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1/200th Gulf Air Tristar


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Ever since I bought his book :

Aircraft_book_cover_jpg_zpslh4yosv7.png

I have been wishing I could build this aircraft.

I was happy when I finally managed to get a hand on a decal set of a well known company praised by many for its accuracy.

Indeed, the colours look good and I was mostly surprised by the aubergine/brown tint.

Then I started to look for references and when compared to the real airplane photos, I realized that the titles were oversized and tight. Spacing the letters would only make the title even longer...

Doors are missing the metal bottom threshold...

Pictures will tell more than words :

P1010004_zpshkyie7d4.jpg

P1010003_zpsbitzam5g.jpg

P1010002_zpsrhwaktcd.jpg

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-15-TriStar/2204543/&sid=8ba520a64cfc70f3ad2f2460a879cd8f

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-15-TriStar/2267056/&sid=8ba520a64cfc70f3ad2f2460a879cd8f

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-15-TriStar/1634026/&sid=8ba520a64cfc70f3ad2f2460a879cd8f

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-TriStar/1649688/&sid=8ba520a64cfc70f3ad2f2460a879cd8f

I found out many other details that led me to the conclusion that from the data I gathered, the only suitable registration for the model would be A40-TP, which cannot be done with the selection of letters given as spares, or US registered aircraft - N-xxxx -. (Cargo doors are not part of the set.)

Which raises the question : How much can you trust decal makers instructions ?

By the time the decal was released, Gulf Air had for long left the all white livery for a large silver belly.

I also found weird versions that can be an interesting subject for a special display model :

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-15-TriStar/2422253/&sid=8ba520a64cfc70f3ad2f2460a879cd8f

This one having different Arabic titles :

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-TriStar/1059590/&sid=8ba520a64cfc70f3ad2f2460a879cd8f

This model will remain so until I can get some proper registration and I hope I'll be able to build it soon into a landing Tristar.

Edited by AV O
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Hi AV O

That looks a great build - keep it going. Regarding the decals, I think they are generally accurate for L1011s in the Gulf Air fleet in the late 1980s. The all white fuselage and different arabic script date from the late 1970s / early 80s. As you point out, the main problem is the GULF AIR title which is just wrong. Maybe a decal producer who does custom decals could print you corrected titles. Then, in my view, you would have a perfect build.

Just a thought about the decal you've used. I believe the decal sheet you are referring to is Liveries Unlimited A2-026 which was produced around the mid-1990s. I recall that when Liveries Unlimited decals came onto the market they were absolutely state-of-art and were way better than anything else available at that time. And given that they were being produced in the pre-internet era with only limited access to reference material, its not surprising that there might sometimes be an odd accuracy issue. But they lifted airliner decals to a new standard that we enjoy today.

Keep up the good work

Cheers

Tim

Edited by Timo5
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Knowing whose decal it is would be helpful.

Will it help to solve the size problem ?

Or do you mean there were other issues ?

In this case, the "Eagle" might be the judge !

Anyway, Timo5 guessed it right.

Here it is :

http://www.airlinercafe.com/photo_507.details.large

http://www.airlinercafe.airphotodb.com/catalog/decals/25454/liveries-unlimited/gulf-air/lockheed-l-1011-tristar

I must say that adding color swatches for patching is a useful feature.

Indeed, not all aircraft sport the door metal threshold (it would be helpful to have them both), and the shape of the silver belly area differ from one to another, as do blanked windows.

On this photo, you can notice that the wing registration is set in the center of the wing span, close to the engine, and usually, the body reg. is set closer to the rear door than it is shown on the instructions.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-15-TriStar/0324754/L/&sid=b7eccdb77bbe26b63377206db4956140

I am aware that at the time of the decal making, all these datas were not as easily available as they are today.

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=lockheed+l-1011&airlinesearch=%3A%28%22gulf+air%22+OR+%22%28gulf+air%29%22%29&countrysearch=&specialsearch=&daterange=&keywords=&range=&sort_order=photo_id+desc&page_limit=120&thumbnails=tiny

Edited by AV O
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You're absolutely right. The titles are too big, and the lettering is too closely spaced. I wish I could be of more help.

I created that artwork over 20 years ago, long before there was such a thing as airliners.net or instant access to a zillion photographs of every subject at the click of your mouse. IIRC I probably used one or two photos from one of the Airline Fleets News magazines, and a couple of slides of the real ones I'd taken (I flew several flights on them back in the day). The all-white fuselage *is* correct. The bolder style Arabic lettering is also correct for early 1980s onward. They were delivered with the narrower style Arabic lettering, but by the time I flew them in 1983, they all had the bolder style.

The purple color is correct also - it isn't brown. I had lots of Gulf Air promotional material, plus my original Kodachrome slides to work from, and I know that's correct.

I look back at my work from back then and often cringe. What can I say? It was a long time ago and I've learned a LOT since then, and a LOT has changed in the hobby.

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I have always loved that scheme and so far it looks great.

I am sure I have a similar sheet in 1/144 produced by Superscale or would it have been Microscale back then? I should go dig it our of my stash and check. I had planned on using it on the Airfix L-1011 but then I found out the RAF was using the L-1011 as tankers and I think I changed directions.

Thanks for the memories.

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Microscale (LONG before Superscale) did it in the 1970s in 1/144.

The RAF 1011's are all -500s, a very different animal from any existing kit.

Crap that is probably how old my sheet is then.

Thanks for bursting my bubble on the RAF tanker option :) I also saw that the Dutch also flew them for transport and tanker duties. Probably the same version as the RAF though. Loved seeing them when the Dutch brought in their L-1011s into CFB Cold Lake during Maple Flag.

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The all-white fuselage *is* correct. The bolder style Arabic lettering is also correct for early 1980s onward. They were delivered with the narrower style Arabic lettering, but by the time I flew them in 1983, they all had the bolder style.

The Copyright reads 1995.

This why I said that the white fuselage was long gone at that time. Silver belly starting '81 ?

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Gulf-Air/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-15-TriStar/1634024/L/&sid=dc43dc4210dbeeac149ec16e181d8472

The Arabic titles are one window too long. (check the twin dots spacing).

The windows "to be cut" signs are a good thing, but have no related instruction : it is true that they differ from one to another aircraft. You really have to look for them.

Engines and pylons have different shades of metal depending on the aircraft age.

As I said the purple color is really matching.

I am surprised that no modeller could spot or complain about these details so that the decals could have been modified.

The RAF 1011's are all -500s, a very different animal from any existing kit.

Is that so ?

#17, 22, 24.

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=231458

Edited by AV O
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  • 1 year later...

I could not find another suitable decal, I decided to leave the same deco and carried on building it.

Here she is, almost done, just missing the windshield and the wing engines. The tail decal suffered little damage.

 

Capture-d-cran-2018-12-21-01-10-31.png

Capture-d-cran-2018-12-21-01-10-59.png

Capture-d-cran-2018-12-21-01-11-52.png

 

Wing engines on :

P1000351.jpg

P1000354.jpg

P1000355.jpg

Edited by AV O
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