McDonnell Douglas MD-90 in 1:400 Scale
|
Updated: April 2025
|
|
The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 had already been struggling to win orders in the mid-80s when coming up against the Boeing 737-300/400. The advent of the 737NGs and the Airbus A320 only made life more difficult, but reluctant to spend the money to create an entirely new narrowbody design MDD stretched and re-engined their MD-80 series. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough and didn't avoid a lot of eletcronics and engine teething issues.. Launched off the back of a large commitment from Delta (much of which was made up of options not orders) ultimately only 116 were built. This wasn't helped by the Boeing takeover of MDD but by then the MD-90 hd already lost much of the Delta order, plus an order from Alaska Airlines. Most of the built aircraft eventually ended up at Delta, which ended up being a big fan of the type until it retired the last on June 2, 2020.
MD-90 in 1:400 Scale
By April 2025 in 1:400 there have been a creditable 51 models made from 9 different brands as follows. As with the MD-80 there has been quite a lot of mould sharing going on. Additionally as you'd expect, aside from the tail and engines the moulds typically pay a close resemblance to the MD-80s from the same manufacturers. Rather bizarrely half of the moulds have barely ever been used.
MD-90 In Real Life
The MD-90 is an updated version of the MD-80 with the vertical stabiliser of the MD-87, a 1.5m fuselage stretch and IAE V2500 turbofans affecting its appearance compared to the MD-80.
Here's the MD-90 in real life:
Here's the MD-90 in real life:
_8063.jpg)
Photo by Karya sendiri from Wikipedia
Moulds (in date order)
Dragon Wings / Jet-X Mould (2004)
This mould has only been used twice - once for an American Airlines (ex-Reno Air) example and once for a Saudia plane. It bears a very close resemblance to their MD-80, but uses the tail of their MD-87 mould and of course new engines. As with their MD-80 its a perfectly decent mould and with the new engines avoids the biggest failing of the Dragon MD-80.
Image courtesy of Steinar
Phoenix Mould (2005)
This mould also bears a very close resemblance to their MD-80 and so replicates all the same issues that that does, but is still ok. The nose is chunky and too round, the fuselage too level and the horizontal stabilisers seamed and too straight. It has been used for 7 Japan Air System examples showing each of the Kurosawa inspired colours and one Hello of Switzerland aircraft.
Blue Box / JC Wings / Gemini (2008)
This mould appeared in 2008 and it is the same mould that is still being used by Gemini and JC Wings on occasion. Blue Box made 5 models and it wasn't until 2013 that Gemini and JC Wings began their production using it, by which time they had upgraded the gears to rolling ones. Its a nice mould, though unlike Gemini's recent MD80 it has both a seam at the wingroot (though quite well hidden) and a seam at the tail top. Additionally there is a widening of the lower fuselage about mid-way between the wing and nose which though generally hard to see is apparent in side views. Overall it's a pretty good mould.
Below are several early releases:
In 2017 a pair of releases using this mould were made for a Taiwanese brand called Dream Air to depict a pair of Uni Air MD-90s and were the first to use the aerialed version of the mould :
There has been a resurgence of MD-90s using this mould in 2024/25 with 2 made for Gemini Jets and 3 by JC Wings. I reviewed a recent Gemini Jets version here at the site:
Jet Hut (2019)
In 2019 the MD-90 was featured in the De Agostini / JAL Collection magazine series using a mould produced by the factory that would become JetHut (now Jet models). As with all their moulds it is aimed at the lower end of the collector market and has distinct pre-2010 vibes. It is one of their better moulds and ignoring the wings and tailcone it is easily comparable to the other moulds. It is even seamless. I reviewed the first release here at the site:
Since the JAL Collection has ended Jet Models have released a selection of Chinese models - 3 each for China Eastern and China Southern.
|
|
|
|
JC Wings MD-80 vs MD-90
Comparing the JC Wings / Gemini MD-80 with the MD-90 you can see the differences especially underneath where the seam line of the MD-90 is apparent:
Comparing the JC Wings / Gemini MD-80 with the MD-90 you can see the differences especially underneath where the seam line of the MD-90 is apparent:
