the “Speedjack” livery are the wrong colour - dark blue rather than the unique BEA blue/green. I’m doing the earlier “red square” scheme so it’s not an issue for me but anyone who wants an accurate “Speedjack” Trident will need to use the decals from Ray at Two Six.

 

The Trident isn't nearly as well documented as, say, the Boeing 737 but fortunately I have this in my bookcase and I'll be using it as my "bible" as the build progresses:

 

 

Basic cockpit, nose wheel well and S duct assembled....

 

 

... and in place

 

 

I always make nose weights from self-adhesive lead strip. I was introduced to this years ago by an art teacher friend. It is sold for stained glass work and comes on a reel like an old-fashioned cine film. A reel isn't cheap but it will do an awful lot of models:

 

 

Unhelpfully X-Scale don't say how much weight the Trident requires. I have added about 15g which should be more than enough but with the fin, tailplanes and engines there is a fair amount of plastic aft of the centre of gravity so I'll leave the cockpit transparency off until I'm sure the balance is OK.

 

The lead can be fixed in place with its own adhesive but I always use Blu-Tack to be sure. You can bash it with a hammer to make whatever shape you need although that's not necessary with the Trident:

 

 

The fuselage closed up:

 

 

The S duct and its fittings are quite a tight squeeze and the Berna clamp will hold everything nicely in place until the joints are properly set. The fuselage seam isn't bad but inevitably some filling and tidying up will be required.

 

Back soon.

 

Dave G

[Bengalensis]

This will be good!

I have always loved seeing your airliners in every yearbook as that time of the year comes up. It will be nice following one of the builds live.

I must build one of my own some day, I haven't done so since some old Airfix built as a kid many many years ago...

[Rb277170]

Looking forward to your build David for when I eventually get round to it . Curiously, I seem to be ever busier now I’m retired ! Got this kit and several of the older Airfix version . Will be interesting to see which one you think is best overall . 

[Skodadriver]

Thanks Russell @Rb277170

 

The Airfix kit was issued in 1966 and is a creature of its time. The basic outline isn't awful although the fin chord is too narrow and the leading edge needs to be straightened. It also lacks the wing-body fairing, the apu fuel duct and the offset nose wheel. The fairing can be sculpted from Milliput although it needs care since it's asymmetrical. X-Scale seem to have got it pretty much spot on. So far the only advantages of the Airfix kit I've found are the much simpler assembly (I'm not looking forward to the X-Scale undercarriage!) and the provision for the tilted tailplane.

 

Dave G

[Skodadriver]

Here’s a quick progress report.

 

I have tidied up the fuselage seam and filled it where necessary with superglue applied with a pin. I still need to reinstate the panel lines, a job I hate, but I'll get to it eventually

 

Trying to fit the fin round the S duct was interesting. I suspect the S duct sits a fraction too high (whether that’s my fault or the kit’s is unclear) because even with significant filing and sanding I ended up with a gap at the base of the fin below the intake. I also had to hold the rear of the fin in place with elastic bands to force it down into place while the cement set.

 

 

There’s nothing that Milliput and Perfect Plastic Putty can’t fix but the assembly needs more cleaning up and filling than I had expected. Incidentally the separate apu “bullet” means it would be easy to model an early Trident with the apu in the fuselage.

 

After confirming that the model had sufficient nose weight I added the cockpit transparency. This needed a bit of adjustment before it would drop into place and it’s a little too wide at the rear but again it’s nothing that Milliput and sanding won’t sort.

 

 

I’m going to leave things for a few days to let all the joints set really hard then I’ll get on with the filling and sanding.

 

Dave G

[Skodadriver]

Filler applied ...

 

 

.... and sanded

 

 

The number two intake still needs some attention. I'll decide later whether I'm going to try to reinstate the panel lines or just fill them. 

 

Next job will be the wings

 

Dave G

[zebra]

Looking good Dave. I had the same problem with the fit of the fin around the number two intake when I built mine - I filed a fair bit of plastic off the outside of the s-duct, which did the job. I had the same issue with the fit of the clear part as well - I think it's always going to need windscreen decals, I don't think I'm capable of blending the clear part in without losing the window details!

[Skodadriver]

I have joined the wing halves and dealt with the rather nasty joints on the underside (at least to a point!):

 

 

Wingtip lights from uv activated superglue (sold by Bostik as "Fix and Flash"). It's much easier than messing around with clear sprue:

 

 

A trial fit of the wing assembly showed that it was easy to get the belly section out of alignment with the fuselage so I added thin plastic lips to support the joints:

 

 

The trial fit also showed up significant gaps at both wing roots, pretty disappointing for such a recently tooled kit. This is the right one, the left isn't much better:

 

 

The next job will be to attach the wings. I'm mildly obsessive about my airliners having equal dihedral so there will be some fettling and a lot of checking involved. I'll need to plug the gaps with thin plastic to make sure the joints are strong enough. Filler alone won't do.

 

I'll be back when I have more to report.

 

Dave G

 

[zebra]

Those wing root gaps are pretty huge. I don't remember having that issue on mine, but maybe I've shut out the memory of it!

 

Looks like you've dealt with the joints on the underside of the wings pretty well. I've been dealing with the same thing on the 747SP's empennage today. I wish the Ukrainian manufacturers wouldn't do this! I like the nice thin trailing edge it gives you, but it would be so much better if they'd put the join on a prominent panel line or a flap hinge line. 

[Skodadriver]

That’s the wings and fuselage joined and the gaps filled. Before I applied the Milliput I plugged the gaps with thin plastic in order to reinforce the joints.

 

 

 

I have also added the RDF fairings and a few more small details.

 

 

Next step is to give the model a coat of primer and see how it looks. I fully expect more work will be needed before I can start the livery.

 

Dave G

[Skodadriver]

The Trident is now primed and ready for the livery.

 

Normally I use grey primer but the red paint on the wings really needs to be applied over white so I gave the whole model a coat of Halfords white primer. That showed up the inevitable dodgy bits which needed correcting. There wasn’t anything show-stopping, in fact if I’m being honest the model was better than I had any right to expect. Once I had dealt with the flaws I reapplied the primer and was immediately reminded why I prefer grey - the covering ability of white primer over dark green plastic leaves a bit to be desired! The model is still slightly patchy particularly around the cockpit but I’m reasonably confident the top coat will be OK.

 

 

I have also assembled and primed the engines. Not much to say about them except it took a bit of work to get the intakes looking right. It would have been nice if X-Scale had given us separate front rings.

 

 

I'll be back once the livery is on.

 

Dave G

[Skodadriver]

 

That’s the Trident painted. It took longer than I had expected, not helped by a badly cut finger (a cooking mishap, nothing to do with modelling) which inhibited activity for a while.

 

White is Halfords Appliance Gloss White, grey is Xtracolor X551, red is Xtracolor X552 and natural metal is Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium. I have an uneasy relationship with Xtracolor paint which I don’t like and don’t trust after previous bad experiences. However sometimes needs must and I discovered a while ago that thinning with cellulose thinner helps to keep the drying time within reasonable limits. It’s also important to ensure the pigment is properly dispersed so stir, stir, stir until you’re absolutely positive you’ve stirred enough then stir some more.

 

One small point to note is that the kit painting diagram for the lower wings is only correct for G-ARPA in the prototype livery. In service the lower wings had red central sections and natural metal flaps similar to the upper surfaces, like so.

 

My s.o.p. is to get a model on its undercarriage before starting the decals so that will be the next step.

 

Dave G

 

 

[Milan Mynar]

Nice progress.

 

[stringbag]

Hi Dave.

This is looking rather good.

That Viking chappy and I were talking about this kit earlier today over a cuppa.  Seeing your build has highlighted a Trident shaped hole in my stash.

 

Chris.

[zebra]

Looking good Dave

 

I have a similarly uneasy relationship with Xtracolor - I seem to remember getting very mixed results with it, and a very long drying time - but it's all academic now as I haven't seen it on sale here for a very long time!

[CliffB]

This is looking very smart so far 

[PeterB]

6 hours ago, zebra said:

Looking good Dave

 

I have a similarly uneasy relationship with Xtracolor - I seem to remember getting very mixed results with it, and a very long drying time - but it's all academic now as I haven't seen it on sale here for a very long time!

I have used Xtracolour paint for many years and the early tins were a bit of a pain in terms of drying time. More recent ones seem to be somewhat better, though it may vary depending on the colour. I had similar problems with the original White Ensign Colourcoats and when I spoke to them they said they needed a really good stirring and recommended getting a powered stirrer. The Sovereign version is/was much better.

 

Pete

[Skodadriver]

7 hours ago, zebra said:

Looking good Dave

 

I have a similarly uneasy relationship with Xtracolor - I seem to remember getting very mixed results with it, and a very long drying time - but it's all academic now as I haven't seen it on sale here for a very long time!

 

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

I have used Xtracolour paint for many years and the early tins were a bit of a pain in terms of drying time. More recent ones seem to be somewhat better, though it may vary depending on the colour. I had similar problems with the original White Ensign Colourcoats and when I spoke to them they said they needed a really good stirring and recommended getting a powered stirrer. The Sovereign version is/was much better.

 

Pete

 

It might be worth noting that I bought new tinlets of X551 and X552 specifically for this project and neither was full when I opened it. I'd wouldn't like to think that Hannants are indulging in a bit of surreptitious "shrinkflation" and it's so long since I last used Xtracolor that I don't have any older tinlets for comparison but I couldn't help feeling a little short changed. Whether I'm right or wrong about that I only ever use Xtracolor as a matter of last resort and fortunately I don't have any more projects in the pipeline which are likely to need it.

 

Dave G

[Skodadriver]

It’s always a good moment when a model stands in its own feet, so to speak.

 

 

The undercarriage was a bit of a pain - the main legs and their associated struts each need thirteen(!) parts if you include the wheel halves and the doors. There is nothing wrong with my eyesight but even so the job was fiddly, difficult and time-consuming. The nose leg wasn’t quite as bad but it’s a bit fragile and I’ve made up a little cardboard sleeve to keep it safe. To be fair, once it’s done the finished undercarriage looks good and is a big improvement on the simplified representations in the Airfix and F-RSIN kits.

 

Next step will be the decals.

 

Back soon I hope.

 

Dave G

[Skodadriver]

That’s G-ARPR finished.

 

The decals are mainly by Two Six with Authentic Airliners windows and a few bits and pieces from the kit sheet. My only criticism of the Two Six decals is that the door outlines are too prominent but the much subtler AA outlines are too small so I’ll just have to live with the Two Six ones. Because AA designed the cabin window decals for their own Trident 1E kit the spacing doesn’t match the 1C exactly so I applied the Two Six cabin windows then overlaid the non-framed AA ones. It was a tedious and fiddly job but I think it was worthwhile.

 

Photographs show that red square Tridents didn’t always have upper wing registrations. My guess (and it’s no more than a guess) is that the test aircraft carried them but service aircraft didn’t so I left them off. If anybody has a definitive answer I’ll be delighted to hear it.

 

I added CRM anti-collision beacons and Daco photo-etch pitots. The aerials are from the kit. When I see the photos they are a bit chunky and I should probably replace them but they will do for the time being.

 

Thanks to everybody who took an interest in this project. As anyone who followed the thread will have gathered, I found the kit a little bit of a mixed bag. I’m pretty happy with the result which captures the feel of the real aircraft although I still think it’s a pity there is no provision for the tilted tailplane. Still, you can’t have everything and the X-Scale Trident is such a huge improvement on the Airfix version that it’s easy to forgive its few shortcomings.

 

Dave G

 

 

[Milan Mynar]

It is an excellent modeling work.