Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 500 in 1/400 Scale
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Updated: September 2017
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The Tristar 500 was Lockheed's rather desperate attempt to match the range of the DC-10-30 by shrinking the standard Tristar and buying a weight decrease for range (like with the 747SP). It was the last variant of the Tristar but arrived too late to stop the DC-10-30 from taking the lion's share of long range tri-jet orders. In fact the series 500 didn't fly until October 16, 1978. It did gain significant orders, most notably from Pan Am, but also TAP Air Portugal and Royal Jordanian, however most operators already had standard Tristars. In later years the type found favour with charter operators like Air Transat and ATA.
Tristar 500s in 1/400 Scale
Only 50 Tristar 500s were built but that is still 1/5th of all Tristars made and there is a decent number of airlines that operated the type plus the RAF. Like the standard length L-1011 there have been 4 attempts at making a mould but for the series 500 there is a new manufacturer making up the 4th mould. Like with the larger Tristars over 75% of the models made have been made by one manufacturer - at least their series 500 is much better than their series 1 mould. Anyway here is the output of the manufacturers to date. There hasn't been a new Tristar 500 release for years either:
Tristar 500 Variant
The differences between it and its larger siblings are a decrease in length by just under 4 metres and an increased wingspan (by an extra 3 metres). It is very obviously shorter than the L-1011-1 and note the different middle engine / fuselage connector (shared with the L-1011-200):
Above - a full lengthTristar 1 for comparison
Tristar 500 Moulds in 1/400
So let's take a look at the moulds, as always, in date order.
Gemini Jets (1999)
Gemini used their Tristar 500 only right at the beginning of their production and therefore all but 2 of the 7 releases have simple stalk landing gear without any nosegear doors. Otherwise it shares all the features of the standard Gemini Tristar - except for the tail. The tail is actually a massive improvement over the standard Tristar tail as they have redesigned the engine intake area, which not only has the new 500 style attachment but also has a much better curvature around it. The exhaust has not been improved but still overall this is a better mould if you can get over the lack of nosegear doors and the big seamlines.
Gemini Jets (1999)
Gemini used their Tristar 500 only right at the beginning of their production and therefore all but 2 of the 7 releases have simple stalk landing gear without any nosegear doors. Otherwise it shares all the features of the standard Gemini Tristar - except for the tail. The tail is actually a massive improvement over the standard Tristar tail as they have redesigned the engine intake area, which not only has the new 500 style attachment but also has a much better curvature around it. The exhaust has not been improved but still overall this is a better mould if you can get over the lack of nosegear doors and the big seamlines.
Dragon Wings (1999)
Dragon may have used their standard Tristar only 6 times but the short series 500 only got 4 run outs and 3 of those are Pan Am (one is a Jet-X release). Doubly annoying is that as very early releases the Pan Am examples have large ugly tyres on their already simple undercarriage. At least they can be removed, but where are you going to find replacements? The other model, a United example, is actually really nice and possibly the best Tristar 500 ever made in this scale. The nose on the Dragon 500 actually looks better than that on the Tristar 1 and they have upgraded an already good tail for this version well. Such a shame the mould was never really used.
By the way in the images below I swapped out the Pan Am gear for the United's better looking nosegear.
Dragon may have used their standard Tristar only 6 times but the short series 500 only got 4 run outs and 3 of those are Pan Am (one is a Jet-X release). Doubly annoying is that as very early releases the Pan Am examples have large ugly tyres on their already simple undercarriage. At least they can be removed, but where are you going to find replacements? The other model, a United example, is actually really nice and possibly the best Tristar 500 ever made in this scale. The nose on the Dragon 500 actually looks better than that on the Tristar 1 and they have upgraded an already good tail for this version well. Such a shame the mould was never really used.
By the way in the images below I swapped out the Pan Am gear for the United's better looking nosegear.
Herpa (2003-2005)
Agghhh bloody Herpa! Just when you need them to pull one out of the bag as they have with other obscure types they go and produce one of the worst widebody moulds in 1/400 scale. The worst part of the model is the undercarriage legs, which are clearly way too short, not that the gear looks any good anyway. The mould is seamless but this must be weighed up against a squarish nose and cockpit top line plus a poor middle engine / fuselage join. I know nobody else has made a Delta Tristar 500, but that's no excuse to own this one - it's crap.
Agghhh bloody Herpa! Just when you need them to pull one out of the bag as they have with other obscure types they go and produce one of the worst widebody moulds in 1/400 scale. The worst part of the model is the undercarriage legs, which are clearly way too short, not that the gear looks any good anyway. The mould is seamless but this must be weighed up against a squarish nose and cockpit top line plus a poor middle engine / fuselage join. I know nobody else has made a Delta Tristar 500, but that's no excuse to own this one - it's crap.
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Blue Box (2005-2007)
Onto Blue Box and after what I've said about their standard length Tristar you would expect further disappointment. With the series 500 however it is not so. The nose still isn't perfect but it looks better whilst the tail has had a complete redesign and now looks pretty good. The engine is still a bit too tall but they have fixed the lack of curvature and the engine/fuselage join to make one of the better Tristar tails. Sadly if anything the Blue Box series 500s are even rarer than the standard Tristars and they still had a silly tendency to release chrome and gold plated versions of some of the models. The cockpit printing does sometimes leave a bit to be desired but there are some nice examples for Pan Am and several other major operators out there. They have also released some very obscure, but welcome, liveries like Sudan, TAAG and Hew Bora too. What they haven't done is several really obvious models like British Airways, Air Lanka and Delta.
Onto Blue Box and after what I've said about their standard length Tristar you would expect further disappointment. With the series 500 however it is not so. The nose still isn't perfect but it looks better whilst the tail has had a complete redesign and now looks pretty good. The engine is still a bit too tall but they have fixed the lack of curvature and the engine/fuselage join to make one of the better Tristar tails. Sadly if anything the Blue Box series 500s are even rarer than the standard Tristars and they still had a silly tendency to release chrome and gold plated versions of some of the models. The cockpit printing does sometimes leave a bit to be desired but there are some nice examples for Pan Am and several other major operators out there. They have also released some very obscure, but welcome, liveries like Sudan, TAAG and Hew Bora too. What they haven't done is several really obvious models like British Airways, Air Lanka and Delta.