New Brand: Radscale Models

It's not all ultra-sleek spinning fans and rolling gear in 400 scale. Increasingly there are also brands at the lower end of the market producing models. Some of these budget contenders, like YRD, produce plastic models while some, like Jet Hut, aspire to be low cost and close to a 400 scale model from the 2000s. I've just been alerted to a new brand starting out in that space calling themselves Radscale Models or RM.

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First I want to thank my friend Nima for alerting me to this new model. The model in question is a Pan Am 747-100 registered N4704U in the billboard scheme. It is being listed on several eBay pages and advertised as RM / Radscale Models.

Radscale Models has its own website. From the look of it their main business is making cars, trucks, trains and military vehicles. There is no mention of airliners on the website, but clearly the logos and name match this model.

The model itself looks quite low quality. The mould looks like the sort of 747 you'd have got in 2000 but the printing appears heavy handed and poor, especially at the nose and cockpit. Clearly the mould is cradle mount, lacks modern features like aerials, has chunky wings and perhaps no rolling gear either. It does at least come with a stand.

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There is definitely a place for these kind of lower quality models in the scale, but only if they have a suitably budget price. This one doesn't appear to - at least when being sold to the West. It is being listed on eBay for $43.90 or £42.60. The GBP price is about the same as a standard 400 scale release. Having said that the purchases do come with free shipping from China.

More realistically the prices on Taobao in China are dramatically lower. It is being sold for rmb129 - about $17.95 or £13.35.

Given the box says '1:400 SCALE DIE-CAST AIR PLANE SERIES' presumably there are more models like this coming. No doubt these aren't aimed at real collectors, but at the more general market. A glance at their car lines suggests they do make higher quality models but this 747 does not fit that description. With a much superior HX Models Pan Am 747 on the way I don't see the need to go near these, but they are another entrant into the busy world of 400 scale.