1/400 Model and Airport Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

500 Stubbies: A Short Tristar Wishlist

14/3/2019

There have been few moulds as requested by 1:400 scale collectors as the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar. Although there have been various moulds made for the standard type most are either obsolete or awful and the best ones have been chronically under-used. The Tristar 500 is even worse off so what should any new mould of the type wear?

Aeroclassics: March 2019 Releases

12/3/2019

Aeroclassics has rarely been affected too much by Chinese New Year in terms of their release schedule. So it is no surprise that they are able in March to release a full set of 13 releases primarily featuring the primary moulds of 2019 so far – the 767-200, DC-6 and DC-10.

A Ride Around Whenuapai Air Force Base

5/3/2019

In comparison to most developed countries there isn't a lot of aviation activity in New Zealand due mainly to the tyranny of distance. Not only does this make it hard to reach most places but also assists in keeping NZ safe. The result of the latter is that the Royal New Zealand Air Force is a small force with little strike capability. Also being NZ it is friendly and easy to visit.

Forgotten Fellowships: An F28 Wishlist

1/3/2019

The Fokker F28 was an adaptable little jet that saw use throughout the world From Norway to Swaziland and Argentina to Papua New Guinea. As such there are lots of colourful and interesting airlines that it saw service with. Often these were some of the smaller national carriers that have not featured well in 1:400. Having said that there are still major European flag carriers in the mix as well. So here I’ll take a look at what can be made on the existing Aeroclassics mould.

2018: A Year of 1:400 Collecting in Review

16/2/2019

It is now mid-February and with all the December releases (aside from the JC Wings ones obviously) arrived it is a good time to reflect on the year that was 2018 and what it meant for my collection. 2018 was an outstanding year for 1:400 Scale and certainly my pocket felt the pain of so many excellent releases but what was I buying and why?

Passing Through Guangzhou Pt2: Traffic at CAN

10/2/2019

In part 1 I looked at the layout and spotting opportunities at Guangzhou Baiyun. In part 2 I'll focus on the traffic I saw in the 3 hours early morning that I was there on December 16, 2018 and the 7 hours evening I was there on Thursday 3, January 2019. Paradoxically the first shorter period was far more productive than the latter, partly due to a very favourable taxi to the runway.

Passing Through Guangzhou Pt1: Spotting at CAN

8/2/2019

This past December I found myself travelling back to the UK at rather short notice. Living in Auckland there is a wide choice of possibilities flying this route nowadays and you can go via the US, Asia or the Middle East. We chose the cheapest option, which was with China Southern Airlines via Guangzhou. Although the cheapest it almost certainly wasn’t the worst and spotting at CAN was something, I was keen to do, at least for the few hours of my stopover. Here’s a look at CAN.

Panda Models: January 2019 Releases

7/2/2019

The Chinese New Year is almost upon us, which means there'll be a lot less models for a month or so until the whole of China gets back to work in March! In the meantime though Panda Models have not been sitting still and instead have released their December models and announced their batch for January, most of which are already on sale as well. Let's take a look.

Aeroclassics: February 2019 Releases

2/2/2019

February brings Chinese New Year, which has a massive impact on 1:400 model production since the entirety of China takes a holiday. Even so Aeroclassics has been working hard between Christmas and now to release a full set of thirteen new models to tide the collector over the lean period. This month is a Boeing heavy one but both Airbus and Douglas are represented also.

To ER or not to ER: A 767-200 Wishlist

28/1/2019

Now the 767-200 mould is out and Aeroclassics have started pumping out releases it seems like an appropriate time to take a look at what they might turn their hand to. In my opinion there have been two perfectly good earlier moulds for the type and they have already plucked a lot of the obvious low hanging fruit. To that end I’m not too keen to go over already released candidates unless there is a good specific reason to do so. That still leaves plenty of fertile ground anyway and hopefully Aeroclassics agree with me.

JC Wings 1:400 Scale A330 Beluga XL Mould

19/1/2019

2019 is already proving to be a year of serious competition in 1:400 scale and whether some of the new and updated moulds is a direct reaction to the arrival of NG Models or a natural progression is a little hard to say. This however is the third direct head to head assault on NG Models by JC Wings showing that they at least are not willing to cede market share to NG.

Aeroclassics: January 2019 Releases

9/1/2019

A new year brings another selection of excellent releases from Aeroclassics continuing the theme of late 2018 with the new moulds (737 MAX-9, 757-200 and 767-200) in action as well as the Douglas family of aircraft. 2019 brings the return of propliners as well, which is most welcome. Aircraft this month come from airlines of Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama and the USA.

Short Stuff: A 737-600 Wishlist

7/1/2019

Recently Panda Models have presumably leveraged their existing 737-700 mould to produce its shorter stablemate the series 600. The type was thoroughly unloved and therefore the number of operators of the type was limited. Panda have already made 5 737-600s covering SAS and Air China but there is a small group of further series 600s that can, and ought, to be made.

Boeing 757-200: Detailed Mould Review

24/12/2018

You'd have to have been asleep for most of the year by now to have avoided the discussion that has been started by NG Models. They have been more proactive and friendly than any other 1:400 scale manufacturer and have firmly backed up their words with deeds. The effect on the 757 in this scale has been impressive. Not only have they created an excellent mould for the type but they have stimulated JC Wings/Gemini Jets to update their old mould and at the same time shared the NG 757 with Aeroclassics.

Aeroclassics: December 2018 Releases

13/12/2018

Aeroclassics continues to choose excellent examples from aviation history to produce on its generally reliable set of moulds. December brings another selection of gems, although at least two of the expected models (those with ZK and HP registration prefixes) have been delayed until next year. Last month’s releases had some QA issues but hopefully this months will set the bar higher.