CAAC | Airbus A300B4-605R | B-2306 | YU ModeL

The creation of a new Airbus A300 mould by YU ModeL has been a labour of love, but also a serious financial and emotional trial for the small company. There have been several false starts and at times it didn't look like it would get finished, but YU has pushed on through, and the first products (ignoring the abortive Z2 American Airlines example best forgotten) are now nearing readiness. I've been helping YU with the project and they have sent me the first release for review.

The story of the creation of the YU A300 has featured here at the site several times since April 2024 so for that see these previous posts:

YU MODEL A300 MOULD SAMPLE FIRST LOOK

YU MODEL A300 UPDATE

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Each review is to split into three key areas:

• The model mould
• The paint and livery reproduction
• Printing and quality control

Each section can get a maximum score of 10 for a maximum combined score of 30

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This review is sponsored by Northeast Diecast. Check out their store for an excellent range of hard to find 200 and 400 scale collection sale models and get 15% off!

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MOULD

There have been six moulds for the A300 prior to this YU version, but ignoring the Jet Hut mould from 2019, the last new one was by Phoenix from 2008. That Phoenix mould has a very poor nose region, although there are rumours of Phoenix updating the mould to improve it. 

Without a doubt the most important A300 in the scale is the Aeroclassics version, that debuted in 2007 and has, as of December, been used for 190 of the 339 A300s made. It is a decent, albeit cradle mount and so seamed, mould, but hasn't been updated with aerials or better tyres - plus of course has suffered in recent times from wavy wing syndrome, courtesy of some dodgy work at the Aeroclassics factory.

The other active A300 in 2025 is the awful Blue Box / Jet-X edition dating from 2006, which has recently been unearthed by Gemini (for an Emirates release) and Apollo (for a selection of China Eastern and China Southern). It is unfortunate that in the rather long gestation period of this YU mould the competition has gone from one mould to possibly three - and even the Aeroclassics had only seen 2 releases between January 2023 and November 2024. It has seen 16 since - a clear suggestion of the percieved threat from this YU version.

That threat is very real, as there is a lot of potential in this YU mould. It has a lot of superior aspects to it, but still remains somewhat a work in progress, with some refinements required.

The standout area for improvement, which YU are aware of and should be an easy fix, is obviously the height of the nosegear. It is clearly way too short. The distance is only 2mm or so but it's lack of height gives the entire aircraft way more of a nosedown attitude than it should have. The tyre size itself is good and the hubs on all the tyres are a definite improvement over the Aeroclassics. Sitting the nosegear on a bit of cardboard improves the look and enables a better comparison of the noseform to the real thing:

In the above picture I've also removed the radome line as I think it's incorrect position also impacts looking at the nose form. Overall I think the nose looks decent, It could perhaps be slightly more pointed with a less abrupt underside angle, but it isn't a big concern for me. The model comes with 4 aerials (two dorsal and two ventral) and these are well sized and shaped.

The mould is of course seamless, with slot in wings. It is a major upgrade on the Aeroclassics in this department and the wing fit is very tight and well sculpted. 

The wings themselves are broadly fine but have two areas that could be improved. Firstly, the wingtip aerials on this series 600 are rather simply shaped - similar to those of the Phoenix version and inferior to the Aeroclassics.

Secondly, the flap track fairings of the YU mould are too short and stubby. They don't protrude far enough behind the wing trailing edge.

On the plus side the shape of both the engine pylons and engine nacelles is very nice. The pylons, especially under the wing, fit tightly to the line of the engine hot sections. The engine necelles have the fanblades correctly more recessed into the nacelle than on the Aeroclassics. 

Technically, the A300-600 has a different rear fuselage to the A300B4, since it uses the rear of an A310. This makes it 51cm longer and gives it a slightly different profile. This is not easy to spot in real life, let alone in 400 scale. The difference has never been moulded in earlier versions and isn't here. Given budgetary constraints and the small size I can understand why that is.

The vertical stabiliser looks good aside from the top of the leading edge, which could be more curved.

An increase in height of the nosegear will do wonders for how this mould stands. The other areas that could do with some refinement are the wingtip fences,  flap track fairings and tailtop curve. Outside of that I'd say this is a strong A300 - that in several key areas (wingjoin, tyrehubs, aerials, engine inners and pylons) is superior to the Aeroclassics and in others on par with it aside from the aforementioned 4 identified areas.

MOULD - 7

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PAINT & LIVERY

This aircraft was delivered in November 1989 in this CAAC hybrid scheme with China Eastern cheatlines. Several of the early A300s wore the same scheme and the China Eastern titles and logo weren't commonplace until 1991. 

The livery finish on this model is very nice - a clear sign of the recent change in factory YU has made to get a better finish. The cheatlines are well positioned and brightly coloured. The large red Chinese flag on the tail is well shaped, but slightly too high on the stabiliser.

Printing of smaller components such as the A300 titles on the rear fuselage, large curvy registration and 06 on nosegear doors are accurate. The black radome tip could be slightly smaller and the position of the first character in the main titles slightly higher.

SCORE - 9

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PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL

Printing fidelity and accuracy was one of the main reasons why YU recently changed production facilities. Certainly the American Z2 A300 using this mould and made at the old factory was something of a mess. This is a vast improvement and very comparable to the higher quality brands in the scale.

Printing on the engine nacelles and underside of the fuselage is fine and accurate. Miles above what Aeroclassics can manage. It would however be nice to have some additional print refinement around the large underside scallops to make them stand out more.

Another thing I'd like to be slightly modified is the nose radome printing, which should be slightly further back to make a larger radome.

The model comes in an unusually large box that foregoes the plastic cradle for a foam insert. This provides better protection for the model, although the box itself is quite generic with stickers added to a largely white base design to differentiate this release from others. That is likely to change as YU starts making money after the large outlay on these.

Inside the box there are two extras. A large square card with the model details on it printed on high quality shiny card, and another folded card with the individual aircraft's specification and service history printed on it.

SCORE - 9

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CONCLUSION

YU deserves to be commended for persevering with this project, given the setbacks and costs involved. The result is an A300 that has a lot to offer but needs some adjustment. It is a shame that the height of the nosegear lets the overall look of the model down somewhat, but hopefully that is quickly rectified on the coming releases and YU can find the success it deserves with this project.

FINAL SCORE - 25/30