I even managed to score an authentic very 1970s plastic artificial wood grain Qantas stand to give the model that "period" look.
She now proudly sits in my office at the Qantas Flight Training Centre in Melbourne, where she gets a bit of attention from interested passer-bys. Invariably the first statement heard is "but Qantas never operated Tristars......did they???". I just tell em "seeing is believing"
In the mid 1970s Lockheed presented Qantas with an unsolicited proposal known as "Lockheed: Solutions for the 70s"
This proposal suggested a Qantas fleet of 8-10 L1011 Tristars to complement the then existing, (and growing), fleet of Boeing 747-238s. As part of this proposal Lockheed also recommended a fleet of 2-4 L-500 (aka the C-5A Galaxy) Jet Freighters to expand and grow Qantas Freight operations. Of course as history would show, none of these Lockheed fleet options were ever taken-up by Qantas although the Lockheed L1011-500 would be seriously considered later on for a Qantas niche requirement that was eventually filled by two Boeing 747SP 38s.
Had Qantas gone ahead and purchased a fleet of L1011s here is how they may have appeared later on in their QF careers
Ray
