The Most Needed New Moulds in 400 Scale in 2022
It is not unusual to see new requests for 400 scale moulds on the forums or FB groups, however I admit to often finding the reasoning behind the request not especially scientific and rather ignoring the overall landscape of the scale. There's nothing wrong with that I guess, people want what they want, but that got me thinking - what if there was a way to compare and score the need for a new mould in 400 scale?
I'm all for analysis and trying to use data to justify decision making so here this is exactly what I have tried to do. I will be the first to admit that this scoring is my own and so essentially subjective, however I have at least used my research into 400 scale production and knowledge of aviation to come up with these scores. I can justify them and that for me is key. I should also say that I will buy most 400 scale models, so although I obviously have my own favourites I tried to go into this with an open mind.
You may think this is nonsense but I haven't seen a better way to think about it. My aim here is to help create a consensus opinion among collectors, to assist brands in their decision making and, of course, hopefully to entertain.
Incidentally this isn't the first time I've done something like this. Way back in 2017 I looked into similar topics - see:
Since then there have been new moulds for several types I called out there including B737-600, B757-200, L-1011 Tristars, Tu-104, Tu-134, Tu-154 and Tu-204.
SCORING
Each aircraft type is scored out of 5 across 5 categories. Whichever gets closest to 25 is the most deserving of a new mould.
The scoring categories are as follows:
The scoring categories are as follows:
EXCLUSIONS
There are plenty of aircraft types in 400 scale that don't even warrant inclusion in this sort of list because they either already have excellent existing moulds or there are moulds under production for them, which are likely to be excellent. It of course helps that NG Models and Aviation400 have been producing so many moulds recently for types like the A320, A330neo, 737NG, 777 and Tu-154. In my opinion the following 61 types are already adequately covered and don't need further new mould representation at this time:
Additionally some types are just too small for 400 scale or too obscure to ever realistically get done so have been left out here.
INCLUSIONS
So with all the types above excluded what does that leave us with? Plenty. There are 45 types I have identified, which can be split into the following three categories:
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