 Aviation400 have made something of a stir with their modern widebody moulds featuring nav beacons, and now magnetic gear, but until recently they have stayed away from narrowbodies completely. That changed in 2023 with the first quartet of Airbus A320s. These are more traditional in their construction and many would no doubt argue that we hardly need more A320s anyway, but in my view competition only makes the hobby stronger and given the weakness of several of the existing moulds a new A320 is fine by me. Each review is to split into three key areas:
MOULD  I reviewed the original samples of the new Aviation400 A320s way back in November 2022 but it wasn't until the last quarter of 2023 that the first releases arrived and I haven't seen a lot of chatter about them, perhaps because of the subject matter. Two of the four were Chinese examples that fit my collection criteria. For the sample review from 2022 see here:  Although the A320 is well covered in 400 scale, of the current castings the JC Wings / Gemini and Phoenix moulds are not great. That leaves only NG Models and Panda Models versions as being very good, with the Aeroclassics mould somewhere in between the two sets of two. I did look at the existing A320 moulds in detail in mid-2022 - see here for that analysis:  This AV400 mould certainly looks more like the NG and Panda versions than the JC and Phoenix ones, which is definitely a good thing. At the nose I have no complaints. The nosegear is also nicely detailed albeit very slightly chunkier than the NG and Panda.  An area that has been criticised on AV400 moulds is the size of the aerials but here on the A320 they are fine, comparable with the Panda version and smaller than the JC Wings.  Across the rest of the fuselage barrel the shape is excellent and hard to differentiate from the NG and Panda moulds. On the underside the maingear doors are etched in, rather than just printed, and include the small bumps on them. This feature has previously only been seen on the NG mould.  The underside NACA intakes on the forward belly by the wingroot are also moulded in not just printed. The maingear looks fine too.  The wing joins seamlessly to the fuselage with a good fairing form. The dihedral of the wings is good and the Sharklets themselves very well shaped. The form of the engine pylons works for me and the IAE V2500 engines also pass muster, but could be a little finer at the rear. As they are their ground clearance isn't as large as it is on the NG version.  AV400 has not added the navigation beacons to the A320 mould or bothered with see through fan engines. On such a small mould both would probably be a distraction so I think it is the right decision.  One area of difference between this and the other moulds is the vertical stabiliser. Most moulds show a reasonable amount of panel detailing, arguably the NG version goes too far here. This AV400 mould lacks panel line detailing and just has the rudder. It isn't a big deal.  Overall this is another fine A320 mould that shares a very close resemblance to the real thing. Differences between it and the NG and Panda versions are definitely present but require a careful eye to pickout. Criticisms are limited to ground clearance of the engines and lack of detail on the tail but these are minor issues almost not worth mentioning. SCORE - 9 PAINT & LIVERY  Theres not much to say about the classic Air China livery. Despite its age it remains a classy scheme with its traditional conservative low cheatline and pinstripe, plus the VIP / Phoenix tail logo. It must also be one of the most reproduced schemes in 400 scale.  AV400 have no problem with the colours or the position of the major cheatlines and tail logo elements. There has been a rash of A320s made with too high windowlines but this model doesn't show that fault. It really does feel like the Phoenix tail logo should be bigger to use the tail space more but that isn't the way the real aircraft looks and the model is correct.  There is one print issue with the pinstripe upper line of the cheatline combination at the nose. On the model it curves downwards and so is too low, leaving too large a gap between it and the cockpit.  There are some other minor points of criticism. The main titles are a little too thick, the Star Alliance logo aft of the cockpit is too low and small, and the Phoenix logo on the outside of the Sharklets are also a little too small. SCORE - 8 PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL  AV400 printing is very good, if not always quite as fine as some of the competition. There is certainly plenty of detailing on the model some of which is commonly missed off other A320s. I'm talking mainly about the dark line around the wing fairing, which nobody ever adds. It is added here and this is probably the first time I can remember seeing it on an A320.  The only real print issue is the previously mentioned pinstripe at the nose. It also leads me to doubt the cockpit windows. They certainly aren't bad but I'm not 100% convinced by the middle windows, which maybe a little high and accentuate the oversized gap between the cockpit and pinstripe.  Build quality is topnotch other than some small flashing material in the starboard maingear leg. SCORE - 9 SUMMARY It might seem that every A320 has been made, but that clearly isn't the case. Even in China there are plenty of unmade A320s I'd like to see. This Air China version replaces an earlier Phoenix edition in my collection and is substantially superior. So far AV400 haven't announced any further A320s but hopefully they can produce new liveries not made by others rather than more of the same. The mould certainly passes the review test for me. FINAL SCORE - 26/30 
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AuthorI'm Richard Stretton an aviation enthusiast and major collector of 400 scale models. On this page I take a detailed look at new releases. This site is free. Please donate to keep it going.
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