Mohawk Airlines | Convair CV-440 | N4403 | Aeroclassics

When it comes to piston propliners Aeroclassics effectively has the market to itself, as even though JC Wings has a few competing moulds they almost never get used. The local service airlines of the regulated era in the US mainly operated smaller types and due to this they aren't especially well covered, at least for the 1950s and 60s. If it wasn't for Aeroclassics there'd be barely any coverage at all. Most local service airlines replaced their DC-3s with Convairliners or F-27s, and, whilst the DC-3s are largely missing, a good chunk of the Convairs and F-27s are now represented. September's releases added one extra, which I'll take a closer look at here.

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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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MOULD

Given the very small size of a lot of these prop types in 400 scale, Aeroclassics has some very fine moulds. This Convair 440 has a wingspan of about 8cm and a fuselage length of only just over 6cm, but despite that it is a fabulous little casting.

It isn't alone in 400 scale as JC Wings / Gemini Jets also has a Convair 440 too, but this has only been used 6 times and the last of those was released in September 2011. That version is a nice mould too, but as with the Gemini CV-580 the gearleg is rather chunky and the nose shape not perfect. They also only have a radar equipped version with longer nose, whereas Aeroclassics has both a short and long nose variant.

Aeroclassics has used their own Convairliner mould 63 times, but this release is the first since 2017. Overall, the mould is excellent. The fuselage barrel includes the long fat snoopyish nose of the radar equipped Convair and looks good. 

As with many of these smaller types the mould uses a cradle fit but the seamline sympathetically follows the curved line of the wing to fuselage fairing where there is a natural line anyway. This is probably a better arrangement than on the JC Wings mould, which also has a seam, but not as well shaped to fit the fairing.

The wings themselves are long and thin, with good control surface detailing above and below. The engines form part of the wing aside from the forward cowling portion. Once again, the seam here fits an obvious line on the real thing so looks good. The prop blades and spinner are well shaped and spin freely.

The undercarriage is a big plus for this mould as, despite its daintiness and height, it is thin and nicely detailed. The tyre size of both the nose and maingear is excellent and the maingear has excellent large gear doors coming out of the engine nacelles.

At the rear the vertical and horizontal stabs are well shaped and attach tightly and cleanly. There is even a bump atop the tail to represent the beacon light.

Given the tiny size of the mould in 400 scale I'd say this is essentially as good as you can get. It isn't alone as Aeroclassics has several excellent propliner moulds.

SCORE - 10

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PAINT & LIVERY

Two similar but different Mohawk CV-440 schemes

Mohawk Airlines had a wonderful black and gold scheme during the 1960s and this version represents the final variant of it with the large indian head on the tail. There were at least two earlier versions with a different tail design and minor title differences. One of those was made already by Aeroclassics in 2014.

There aren't a lot of photos of this aircraft, 'Air Chief Shenandoa', about and I expect that the artwork was designed from this photo from JetPhotos.com of the aircraft in 1968. As such it is definitely one of the best representations from Aeroclassics I have seen in sometime.

The black and gold look great and the thin black outlining around the sparkling gold really sets the scheme off. On the tail the chief stands out beautifully, complete with white background. The facial expression of the chief is particularly well done.

The downward curve of the cheatline at the rear and positioning within it of the registration and windows is exemplary. Under the cockpit the 'AirChief Shenandoa' titles are present and almost readable at magnification despite their tiny size, however they are in white when they ought to be gold.

SCORE - 9

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PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL

The printwork on this model is very nice and I have no major complaints. One area that could be improved is the cockpit printing as the windows are not tall enough and printed a little too high. Given the black antimask you barely notice it at 1:1.

An area that could have more detail is the engines and props. The blades are missing the black leading edge sections and the engine cowling hasn't got any markings or outlet doors.

From a QC perspective the only issue is with the right maingear leg, which is not glued in straight and so doesn't sit flush with the ground. Fortunately it doesn't cause the model to tailsit, although these Convairliners do have that tendency.

SCORE - 7

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SUMMARY

I am well aware that propliners, especially smaller ones, don't sell anywhere near as well as say a DC-10, let alone a modern airliner, so we are lucky that they get any attention in 400 scale at all. I had written a wishlist of missing local service airline releases back in October 2020. Pleasingly, several of these have now been made (mostly by Aeroclassics, but one also by Gemini), but there remain several Convairliner potentials (especially for Central Airlines and Lake Central). This mould is an excellent base for those and this model itself an excellent addition to my 8 strong Mohawk fleet, itself entirely made up of Aeroclassics models.

FINAL SCORE - 26/30