Aviation400 continue to take some time to get their models to market and don't release the sort of volume of releases that would enable them to compete more strongly against Phoenix and JC Wings, however they also continue to produce high quality output in what they do get to the market. They also continue to innovate, with detachable landing gear coming to more of their 400 scale moulds soon. The A380s that have started to come online this year have been a triumph and so I can't resist taking a closer look at another of them.
Each review is to split into three key areas:
MOULD
I received a trio of Aviation400 A380 pre-production samples during the development phase and they all featured here at the website. Each one got progressively more impressive until the final version made its appearance in January this year with the first releases. Checkout my reviews of the samples:
Throughout this design process AV400 took onboard feedback and made modifications to the mould. They have certainly strived for accuracy, as well as incorporating their trademark features, and new ones too. The mould certainly does not disappoint and even a few months down the line from the first releases it's excellence has not dimmed.
​In my estimation this mould is easily the best A380 in 400 scale even before considering the extra details such as detachable undercarriage. The form of the massive fuselage is excellent. Unlike the JC Wings / Gemini version the noseshape is shorter and more rounded - a lot more accurate.
​The wings fit tightly to the fuselage and have a nicely contoured join to the bulging fairing on the lower fuselage. Towards the rear of the aircraft the proportions are good and the tailcone nicely detailed. The APU pipe is present, but could maybe be slightly longer, and the upper edge of the tailcone could be slightly sharper but these are very minor considerations.
​The massive but quite narrow vertical stabiliser is well shaped and nicely detailed, especially at the lower boundary where it joins the roofline. The roofline itself illustrates one of AV400's strongpoints - aerials and beacons.
​There are 3 aerials on the roof plus 3 raised small domes and the pair of side by side beacon lights. They all look excellent and the aerials are well sized and shaped. On the underside there is a single aerial forward of the wing.
​The wings curve beautifully to recreate the elegant profile of the real aircraft and the final shape of the wingtip fences has been modified to make them sharper and photo accurate. Another area modified in the sample development was the outer engine pylon, which is now also accurate.
The engines hang perfectly from the pylons and have great shape and detailing. They are also hollow core with spinning fanblades but unlike many recreations of spinning blade engines the fan blades themselves are both good in number and correctly shaped.
Moving to the undercarriage and the units all have a nice form and plenty of detailing. The model also sits well on its gear, something the light Phoenix version sometimes fails to do. However it is here that the mould's only real fault is also present as the rear triple bogey units are slightly too far back and don't overlap the outer maingear units as they should. They are out of position only by 1 or 2 mm but it is the one area where the Phoenix mould has the upper hand.
The undercarriage is held in with magnets, which work perfectly to keep the gear firmly attached. They easily keep it in place even with fairly violent shaking of the model. They remove just as easily and can be replaced with the closed gear doors for display of the model on its stand (all AV400 models come with a good plastic stand).
Removal of the closed gear doors is accomplished using one of a pair of pointed toothpick like tools provided with the model.
Overall it is probably clear I love the mould and the effort put in. The minor issues do not warrant the loss of a point so I'm giving it full marks here as the extra details almost make a mockery of an out of ten scoring system when compared to other 400 scale models.
SCORE - 10
PAINT & LIVERY
A pair of Singapore's A380s were repainted into this livery to mark the nation's Golden Jubilee in 2015 and the complexity of the scheme is one of the major reasons why I chose this model for review.
The livery features a 10m tall and 47m long Singapore flag themed riband that wraps around the fuselage. Additionally, the official SG50 logo is present on the inboard engine nacelles, although this logo looks like it was removed in 2016 well before the aircraft was repainted into standard colours in mid-2017.
As you'd expect the aircraft was heavily photographed so there are plenty of reference photos available. The darkness of the colours is quite variable in different lighting conditions:
The AV400 model certainly verges towards the darker end of the spectrum (and is darker than both the JC Wings and Phoenix editions) but I do think the colours on the whole are close to various photos. What does seem wrong though is that the rear portion of the riband appears to be too red on the model while on the real aircraft it seems that the colour is a dark orange verging towards an almost yellow.
Comparing this to the JC Wings and Phoenix releases of the same aircraft they have got that colour fade slightly better but certainly at least compared to the Phoenix version the line printing and detail is better on the Aviation400 version.
The rest of the livery looks excellent but there are a couple of minor complaints. The main titles are decent but the letter E is not 100% accurate with the middle bar being too low.
Additionally, the white area under the logo on the vertical stabiliser is not as white as the fuselage. These are minor quibbles I admit, but in regards to the titles something both JC and Phoenix got correct.
SCORE - 8
PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL
Aviation400 are all about the details and on the whole their printing is really impressive and first rate. The combination of an excellent base template with great livery print is a beguiling package and certainly better than say on the equivalent Phoenix model, which lacks for example blocked out windows.
Obviously the model comes with detachable landing gear, which makes the model very complicated but the gear is all present and delightful. Perhaps this is a little unsporting but I did notice that when the gear is up the raised geardoors do not have the beak of the Singapore bird logo on them so it looks a little odd. This is the kind of thing that can happen I guess when you add extra details - it just makes it harder to get everything correct.
Given the detailing there are plenty of other elements to the mould outside of the undercarriage where problems could occur but everything is in the right place. This level of quality control and complete package is miles ahead of the weakest brands in 400 scale who struggle to even produce models without pointy or overly blunt noses, and print things straight. AV400 are a brand showing what 400 scale models ought to be like in 2023.
SCORE - 9
CONCLUSION
The final score for this model looks quite harsh but illustrates for me that some brands can be held to a higher standard as they are on a different level. This is a fabulous model but loses a few points for small details that don't really have a major impact on the final product. When you are getting the features that this A380 comes with: in detachable undercarriage, a free stand and such quality engineering it is almost like the model should be scored on a different scale to those from brands with generic boxes, missing details and sloppy finishing. Rest assured that these Aviation400s are very much worth the money and a real standout for the Superjumbo in the scale.
FINAL SCORE - 27/30
1 Comment
Garry
15/6/2023 01:02:34 pm
I bought this model as i already have a WittyWings In the normal livery so i did not need the normal livery SingaporeA380 but i wanted this livery too so it was a good excuse to get another one to compare!
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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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