A New A350 in 1:400: Aviation400 Joins the Party

17/12/2017

Aviation400 appear to be positioning themselves for a fight in the crowded market for Airbus widebodies in 1:400 scale. Not content with their existing A330 and A340 moulds they have just released their first A350-900.

As I reported in November Aviation400 have been releasing models since at least July - see:

The Return of Aviation400

The models look equal in quality to anyone elses and come with a tug and stand plus they are no more expensive than the competing JC Wings or Panda models competition. I have a pair of their A340s on the way from China so it'll be interesting to see if they are up to the standards they appear to be.

Now the A330 is a start but it is clear that at the moment the big money is in 787s and A350s so it is little surprise that one of these has appeared. The big question for me is why Boeing widebodies get so little attention in comparison to Airbuses. There are moulds from Aeroclassics, Aviation400, Gemini Jets/JC Wings, Panda Models and Phoenix for the A330/340 series but the 777 and 787 is the exclusive preserve of Gemini Jets/JC Wings and Phoenix.

Good ground clearance and see through engines :)

Anyway the first two Aviation400 A350s are safe models for Aviation400, which like Panda is ignoring western collectors so far and focusing on the domestic Chinese market. They are a pair of China Airlines aircraft - one in a bird scheme and one in standard colours.

So far the A350 moulds have been criticised mostly over the shape of the nose, especially the Gemini / JC Wings version. This Aviation400 mould looks promising in comparison to the JC Wings mould and has much better engine ground clearance than the Phoenix. Without having seen one in person it is too early to declare it the best A350 in 1:400 but there is definitely potential there.

Aviation 400 A350

Phoenix A350

Gemini / JC Wings A350

Assuming that Aviation 400 gets more adventurous with their subject matter and distribution network I think this new A350 will become quite popular. Certainly from the photos it looks as good, if not better, than the existing moulds.

3 Comments

Andrew Klein

19/12/2017 07:45:36 am

If to make a fair comparison without your editorialism, the GJ/JC A350 is still the best by a long shot!!!

RStretton

19/12/2017 12:05:33 pm

Nobody except for you thinks the Gemini/JC Wings A350 is the best Andrew. It is widely known that the nosecone is not very accurate. The Phoenix has a better nosecone but at the risk of ground hugging engines and overly long gear.

This mould looks like the nose is better than the JC Wings and the engines look good too. I'd say it stands a good chance of being the best A350.

Incidentally I reviewed the JC Wings A350-1000 just last night (and I bought the model from Waffle), which although a decent model also has the nose issues of the series 900:

https://thediecastflier.com/airbus-industrie-a350-1041/

Arthur

10/10/2018 01:59:19 pm

I would like to think that the Gemini/JCW mold is quite a lot better than the phoenix mold.

The fuselage of the phoenix does have the edge, especially because of the Gemini/JCW major nose fail. It is too steep and lacks the crucial kink upward at the cockpit. But the phoenix mold is too thin and lacks the height that the Gemini/JCW has. The cockpit windows on the Gemini/JCW are a bit large, but the have the correct shape. The phoenix are the right size, but lack the correct shape.

The undercarriage is horrid on the phoenix, with odd ridges under the wings that stick out, are rough and just aren't there on the real thing. Besides, the molded in landing gear doors are too small. The Gemini/JCW has a smooth undercarriage that really carries of the beauty of the real thing.

The wings are another tour de France of Frankenstein's Monster. There is metal gap between the inboard and outboard flap that isn't there, not to mention the missing inboard most speed brake. The ailerons are barely molded in and the second one definitely just isn't there. This is mostly due to the fact that the wing lacks width at the root, and therefore at the outboard section too. The next thing is that the wingspan on the phoenix A350 is that of a 787, 4 meters smaller than on the A350 in real life. I compared it to 2 of my 787 models. The A350 has a comparable wingspan to a 777-300ER/200LR at 64.75 vs 64.8 meters. But the phoenix falls short by a huge margin. The Gemini/JCW meets all of that, a pretty flawless wing mold, not to mention they're not over-glossed.

The wingtips on the phoenix were superior until the NEW wing mold by Gemini/JCW came along. The phoenix tip just doesn't carry off the beauty of it because of a weird square-ish edge that attaches the wingtip to the wing. The Gemini/JCW blends it right into the wing in a beautiful piece of curvature. The phoenix is also too small and swept back too much. The OLD Gemini/JCW mold was just flat and looked kinda ugly. It did not come close to representing the real thing, whereas the NEW represents this perfectly from every angle I've been able to compare.

The engines on the phoenix are the work of complete ignorance towards the real thing. The pylon is way too thin, extends too far forward and the pylon root (at the wing) ends in a square attachment that's just not supposed to be there? The entire pylon is just flat, and there is no curvature or detail that the Gemini/JCW has. Not to mention the fact that they are way to tall, which turns the engines into lawn mowers. The engines on the other hand, are roughly the correct size, but for some reason the bypass duct becomes extremely pinched toward the exhaust side and the nacelle becomes too round. The fan is also placed way to far forward. The one thing that phoenix has gotten right, and has done much better than the Gemini/JCW is the exhaust and the exhaust cone. The phoenix has the correct shape, the Gemini/JCW is too large and just doesn't come close to the shape of the real thing.

The landing gear on the phoenix definitely carries more detail, but the toy-ish chrome-silver isn't realistic. The wheels are slightly too large, and in this respect Gemini/JCW come closer, and they also have the correct matt-gray paint.

A New A350 in 1:400: Aviation400 Joins the Party

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