Fokker F28 Fellowship in 1:400 Scale
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Updated: December 2025
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The Fokker F28 Fellowship was one of the first multi-national aerospace programmes being a joint venture beteen Fokker, MBB and Fokker VFW of West Germany and Shorts Brothers of Northern Ireland. First announced in 1962 the resulting F28 was probably the first small jet that could truly be called a regional jet. Although it did compete against the BAC One-Eleven in some markets the One-Eleven was clearly aimed at full service airlines and was not a true regional aircraft. The resulting design of the F28, although sharing the t-tail, rear mounted engine configuration of the One-eleven and DC-9, had several novel features of its own, such as a 5 section lift-dumper and split tail-cone airbrake.
The F28-1000 first flew on May 9, 1967 and entered service with Braathens SAFE on March 28, 1969. There were several developments of the basic F28 version. The initial series 1000 seated 65 passengers with a fuselage length of 27.4m. The F28-2000 was stretched by 2.21m to seat up to 79. Only ten were built. The F28-3000 was an updated version of the series 1000, whilst the series F28-4000 represented the epitome of initial F28 development. The series 4000 had the longer fuselage of the series 2000 but uprated engines and a wingspan increased by 1.57m. The F28-4000 sold well and represented 112 of the orders for the type (nearly 50%). Further developments of the F28 were mooted but only the F28-6000 ever flew. This was basically a series 4000 with slats added.
In total 241 F28s were built, making the type a decent seller for the era and it was developed into the successful Fokker 100 series. For more on the Fokker 28 at my airline history blog click see:
Fokker 28 in 1:400 Scale
There has been only a single mould made for the original Fokker 28 in 400 scale and that comes from Aeroclassics and that represents the smaller F28-1000 series. Given JC Wings interest in the later Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 it is a little surprising that at the time they didn't also produce an F28, however presumably the appearance of the Aeroclassics mould at about the same time convinced them it wasn't worth it.
As it was initially Aeroclassics made a rather random (and small) selection of only 8 F28s. These included such well known airlines as Pelita Air and Aero Continente (in fact all but one were either from Indonesia or South America) so I can't think why they might not have sold well. It wasn't until 2014 that the mould reappeared with production running into 2015. All of these models were either Australian or Canadian
It wasn't until 2017/2018 that a third group of F28s appeared and arguably these featured a more deserving set of airline choices, with certainly a greater geographic diversity. As of 2025 the grand total of F28 releases is 44 models.
Fokker 28 Variants
We'll start with a look at the real thing. This Piedmont example is a short body F28-1000:
Note there are 7 windows ahead of the wing root. Photo by Rolf Wallner from Wikipedia
Below this Linjeflyg is a long body F28-4000:
Note there are 10 windows ahead of the wing root. Photo by Eduard Marmet from Wikipedia
There is only one mould in 1/400 scale - by Aeroclassics. The wingspan difference between the 1000-3000 and the 4000-6000 amounts to only 0.4cm in 1:400 scale (5.89:6.27cm) and so is not very noticeable, however the fuselage difference between the 1000 and the other versions is more noticeable (6.85:7.40) at 0.6cm. It isn't a lot but when you see a series 1000 against a series 4000 you can easily tell the difference. Aeroclassics mould represents an F28-1000 and they have largely resisted using it for a 4000 series.
Aeroclassics Fokker 28-1000 Mould
Moulds
Aeroclassics Mould (2007)
The mould itself dates from 2007 and while it isn't dreadful it is inferior to the Fokker 70 from JC Wings, which shares many of its features. The vertical stabiliser and engines look good as do the wings. I'm less pleased with the fuselage line under the horizontal stabiliser and the tailcone airbrake. The top line is angled, not straight and the airbrake too rounded at the top. There is a seam at the wing fuselage join, which damages the join shape at the front, but this is forgiveable. Moving towards the front and in detail the mould continues to rather disappoint. The undercarriage is too long and the nose shape is not perfect (I think it's a little too short and round) but is a decent representation. Altogether the mould looks like an F28 but isn't amongst Aeroclassics best work.
I find myself in the familiar situation where I am happy that Aeroclassics have made a relatively obscure type, but less happy about how they've used it and the models they've made. C'est la vie I guess. Personally I rather like them despite their failings.
I find myself in the familiar situation where I am happy that Aeroclassics have made a relatively obscure type, but less happy about how they've used it and the models they've made. C'est la vie I guess. Personally I rather like them despite their failings.
Seven of the more recent releases have been from the USA although clearly Aeroclassics is a little hamstrung by not having an F28-4000 mould. Only once have they been tempted to portray an F28-4000 and this was with the last release of a Batavia Air example. A F28-4000 casting would enable Aeroclassics to make a variety of Altair, Empire Airlines and Piedmont/USAir versions.
F28-1000 Wishlist
So far Australian (7) and Canadian (14) releases are quite well represented, but both are still missing important operators (MMA and Transair for example). Europe remains heavily under-represented with only 4 examples to date (only one of which is of an early operator). Back in 2019 I published a wishlist including 28 further F28-1000s that would be deserving of a release. To see that click:
