Airbus A350-1000 1:400 Scale New Mould Sample
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Modified: July 2022
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NG Models continues to flesh out its product line filling in the gaps of existing families. Having recently added the 737-600 and A318 to complete the lineups for those families they have now produced an A350-1000. This means that NG now has good coverage for all the most popular big modern widebody types (777, 787, A330, A350) with just the 777-9, 787-8 and A330neo missing (I exclude the 747-8 and A380 as they aren't that popular but there is a 747-8 on the way).
NG Models A350-900 was released in late 2020 and in my opinion probably doesn't get the full credit it deserves. It easily defeats the Phoenix and JC Wings editions but when I undertook a direct comparison with the Aviation400 A350 it actually won that argument as well. See the detailed review here:
The Real Thing
Externally the A350-1000 is a significant but simple stretch of the A350-900 from 66.8m to 73.79m.
Colin Cooke Photo, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Colin Cooke Photo, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
A350-1000 Moulds in 400 Scale
I added the A350 mould review in November 2021 and it still represents the moulds available well:
In short, there are series 1000 moulds from Phoenix, JC Wings and Aviation400 all of which share the strengths and weaknesses of their series 900 counterparts. The best is obviously the Aviation400 version, which has several aspects the NG Models A350 doesn't - namely the red jewel navigation beacons and the swivelling maingear. How much these matter to you will likely define whether you prefer the AV400 mould over the NG Models version as both moulds are very nice:
Aviation400 A350-1000 Mould
A350-1000 Release Options
The A350-1000 has not sold well, partly due to elements outside of its control like Covid, and partly due to the large number of relatively young 777-300ERs still in service. It still feels like there is a lot of life left in the sales campaign for the series 1000, which will make a 400 scale mould for it a sound investment in time for NG Models. That does mean however at the moment that there isn't a lot of originality or releases of interest to be made in the near term.
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To date there have been 54 A350-1000 releases and all of the in service airlines to the left have been made by all three competing moulds aside from Air Caraibes (only made by AV400) and French Bee (not made yet). Several have been made multiple times. You get the sense the 400 scale brands wish there were more to make! Certainly as soon as a new livery combo comes out (like the recent Airbus / Qantas version) it is almost immediately announced.
Unfortunately given the coverage there isn't really anywhere new for NG Models to go, although perhaps they will start with a fantasy version since their first A350 was EasyJet and first 777 was Cathay 'Lettuce Sandwich'.
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A350-1000 Mould Sample
I'm not going to go over this mould in detail since it shares almost all its characters with the NG A350-900 so I'll mainly let the photos do the talking here aside from new areas or criticisms.
One area that is new is the maingear trucks with the triple wheeled bogeys. They do not pivot, in keeping with other recent NG maingear, but the shape of the landing gear doors, detailing of the tyres and size of them are all superior to the AV400 version.
It is worth mentioning however on this sample that NG have attached the maingear doors on backwards! That's an easy fix.
It is worth mentioning however on this sample that NG have attached the maingear doors on backwards! That's an easy fix.
Another area where the NG A350 does outcompete the AV400 version is the fanblades. Unlike on later NG widebody moulds the engines are hollow core and do have spinning fanblades. These cause compromises but the fanblade structure is better than on the AV400 mould.
I would also argue that the nosecone shape is slightly better than the AV400 mould, especially given some of the over-polishing issues that were apparent on some of the recent AV400 released models.
If I have a criticism of the mould it is at the tail where the upper front margin is rather squared off at the top in comparison to the A350-900 version and the real thing:
Walkaround Photos
Summary
The business case for making an A350-1000 is obvious and strong despite the current number of releases. The usual suspects will of course complain about a lack of innovation but frankly NG don't care what they think. NG are aiming to be number one in 400 scale and to do that you need to be able to outcompete the rest. This A350-1000 is another step in that direction and a simple extension of their existing A350-900. It is an excellent mould only needing a small tweak to the tail top to be the best series 1000 mould on the market.