MY ANSETT FLEET (1:400 SCALE)
Updated: August 2024
Ansett remains one of the most famous names in Aviation despite the airline's ultimate collapse in March 2022. It had a long history with Reginald 'Reg' Ansett starting it as long ago as 1936. It's survival into the 1950s put it in prime position to takeover the struggling Australian National (ANA) and claim the ultimate prize of being the private portion of the 'Two Airlines Policy', which lasted until late 1990. Deregulation proved a far tougher challenge for the airline, which Reg Ansett had lost control of in 1979. The 90s were a period of ups and downs but international expansion, expenditure on the Sydney Olympics, questionable fleet management, high costs and strong competition from Qantas all hurt the airline. A takeover by Air New Zealand in 2000 did nothing to improve things and maintenance issues with the aging 767s were a public relations disaster. By mid-2001 things were looking dire and 9/11 was the final nail in the coffin. A valiant attempt to restart operations in October only lasted until March 2002.
THE COLLECTION:
In 400 scale Ansett has been well covered thanks largely to the effort of Aeroclassics. There have been over 80 Ansett models made of which I own 35 in the various liveries of Ansett mainline, Ansett W.A, Ansett N.T, Ansett Express, Air NSW, Ansett Air Freight and Ansett Skywest. I'm not including Ansett New Zealand in this page. As well as Aeroclassics there have been notable efforts from Jet-X (Bae-146s and DC-9s), Dragon Wings (727s, 737s, 747s, 767s), JC Wings (F50s), Gemini jets (767s) and even Phoenix (737).
The earliest part of the fleet covers Ansett from the 1950s to the 1980s:
The middle area of the shelf contains Ansett into the 1980s and up to the mid-90s. From September 1990 - September 1994 the airline livery had a full Australia flag motif on the tail. September 1994 would see the introduction of the Starmark scheme.
The last section of the fleet covers the Starmark era from late 1994-2002.