 I generally try and avoid Bluebox / Jet-X Tristars but some of them are just so unusual that they are hard to turn down. This model was part of a big box of fabulous obscure models (mainly 10 IL-76s but also Vanguards and others) that arrived late last week. I'm gradually getting sucked in to these types of unusual model offerings and it is somewhat surprising to see that Jet-X was putting this sort of effort in, and doing such a good job too. But, just what is an L-1011 doing with a rocket strapped to its belly?
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 Buchannan Models has been producing more exclusive smaller runs of models using the NG Models Tristar and 757 moulds for a while now. They have enjoyed creating often obscure hybrids and their most recent release is an Air Canada Tristar wearing in effect the full initial silver 'New Mark' Eastern Air Lines livery. This aircraft, along with one other, served regularly in the Tristar fleets of both Air Canada and Eastern due to an unusual arrangement with the Haas-Turner finance lease organisation.
 One Air America is well known as the CIA's own private airline and was of course immortalised in a rather inaccurate Mel Gibson movie of the early 90s, but less well known is that around that time the end had come for another Air America. This one wasn't running guns for the CIA but did undertake quite a few MATS charters for the US military. This second Air America was one of many ultimately unsuccessful deregulation startups of the 1980s.
Lockheed's L-1011 Tristar had a long, complicated and varied career with British Airways, and its charter arm British Airtours (later Caledonian Airways). They also had an equally complicated ordering process. Despite, at least initially, lacking the range for longer routes the full-length Tristars served BA well and were at the forefront of making it ‘The World’s Favourite Airline’ during the 1980s.
Air Lanka tookover from its predecessor Air Ceylon as Sri Lanka itself entered a period of turmoil, which would last for over twenty years. Throughout that entire period the white Peacock of Air Lanka would continue to connect the nation to the world, focusing on service if not always punctuality (the airline's designator UL was cheekily expanded to 'Usually Late' by detractors). The workhorse of the fleet was Lockheed's trusty Tristar and I well remember seeing them at Gatwick as a child providing a splash of colour and "a taste of paradise".
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AuthorI'm Richard Stretton: a fan of classic airliners and airlines who enjoys exploring their history through my collection of die-cast airliners. If you enjoy the site please donate whatever you can to help keep it running: Archives
March 2025
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