Aeroclassics New GSE Sets Pt1: The Classics

Ground service equipment (GSE) is a must for anybody building an airport diorama of any size. Most of the major manufacturers have also created GSE sets in the past and in May this year Aeroclassics re-entered this space with a series of DC-8s released complete with 15 part GSE sets. In this first part I review these classic GSE sets.

With the advent of 3D printing the range of available GSE in 1:400 scale has increased in size and quality over the past few years by a large margin. Plus we've seen new items from Panda Models and JC Wings also, which have on the whole been very nice. Gemini Jets released a few buses but at an astronomical price point and rather oddly for US Airways. Now Aeroclassics are back into the swing of things with GSE I thought I'd take a look at their latest offerings.

The first thing to mention is that these GSE sets are only available sold with the specific models. This means the models themselves cost quite a bit more (about USD$10) than usual but in my opinion it is money well spent. Aeroclassics have previously released large amounts of GSE with various models and in isolation, but it has been years since any new items arrived.

I've written extensively about a lot of GSE here on the blog including the old Aeroclassics sets. See the following 6 parts for more information:

• GSE Review: Modern Buses
  
• GSE Review Pt1: Gemini Jets Sets
• GSE Review Pt2: Dragon Wings
• GSE Review Pt3: Aeroclassics Sets 1.0
• GSE Review Pt4: Aeroclassics Sets 2.0
• GSE Review Pt5: Aeroclassics Sets 3.0

It was the May 2017 announcement that saw the first of the new sets released. These were followed in June with a further set making it 5 releases in total as follows. Each aircraft comes with a 15 piece GSE set:

• Air Canada DC-8-43  CF-TJK
  
• Trans Canada Airlines DC-8-43
• Canadian Pacific DC-8-43 CF-CPG
• Alitalia DC-8-43  I-DIWA
• Swissair DC-8-32  HB-IDA

Something to mention about the GSE sets is a highly doubt they are historically accurate either in the vehicle designs or colours they wear. I'm ok with that as their price point is low and they are very nice. These sets are not technically 'new' either since they feature entirely vehicles from the old GSE sets, just with the appropriate airline logos on them.

Below the Canadian Pacific and Air Canada GSE sets in action:

Something that I do appreciate are the non-airline fuel trucks in a nice Texaco red. This means they match well with any classic airliners. I've heard people complain that they don't fit well with European setups but apparently there were red Texaco trucks even in Europe.

I really like these classic GSE sets and think they add a lot of character to the models. Having said that they aren't perfect either. Typically only 5 elements of the 15 have any airline branding on them and all are painted largely white. Ideally the airstair sides, radiators, bumpers and such would be grey or silver (or more detailed).

It would be nice to see some more detail but then again I expect the price would go up and there probably isn't a lot of sales potential for selling the GSE individually in classic schemes.

I bought four of the five sets myself and am very happy with them. I hope they sold ok for Aeroclassics and we see further GSE released perhaps with other types like 707s or 727s. It'd be great to see some 1970s or 1980s liveried vehicles for airlines like United, Delta and Northwest for example.

Now Aeroclassics hasn't just been making classic GSE as last month the first two modern GSE sets were released with a pair of Chinese A330s. They feature some new vehicles. I just received both and we'll take a look at them in the next part of this series.