HYJLwings Legend: Air Transat A330 C-GITS - The Azores Glider

It was way back in October 2022 that HYJLwings announced they would be making a model of the Air Transat A330 C-GITS that as Flight 236 ran out of fuel over the Atlantic in August 2001 and glided all the way to the Azores. Now I see some images of the final product I can see why that is the case! If you thought NG's 'Ultimate Collection' packaging was premium wait until you see this!

HYJLwings are a small brand that uses mainly NG Models moulds and their own Airbus A321 to make a relatively small number of releases per year. I've collected a lot of their output and written about them regularly here at the site. Their models are great but mainly Chinese or Canadian. See:

HYJLwings Blogposts

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Back in October 2022 HYJLwings announced via their Facebook page:

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It now seems the model is ready and I've been supplied with some photos of the final product, which looks amazing. As well as the model itself the end product includes:

• A massive display style box with drawer
• A runway display of LAJES airport (made by Airline Manufacture)
• A crystal engraved  captain’s signature limited edition certificate
• ​A postcard signed by the original aircraft's pilots
• A pair of soft cotton gloves

All of this comes at a premium price, as you might well expect. In China it was sold at the HYJLwings taobao store for rmb 1,700 and I've seen images of editions for the US and Canadian markets priced at USD $236 and CAD 326.

A total of 236 pieces were made and the first went on sale on December 27, 2023. It seems all the Chinese editions have sold and it remains to be seen where and if any get to the West, although the posters with the foreign prices on suggest they will.

HYJLwings published this page to advertise the model in China 

Coming soon HYJLwings and Captain Robert Piché present the legendary Transoceanic Flight 236

The above link includes a short video interview with Captain Robert Piché and details of how 50% of profits will be sent to charity.

No doubt this is a niche product, and one that is well outside the budgets of many collectors, but the end product does look amazing. It is certainly a new high in terms of product quality in 400 scale.