MIAT Mongolian Airlines | Boeing 787-9 | JU-1789 | NG Models

Mongolia is a large but sparsely populated nation that seems to have existed largely outside of the modern consciousness sandwiched between Communist Russia and China. Following the end of the Cold War things have begun to change but even so it has not been a nation favoured by 400 scale brands - that is not until 2022. There are now 5 releases announced or out from 3 different manufacturers and given the rather attractive livery of MIAT I can understand why that is.

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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 new MIAT 787-9 has been announced by both NG Models and JC Wings, but JC being JC even though they announced theirs first it is only NG that has so far delivered. The field for 787s is more crowded then ever with the addition of the new Aviation400 mould and it is a tight finish when deciding on the winner between NG, JC or AV, with Phoenix some distance behind.

In my personal opinion it is the NG version which wins, however the distance between the top 3 moulds is small and all have their own pluses and minuses, which may drive your purchasing decision. 

The NG mould is exemplary in a range of areas such as the blunt asymmetric nosecone. After some gradual fiddling throughout early releases they have also settled on a very nice set of undercarriage with the correct short length (and the hot rod issues now fully resolved).

The maingear also has the best form from the side with well sized tyrehubs and the best shaped set of doors. There is one issue with the maingear, which was only pointed out to me recently and I had failed to notice previously. This is that the width of the gear trucks from the front and back is too narrow. The JC Wings and AV400 moulds have wider maingear, which is more accurate.

The rest of the mould is near perfect. In the detailed mould comparison rating I docked small marks for the shape of the engine pylon above the nacelle and the zig-zag sawtooths at the rear of the engine, however these are very minor.

Overall I think NG have largely nailed it with this mould. You could argue that no mould is a 10/10 and there is always room for improvement. There are certainly limitations of the out of 10 method however previously I have scored this mould as a 10 and the JC Wings and AV400 versions as 9s. Now the maingear width issue has been raised I will drop this to a 9 as well, however in terms of the overall look and feel of a 787 this mould is hard to beat.

SCORE - 9

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PAINT & LIVERY

Mongolia is perhaps most famous for being home to the Mongols and Genghis Khan, themselves famous for their wild horse mounts so it is fitting that the horse is a major element of the latest MIAT logo. The livery, although quite simple, is clean and attractive, and probably one of my recent favourites, although it was introduced as long ago as 2011.

It is certainly an improvement on the rather dour schemes of the past with the addition of the yellow to the dark blue really working for me. The colour replicaton on this model is good but I feel it could have been slightly richer, especially with the blue itself.

Placement of the livery components is good, especially the large horse and titles on the forward fuselage. The only criticism here is that the yellow sash at the rear of the fuselage doesn't appear to widen towards the underside enough.

The aircraft is named Khabul Khaan after the founder and first known Khan of the Khamag Mongol confederation who reogned from 11-30-1148. The model aircraft wears his name accurately ahead of the main doors.

SCORE - 9

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PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL

NG can usually be relied on for accurate printing and plenty of it, however they are not infallible. This model has a rather obvious error in that the titles on the right side engine read AT.com rather than MIAT.com. It is a sloppy error.

EDIT: Kong has pointed out in the comments below that the AT.com titles are actually photo realistic from pre-delivery images of the aircraft so this isn't a print error technically, although why NG would make this version when it is clear it will get full MIAT.com titles is confusing. I'm not going to modify the score as the decision is weird.

In all other ways the printing is to the usual high standard. Build quality is good and honestly I almost never recieve NG's with loose parts.

SCORE - 8

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CONCLUSION

This is another solid release from NG but my expectations of them are not seemingly as high as some. I don't expect perfection everytime and in a world where the models are produced by low paid Chinese workers I don't think it is particularly realistic. Even so, I don't want to sound like an apologist - missing printing of the kind seen on the engine here should not be happening. Overall though this model is still very nice and illustrates the high standards nowadays seen as normal in 400 scale.

SCORE - 26/30