Otaki 1/144 Lockheed L-1011 Demonstrator

Yes, yes, I have been building models continuously since my last blog entry which was several months ago. One of them is this nice Otaki L-1011 Tristar in 1/144 scale. This is the first time I've built one of these. I could not afford it when it came out in the late 70s. Needless to say I could barely afford this one today! This model draws high prices due to its collectability and the fact that for years it was the only decent model kit of the Tristar. Airfix's and Revell's were based on early drawings and both had misshapen noses. Otaki got theirs right and the kit is magnificent. I used Microscale's Lockheed demonstrator decals because that airplane flew over my house in Lancaster almost every day it seemed during the 70s. Microscale originally intended these decals for the Revell Tristar, but they work just fine on the Otaki one. In fact, one could probably use them just fine on the new Eastern Express L-1011 which is a completely new molding and seems to be quite accurate. Anyway, for one to make Lockheed's first L-1011 using the Microscale decals, you have to manually paint the orange panels and red stripes. What a pain! White stripes are included on the decal sheet, which makes it easy to cover up mistakes between the demarcation lines. Other than that, it's a straightforward affair as with any other airliner model. I even won second place in the 1/144 scale category at the last IPMS show in Portland OR.