The Long Lost Tristars and BigBirds Arrive

The past few days have seen the release of four models that I imagine most people were wondering if they'd ever see. Three feature Cathay aircraft and one All Nippon and although they all probably come from the JC Wings factory none are JC Branded. Two are BigBird 747s announced well over a year ago and two are the elusive Cathay Tristars of almost similar vintage.

Cathay Tristars

All four look very nice although whether they are worth such insane wait times is entirely in the eye of the beholder I expect. The Cathay Tristars appear to be unbranded but Skywings webstore itself talks of them as JC Wings models. The mould looks like the excellent Witty Wings mould, however it looks like JC have modified the landing gear. 

See here for a mould review including the Witty Tristar

Compare the landing gear on this earlier Witty Tristar. It looks better to me than the new gear below.

I don't think the new gear is an improvement from the shots below - the tyres look too big and the gear too short. It'll be interesting to see what they look like in the flesh. The first is VR-HHL wearing the earlier 1980s 'Super Tristar' scheme with the Union Jack on the tail:

The second Tristar is VR-HOA without the 'Super Tristar' titles or Union Jack:

Both models look like they come in lovely boxes:

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BigBird - 2 out of 3 Ain't Bad

Appearing at roughly the same time as the Tristars are two of the three outstanding BigBird 747s. See BigBird Mk3: A Review for more detail of these. They both look excellent, but the wait...

The Canadian 747-400 announced at roughly the same time so long ago is still not here yet.

I assume that despite their probable unlicensed status all these models will make there way to the USA unhindered!