Most of the manufacturers now appear to be operating at almost their normal capacity again, aside from Panda Models who frankly had problems well before Covid. They are nonetheless promising TU-134s but they are as of yet not at the point of shipping despite some production shots being released.
Aeroclassics
Aeroclassics continue to release via their new aeroclassicsdirect.com webstore and I've now made four orders from them - although only two have yet arrived! I've been happy with the service they've provided. The second order covered the three Republic / Northwest DC-9-51s that were all that got to stores, officially anyway, of the April releases.
All three are nice examples as long as you can survive the traditionally way too dark red on the Northwest tail. I just recently gave the Republic version a thorough review over at ModelAirliner:
NG Models
Postal delays also meant that I only received the NG Models releases from the start of the year in early May but they are a rather nice selection. The Tristars remain the standouts for me and all three of these do the job well. The Caledonian and United versions have enabled the replacement of older, but still pretty decent, Dragon Wings models.
I can't stomach the Herpa Tristar 500 so the Air India example is new to my collection rather than a replacement for that older release. It will feature in an upcoming aviation history blog piece.
The other trio of NG arrivals offer one example each from the A330, 737-800 and 757 fitting my interest for Chinese and UK airlines. I have already reviewed the BMI A330 in detail here:
It is possible I may review the Joy Air in time as well. I am not certain about the cockpit printing on recent NG 757s I have to say.
JC Wings / Gemini Jets
The only new release models I actually received in April were these three. The 777 is from JC Wings with the two props being Gemini releases. All three have received detailed reviews.
Phoenix & SAA
The last new model received during this period was unusually from Phoenix. Sichuan Airlines is one of my mini-fleets (I currently have 20 aircraft from the Chengdu based airline). This model is quite nice but not flawless and it also got a review recently:
Lastly I did receive some other non-new release models this month, but I'll address most of those in another post. The last model for this post is a 2019 release I received new and which also got a review - the SAA 767-200 from Aeroclassics:
Summary
There's no denying the past few months have been a frustrating time, but I am lucky that my family is well, I still have a job and that I live in a nation run with some common sense. I hope your collecting has been able to continue wherever you are. What was your favourite addition from the past 2 months?
4 Comments
Ian Madigan
20/6/2020 06:21:58 pm
The cockpit window printing on that First Choice B757 is concerning. I hope NG are not letting their usually very high standards slip.
Garry
4/7/2020 09:18:48 am
Just to say i nearly fell off my chair with laughter from what i read on a thread over at trailer park USA DAC forum!
Aaron
18/8/2020 01:52:22 am
What's wrong with the Herpa United Tri-Star?
Richard Stretton
18/8/2020 07:59:15 am
From my Tristar 500 mould review: Agghhh bloody Herpa! Another one of their barely used 1:400 moulds, but in this case perhaps that is a good thing? The worst part of the model is the undercarriage legs, which look way too short, not that the gear looks any good anyway. The mould is seamless but this must be weighed up against a squarish nose and cockpit top line plus a poor middle engine / fuselage join. It is hard to tell whether they have made the wings the correct span but the fuselage/wing fairings look good. So this has the potential to be a decent mould with some tweaking of the nose and undercarriage. Of course it doesn't matter as it was used 4 times and then forgotten about. Leave a Reply. |
Author
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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