JC Wings: March 2020 Releases

In a sign that things are getting back to normal, in China at least, I noticed that a fresh batch of JC Wings have appeared in the Chinese stores and will no doubt be winging their way internationally soon. These are of course a selection of models pre-announced months, if not more than a year, ago but the 14 include some interesting aircraft. Let's take a look...

JC Wings are renowned for their lengthy pre-order timelines so presumably these models were announced up to a year ago and have seemingly randomly appeared together to form a batch of releases for March. Partly I guess this can be seen in that of the 14 models 6 of them are 737 MAX-8s, one of which is for an airline that no longer exists. I can't imagine MAX's are release priorities in March 2020. Anyway it is the 737s I'll start with:

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737 MAXs and a 737-800

Presumably it will be the 737s that most international collectors are least interested in since all but one of them are from China or Korea and that one is in the colours of the recently failed Jet Airways of India. 

The Gemini Jets / JC Wings 737 MAX-8 mould is a lot better than the Aeroclassics and so I guess for some the JC Jet will be a suitable replacement for the AC version. I already have the excellent Panda Models version of the Xiamen MAX so am less interested in that, but the Shandong Airlines examples fit my criteria nicely and are the first Shandong MAXes out:

The other pair of 737s are an Eastar Jet MAX and an OK Airways 737-800. The latter is the first series 800 in purple. I'm not thrilled by the mould but I may have to get it anyway.

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Other Boeings

The four other Boeing releases are an eclectic bunch of which I suspect the Etihad 'Formula 1' release is the one most people will be excited by, especially as it was announced in 2018!!! It also comes in flaps up and flaps down variants. The JC Wings 787 is exceptional so it ought to sell well even if it is incredibly late.

The other trio are standard JC fare. The Air Bridge Cargo 748F would be more sought after I expect if JC could fix the hump on the mould.

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Airbuses

I suspect for many it is two of the three Airbuses this month, which will prove the most interesting since they both feature more unusual airlines that haven't been made before on these aircraft types. One is the first A330 for the American cargo and charter carrier National Airlines. It is an attractive scheme:

The other is an Iranian Airbus A340-300. This almost counts as a classic nowadays, with the number of A340s in service nosediving of recent. This aircraft is actually a 1992 build and the second A340 off of the line. It is the only A340 in service with Aseman. The model looks very nice:

The last release is an Air Caraibes A350 with flaps down configuration. I reviewed a Phoenix example of this aircraft a few years ago and there is no doubt this new version is much superior:

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Summary

I like the look of quite a few of these models, although only a few of the 737s really fit my collecting criteria. I guess the big question is what is the market like for 1:400 scale models at the moment? I can only imagine that the economic devastation being caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns is going to seriously limit the spending power of the majority of Western collectors. Even so, it is nice to see some normality return to release schedules, although having said that is JC Wings releasing its model announcements normal :)