Egyptair | Airbus A340-312 | A4O-LE | Phoenix Models

Since June 2023 Phoenix Models have made or announced 11 A340-300s as part of what i see as their rebirth and release realignment. These have included an excellent diversity of airlines such as Air Mauritius, Kuwait Airways, Syrianair and Air Lanka. Given that in the period 2020-2024 there have only been 7 non-Phoenix A340-300 releases this is very welcome and obviously presages the appearance of the NG Models A340s in coming months. However, showing off Phoenix's new found interest in diversity, this Egyptair release is relatively obscure and unlikely to get attention from any other brand anytime soon.

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FORMAT

​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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MOULD

The Phoenix Airbus A340-300 mould dates from 2010 and so is slightly older than the Aeroclassics / BigBus version and several years older than the JC Wings edition. Phoenix, prior to 2010, used the old seamed Gemini mould 9 times but has since produced a creditable 52 series 300s on this mould. That is slightly less than the 63 examples made by Aeroclassics but a lot more than the 19 by JC Wings.

The best mould overall is probably the Panda Models version, used only 15 times between 2017 and 2020, and itself an clone of the Aeroclassics mould, but with added aerials and better printing. None of the four moulds are particularly poor and the Phoenix version competes well with the others.

​The nose and cockpit are one of the best points. It reproduces the classic Airbus widebody nose well and is sharper than that of the Aeroclassics mould. The nosegear leg is the correct length and well detailed, although the nosegear bay doors are too large. The tyrehubs are of course a Phoenix strongpoint and look excellent.

The mid-fuselage region is very good, at least from the side and above. Phoenix do use a different style of slot in wing join to everyone else on their A330/340s. The slot in tab only runs along the forward half of the wing. It isn't as accurate and doesn't look as good as on moulds with a longer join portion. On the underside of the fuselage the mould shows its age with very little in terms of detailing of the NACA intakes or anything else.

​The wingform itself is good.  All of the angle, thickness and dihedral are accurate. The winglets also have the correct squared off profile. The solid core CFM56 engines are nice and have plenty of ground clearance - helped by pylons of good shape. The only critique of the wing region is that the flap track fairings are a too pointy rather than squared off.

​The mould has an impressive array of aerials – seven in fact. Four of these are underneath and they all look very good. Phoenix aerials do tend to be smaller and better shaped than JC Wings versions.

The rear of the aircraft looks great and shares the good looks of the A340-600 version. The fuselage / tail join is, unlike many Phoenix moulds, correct with only the rudder portion not being connected to the fuselage.

This is one of the best moulds in the Phoenix catalogue and although not perfect it is very nice. Marginally inferior to the Aeroclassics mould, but better in the fact it has aerials fitted, I expect the NG Models versions to outcompete them both, however that won't stop this mould from continuing to be a very viable option.

SCORE - 8

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PAINT & LIVERY

As the registration denotes this aircraft was actually leased from Gulf Air upon delivery in October 1995 and served in Egypt until February 1997. I'm not entirely sure why they leased it but they had their own trio of A340-200s arriving in 1996 so perhaps it was for familiarisation purposes. Regardless, it was the only series 300 in the fleet and the only A340 to wear the classic cheatline scheme since by the time the 200s arrived the boring eurowhite colours had been adopted.

This was a glorious livery with its sand and gold double cheatline sweeping up onto the tail, and the Horus head in the golden disc. The model replicates the essential beauty of the scheme well. Pleasingly, the colours match the real thing and the other Egyptair models, made by Aeroclassics, in my collection.

The majority of the scheme is recreated without issue, including aspects such as the name of the aircraft 'Cleo Express'. There are a couple of minor areas of criticism. Firstly the print of the Horus on the tail isn't as fine as I'd like. There is too much white surrounding the falcon's elements and it looks a little sloppy.

Additionally, this aircraft had quite a sizeable black radome and though there is a black tip to the nose of the model it is too small by quite a lot. Despite these minor issues the livery looks very nice and the gold shines delightfully.

SCORE - 8

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PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL

Print quality on this model is of a high standard and I have no major complaints. It would be nice to see some printing of the rather obvious fairing line around the wing, which on the real aircraft was quite obvious. Elsewhere there is a lot of good detailing on the engines and underside.

The inside of the engines is a straight black. This is definitely better than bright silver but does slightly obscure the detailing of the fans. There is also some build quality issues around the engine rims, at least on the starboard side. There is a nick out of engine number 4's rim and a little general untidiness.

The build quality of the rest of the model is good, with just a minor indication of some tyre tabbing on the nosegear tyres.

SCORE - 8

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SUMMARY

Prior to this model's announcement I admit I didn't know the real aircraft had even existed. That goes to show the willingness Phoenix have had in recent times to explore more adventurous choices and use their moulds more progressively. The overall end product doesn't quite match the standards of the best in the business but it is a solid effort and very nice model, certainly miles better than the messed up Lan Chile A340 I received from Aeroclassics last March.

FINAL SCORE - 24/30​