 Panda Models appear to be in a growth phase after several years of stagnation. Until recently they had no active widebody moulds, but now they seem to have at least 3 families under design (767s, A350s and a yet to be confirmed possible DC-10). It remains to be seen however if Panda can actually release a viable number of models, and in a reasonable timescale. Although they made over 100 releases in 2023 a lot of them were obscure retailer exclusives and a lot of the rest appeared months after they had been announced. Even so, what they do make tends to be quite high quality and this 73G is a good example. FORMAT Each review is to split into three key areas:
MOULD  Panda Models retired their old 737-700/800 moulds in April 2019 but it wasn't until around August 2020 that the successor moulds were available. Since then they have used the new 73G version 38 times, although quite a lot of those have been retailer exclusives.  This mould is a definite improvement over the previous Panda mould, which although far from perfect was still better than most of its competitors. I actually recently got an Air China 73G on the new Panda mould and comparing it next to an Aeroclassics version, using the original Panda mould, you can see how much better it looks.  Several key areas immediately jump out as superior - engines and pylons, landing gear and nose / cockpit shape. These changes help to move the current Panda mould way above the JC Wings / Gemini and Phoenix versions and into contention as the best 73G in 400 scale. For that it is competing with the NG Models version and there is little to choose between the two versions.  The Panda 73G has an accurate nose profile and all new landing gear. It is at the nosegear that the first difference of note with the NG appears. The Panda has a smaller nosegear door and slightly chunkier gear leg. Both are good but the NG is slightly superior here.  One of the other differences is the configuration of the engine exhausts. 737NGs underwent a Performance Improvement Package (PIP), implemented from 2011 onwards. The largest visual difference was the shape of the engine exhaust sections on the CFMs. For the details and photos of the difference between the two versions see the b737.ogr.uk site here. Below: The image shows the NG 73G in the foreground with the Panda behind it. Note the different engine exhausts (both accurate for the series 700 at different times). Also note the lack of a standhole on the NG.  The Panda mould appears to have the original configuration, with the chunkier, longer exhaust nozzle while the NG mould has the newer configuration, with a shorter exhaust, allowing more of the 'mixing / core exhaust duct' to be visible. Given this is the prototype the Panda configuration is correct for this model, although I don't believe either brand has both variants available.  From the underside the easiest way to tell the Panda mould from the NG Models one is that the Panda has a standhole, whereas the NG version does not. If I had to choose a favourite between these two moulds then I think I would probably pick the NG version, just, but the differences are minimal.  Once again being the prototype this model doesn't need the blended winglets. Overall, both the Panda and NG moulds look almost alike, as they should if they are excellent representations of the 737-700 - which they both are. I haven't really got any complaints about either and they are streets ahead of other brands 737NGs. SCORE - 10 PAINT & LIVERY  I would expect house colours models to be quite popular but aside from Panda, nowadays there aren't that many made, with only NG Models and JC Wings dipping their toes into this area much. That is probably because of licensing but it does mean this is the first time the protoype scheme has been made by anyone in 400 scale.  The livery is the classic 1980s style Boeing house colours and it still looks really clean and attractive to me. Panda have had no problem replicating the dark blue with red pinstripe. The position of the stripes and belly all works well. I'm also happy with the font used for the 737 titles and the model has the correct 'Building for Success' text under the cockpit and 'EXPERIMENTAL' by the L1/R1 passenger doors.  Researching this aircraft, which went on to be delivered to Southwest as N707SA on Oct 30, 1998, it surprised me to find so few photos of it in the prototype colours and none at very high resolution. That makes identifying the row of airline tails (of which there are 11 - more were added on the official rollout in 1996 but there were a lot less by the time of first flight for some reason) really challenging.  I'm not sure that Panda have managed to identify them all, or tried very hard to as when you get close a lot of the tails are little more than squiggles. The two that stand out in photos and are easily identifiable are Southwest Airlines (position 1) and Continental Airlines (position 7) but the rest could almost be anything.  Looking at the list of early customers I'd expect Germania, Maersk Air, Braathens SAFE and probably the leasing company ILFC but I can't really see any of them there. Maybe Maersk is in position 2 and ILFC in position 5? Anyway, the tails are tiny on the model but it would be nice to have a little more definition. SCORE - 8 PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL  I've obviously already moaned a little above about the definition of the customer printing, but aside from that it is an excellent print job all round. The line printing is crisp, details are everywhere and areas like the engine rims and dark inners excellent.  Cockpit window printing has been an issue on several recent Panda 737-700s but it seems to mainly impact those that have been made for C Models and Blue Wings, or perhaps the slightly stern look is accentuated when the eyebrow windows are not present? The cockpit windows on this model look a bit better but the front windows still do look a little thin and could do with being slightly taller.  Build quality matches the quality of the rest of the model. Only at magnification and from the front is a slight amount of untidyness visible in the fit of the tyres to the hubs. SCORE - 9 SUMMARY  In recent years Panda Models have been mainly making narrowbodies and although they have often required quite a bit of searching out, in general the quality shown in this model has been replicated in them. It will be interesting to see if Panda can continue this in larger widebodies (certainly the A330s they made in the past were excellent). If they can, and at the same time if they can expand their releases and get them out quicker, there is definitely plenty of potential for Panda models to become a more well known brand than they are today. FINAL SCORE - 27/30 
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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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