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Correcting the Airfix Tristar


richellis

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Hi,

As I have a nice decal set from TwoSix decals, see here and a small etch sheet here for the Airfix Tristar, when I saw a kit at the local carboot last week i had to have it! Well £2 I had to!

Firstly Stringbag sent me some links after a short (well short for us when we get on the blower!) for some corrections and issues with the kit. I know some ducts, vents and antenna are missing, but these are on the etch sheet so thats OK, the engines need some work, flap tracks are wrong, and the tail/ centre intake!

I made a start I cut the tail from where the tail joins the intake, to the bottom corner of the rudder. A section is removed from the leading edge to allow it to be pushed in narrowing the tails width. A pile of Milliput is stuffed in so it will alow it to be thinned more when the fuselage is together! the pics will show it better,

two_Six_courtvirg%20007.JPG

two_Six_courtvirg%20008.JPG

Next job is to work out how I can do the S duct!

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Correct the missing 's' duct contours on the outside and the rest of the corrections (wing flap tracks etc) will be easy!!

(Thoughts - could you re-mould the fin from a Revell kit?)

I can remember once trying to work out why Airfix had made such a pigs ear of it, and came to the conclusion that they had based the model on an early manufacturer's drawing, before the design was finalised (I found a Lockheed drawing in a book that almost matched what Airfix had done)

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I can remember once trying to work out why Airfix had made such a pigs ear of it, and came to the conclusion that they had based the model on an early manufacturer's drawing, before the design was finalised (I found a Lockheed drawing in a book that almost matched what Airfix had done)

thats about it - afx did the same with the 747-100, the Trident and also based kits on prototypes rather than in-service aircraft

both the 747, imho, and the TriStar can be fixed tho' it does take some work, but the end result is probably worth the time and effort

looking forward to seeing this progress rich.

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Interesting!

I'll be watching this as I've been wondering whether to build one of the 2 I have in the stash. I quite fancy doing Twosix's Orange Court version.

Good luck with it Rich, keep posting updates,

Cheers,

John

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Could you grab one from the stash, tape the fuselage together and get a couple of pics of the tail and duct for me please so I can see how differant its looking!

Sure can!

Tristar2.jpg

Tristar1.jpg

I've gone and ordered my Twosix decals for this just now. I'm depending on you to blaze the trail Rich!

(Couldn't resist a set of Pan Am 727 decals either. Well, it makes more sense get a couple of sheets at a time doesn't it?)

Cheers,

John

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That's looking significantly better already Rich. Nice one.

Dont forget to add the tailplane tilt plates at the roots, and thinning the rudder trailing edges will also benefit the overall appearance.

Chris.

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Very nice Neil, a cracking build and looks so much better for the work on the tail. I have thinned the trailing edge down so much i have lost the engraved rudder lines! It looks a load better. Pics later when Im home from work (gotta love smart phones!)

the 'tilt plates' are on the decal sheet so my plan is to use the decal as a guide to cut some thin plastic and glue in place.

Finally

OMG IVE LOOKED AT THE ENGINES!

Other than the fact some bits are missing, Airfix have been contacted but I think I may have to scratch the hot ends!

Oh, and an Airfix Jumbo hit my mat this morning. Plans.......

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OK, airfix cant help! Bugger!

I hve had a dig in the spares box and found some flap tracks from a 747 that will work, so ill do some resin copies! Not looked at the engines, just thrown some primer over the back end ready for finishing,

tristar%20001.JPG

tristar%20002.JPG

tristar%20004.JPG

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Looking very good rich.

I'm not really aware what the problems are with this kit, so following your build is really helpful for when I come to start mine.

I've been looking at Tristars on airliners.net and can see that the intake/tailfin area is quite a complex set of curves, whereas the kit is rather bloated & featureless. I can see what you are trying to achieve now, and you have made a huge improvement to the kit parts, it looks a hell of a lot better now.

Whats wrong with the kit flap tracks then?

Cheers

John

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Hi

I'm halfway through working on an Airfix Tristar too. For the S duct I made a template from an Otaki kit using masking tape, that was then placed on

thin plasticard and cut to shape. Once glued on to the Airfix kit you are left with a "bubble" which was then drilled and filled with resin. Not perfect but

it will do for me -

DSCF0498.jpg

I also replaced the nose with a copy from the Otaki kit

Andrew

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Hi,

John, there are too many flap tracks, and they are too small. I will cast some today and get them on one of the wings so you can compare.

the Airfix kit is poor, the duct/ tail on the tristar is quite a complex shape with the S duct clearly visible through the external shapes and thats not on the kit at all.

I wish i had the Otaki kit, would be much easier! but with the price these kits get......

I hope the moulds can be fund at some point. After all, Revell found the beluga tooling!

Must have a go at the engines and wings toay, hopefully!

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Not much to show on the fuselage today, its closed up, doors and windows in (will use the windows on the decal sheet) lots of sanding, primer, sand, primer but I have cracked on a bit.

Engines.

The engines I dont think are a bad shape, the hot ends are silly. They are solid, with a 2 piece exhaust, all thick, short and not nice, plus 3 of the 4 bits where missing! The spares box gave me 2 Airfix 747 engines, chopped the back off them, hollowed out the Tristars RB211s stuck them together and it looked good. A flick through some pics found some shots I took of the RB211 at Cosford, so I found a couple of fans from the spares box (off an airfix airliner of some sort, maybe a 1-11??) Any way pics,

l1011%20001.JPGl1011%20002.JPG

Wings

Again the spares box came to my aid with a flap fairing off an Airfix 747, as I only had one, I did some resin copies. They are glued on but need some final shapeing and sorting, compaired to the kits wing,

l1011%20005.JPG

Legs

I decided to have a go with the landing gear, all OOB with some Streached sprue and thin wire

l1011%20003.JPGl1011%20004.JPG

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wow....rich....detail :)

way to go !!!!

Since airfix made such a mess of the wideboy airliners, would finding the moulds be a good thing?

I'd rasther they re-tooled all three and released an accurate 747 classic, TriStar and DC10.....

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Hey Rich, looking really good.

Trouble is, you are making me realise what a crock of s***e the Tristar is straight from the box! Got my TwoSix decals today though, so there is some motivation in having them.

I'm not going to rush into it though, I'll see how long you spend in rehab before I start mine,

Cheers

John

Edited by Viking
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