Below is my view on the best 400 scale moulds for a selection of Airbus Industries types based on buying a lot of 400 scale models and looking at them in detail across many years. You may not agree but if you don't you should at least mount a sensible argument about why you don't!
NOTE: Just because a mould isn't the best it doesn't mean it isn't good and that you shouldn't buy it. I buy a wide range of good, and less good, moulds for many of these types myself. In the end your collecting is up to you. Use the resources linked to below to get a better understanding of what is available.
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Among the older Airbuses there isn't much competition. The Phoenix A300 is risible and all the other moulds are old, out of usage and obsolete. Both the Aeroclassics moulds for the A300 and A310 are excellent despite the simpler style undercarriage and lack of aerials. It'll be interesting to see how the new upcoming JC Wings A310 compares, assuming it ever gets to the market.
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Only A300
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Above: NG Models A318s
The smallest member of the A320 family, the A318, has until recently had little in the way of 400 scale action. For a long time there was just the distinctly ordinary Herpa edition they hardly used. Fortunately with NG Models entering the A320 fold they covered all their bases and their new A318 is excellent.
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The A319 and A320 are, aside from their length, effectively the same aircraft and so the moulds in use for each from the same manufacturer share the same characterictics. Likewise, the ceo and neo variants tend to have similar issues (such as engine size in the JC Wings/Gemini mould). I will therefore judge them together as one.
The A319/320 are certainly important for many brands and have been an area of intense activity recently. The Panda mould has been updated and improved, since it first appeared, but isn't especially widely used. It's current primary competition comes from the new NG Models moulds, which probably just pips it. The Aeroclassics mould is obviously good too, but their undercarriage remains weak and still has no aerials. The other moulds (Phoenix and JC Wings / Gemini) are definitely the weakest.
Aviation400 has an A320 series mould in development, which looks excellent however, since there have been no releases yet I'll exclude it from this for now. Certainly, for the first time ever there are in 2023 plenty of great A320s about.
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The A321 is not just a stretched A320, thanks to its modified wing structure, but is another type where there is a lot of competition in 400 scale, with 6 active moulds. The HYJLwings mould (used previously by NG Models) and the Panda Models moulds are both excellent and very similar (although there are differences). The Phoenix and Aeroclassics versions all have issues, especially with wing structure, and the JC Wings/ Gemini version suffers from being an extension of their weak A320. The new NG Models mould is excellent and probably ever so slightly better than the HYJL and Panda versions, however it is extremely close.
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The Airbus A220 (ex Bombardier C Series) is going from strength to strength and it can only be a matter of time until it gains more attention in 400 scale. For now there are releases covering both variants (A220-100 and A220-300) from JC Wings / Gemini and Herpa alone. Both moulds look very similar and not having really seen the Herpa one up close I can't be certain they aren't the same. Even so, recent Gemini releases indicate there has been modification to the much maligned undercarriage. To be honest neither mould is great so it is very much a type where there is opportunity for improvement.
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