September 2018 Aeroclassics Releases

​Last month’s Aeroclassics consisted of an excellent crop of subjects and although there were a few issues with some of them generally it was a strong month that cost a lot of people, including myself, some financial pain. September looks to continue in this vein with another superb selection of models announced including a welcome return of some prop classics.

All photos are courtesy of Waffle Collectibles - your no 1 place for diecast aircraft.

---

Going Commando

​It was five years ago now, way back in 2013, that Aeroclassics released its Curtiss C-46 Commando mould and there have been 12 releases so far (including a Hangar Club special), although the last appearance of the mould had been in 2016. It is excellent to see the C-46 return this month with 5 more releases – adding close to 50% more models than had been made to date.

​The subjects are universally excellent too. Three are fairly obvious and necessary US examples, although to be honest I hadn’t realized National had operated the type. The remaining pair allow a look back into Cuba’s aviation history in the 1950s. I wasn’t really aware of Aerovias Q but now I aim to do some research into them.​​

​There still remain some good candidates for further C-46s – notably Capitol Airways, Flying Tigers, Wien Air Alaska and Alaska Airlines. Hopefully we’ll see some of these towards the end of the year as well.

---

Shadows of Months Past

​Three more of this month’s models have a connection with earlier month’s releases. A VARIG DC-10 has the silver belly this month (whereas last month’s had the white belly), the longer series 50 DC-9 gets the chocolate stripe treatment (last month's was a series 30) and the third Aeromexico DC-9 this year, this time wearing the 90s scheme.

---

Seven 727s

​Last month saw a quartet of trijet 727s and I admit all four had some issues, however hopefully this month’s 7 offerings will not. Two continue Aeroclassics interest in Mexico. One is in the dark Federal Police colours and the other is in the late 90s standardised Mexicana livery.

​Another pair illustrate the two livery variants of the old 1980s scheme – silver and grey bellys.

​The final trio all wear effectively the same yellow DHL scheme but represent aircraft based in different countries – Australia, Malaysia and Thailand.

---

Norwegian Plus

​A quick bit of fleet building and no doubt a strong revenue generator continues for Aeroclassics with more Norwegian 737 MAX-8s. This time they wear tails representing Sir Freddie Laker, Benjamin Franklin and Jon Swift. That doubles to 6 the number of Norwegian MAXs made by Aeroclassics.

---

Summary

​All the C-46s interest me this month and although no doubt made in smaller numbers than the jets, and less likely to sell than the MAXs, they illustrate Aeroclassics interest in classic territory and exploring the history of aviation. It’s not all about cashing in on the latest Airbus and Aeroclassics continue to do the past proud. Plus I happen to know they are taking steps to reduce the errors as well.