Concorde was of course a special achievement, which cast off its failure to gain an aura of greatness as the years went by. In 400 scale Concorde releases have been rather sporadic and even though there have been 24 British Airways releases the Landor scheme is very poorly represented among them. I consider myself lucky therefore to have recently received one of those as a gift from a friend. The Landor scheme was BA's scheme from 1984-1997 and aircraft were still wearing it as late as 2001. Of the four main stream liveries worn by the BA Concorde fleet it was worn for 12-13 years far longer than any of the other liveries. For more on BA liveries see: Although the Landor scheme could look rather dowdy and grey on the rest of the fleet the need for a white scheme for the Concordes guaranteed that it looked best on the sleek supersonic fuselage devoid of the Pearl Grey top or Midnight Blue belly. It certainly was the Concorde scheme of my childhood and the one I saw on my biannual visits up to Heathrow with my dad. Given its long tenure it is somewhat surprising that of the 24 BA Concordes in 400 scale only two have been produced wearing the Landor. Annoyingly 14 have been made wearing the inferior Chatham Dockyard scheme worn between 1997 and the type's retirement in 2003. Of the two made models one each are on the Herpa and Gemini moulds and both are very hard to find. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen either at a Waffle sale, so it was with soem delight that I saw my friend Bob Sloan was selling his copy and even greater delight when he sent it to me for free. This Gemini Jets version (GJBAW612) was made as long ago as 2006 with 2,000 units produced. Even though the Gemini Concorde is undoubtedly inferior to the Herpa this is a lovely model I am very grateful to receive. Thanks Bob. There are a couple of Concorde moulds knocking about the factories in China but it doesn't seem like we'll be seeing a new Landor version anytime soon.
1 Comment
Thomas L
7/8/2021 03:50:57 am
You are a very lucky person, Richard! It is indeed impossible to find (so is the 1:200 equivalent) and a great shame, because I am sure it would sell like hot cakes, even with a larger production run. To me, that's the best Concorde livery, by far! Let's cross fingers that one day, someone will make it again, in both scales...
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I'm Richard Stretton, an aviation enthusiast and major collector of 400 scale model aircraft. This blog discusses ongoing events in the world of 400 scale. This site is free. Please donate to keep it going.
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