Short 360 Moulds in 1:400 Scale
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Updated: November 2024
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Despite its unglamorous lines, the series of regional aircraft that began with the Short Skyvan introduced unprecedented comfort and space to a generation of passengers and airlines on third level routes. Rather than being crammed into a DHC-6, Metroliner or Beech 99 the customer, upon entering a Short 330 or 360, had a widebody like experience that has rarely been matched even by later regional jets. The Shorts family were derived from the Skyvan, with the 330 designed specifically to take advantage of changes to US regulations that allowed commuter airlines to operate aircraft carrying up to 30 passengers
The Short 330 entered service in 1976 and proved inexpensive and reliable with great short-field performance. Although the type was unpressurised, and not too fast, it made up with it in the cabin, which was spacy and quiet with a 2+1 and central aisle configuration. Assistance from Boeing helped Shorts model the interior on much larger aircraft. Production of the Short 330 ended in 1992 with 132 aircraft built, the type having long been succeeded by its superior brother the Short 360. As its name suggests the 360 sat typically 36 passengers. It entered service with Suburban Airlines in 1982. Updates kept the Short 360 in the running into the late 1980s (with the 360-300), although by then the new generation of larger advanced turboprops like the ATR-42, DHC-8 and Saab 340 were beginning to takeover. Production of the Short 360 ended in 1991 with 165 built.
In hindsight the Shorts can be seen as bridging types which were important in the initial growth of the burgeoning third level operators of the mid-1970s which following deregulation grew into huge regional airlines linked to the US majors by the early 1990s. Though the US was an important market the Shorts could be seen globally and were unsurprisingly especially common in the UK. The type even broke into the military with an important order from the USAF for the militarised Shorts 330 - the C-23 Sherpa.
Shorts 360 in 1:400 Scale
There has been only a single mould for the Shorts 360 in 400 scale, which is no big surprise. In the past 15 years there have been 17 releases, the majority of which are more than a decade old. Here are the releases to date:
Shorts 360 in Real Life
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Mark Harkin, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/HD_Air_Shorts_360_aircraft.jpg
MOULD
JC Wings (2009)
JC Wings entered the 1:400 market under its own steam with an impressive range of aircraft moulds available for use, many of which were unique to itself and represented smaller regional types. One of the best of this crop of moulds is the Short 360. The boxy rugged structure of the Shorts make it quite suitable for 1:400, where regional aircraft are very small and so difficult to realise. The Shorts mould is in fact, along with the equally impressive Saab 340 mould, the smallest available in this scale.
JC Wings first five releases took it in to 2010 and unsurprisingly represented mainly British Shorts, since the type was a stalwart of many small UK regionals in the 1980s. The first release was British Midland in the diamond livery, followed by Loganair in the British Airways Chathams Dockyard and then two Genair BCal Commuter variations. Rounding out the top 5 was the lovely China Southern release - a nice addition to JC Wings more usual Asian home market fare.
JC Wings first five releases took it in to 2010 and unsurprisingly represented mainly British Shorts, since the type was a stalwart of many small UK regionals in the 1980s. The first release was British Midland in the diamond livery, followed by Loganair in the British Airways Chathams Dockyard and then two Genair BCal Commuter variations. Rounding out the top 5 was the lovely China Southern release - a nice addition to JC Wings more usual Asian home market fare.
It's hard to criticise the 1/400 Shorts mould as it is so very small yet still has a good shape, nicely sized wheels, and good engines. In fact i can't see anything wrong with it at all. Gemini were obviously happy with it as in 2010 it was one of the small JC Wings moulds that they began to use themselves. Unfortunately, JC Wings rather lost interest in the type and didn't make any further Shorts for themselves until 2024.
Gemini has used the mould nine times from 2010-2013 mainly as befits their market modern Shorts or US regional carriers in the liveries of their partner airlines. The non-historic US releases included:
Personally, I really like the US regional releases which cover the following:
Gemini has used the mould nine times from 2010-2013 mainly as befits their market modern Shorts or US regional carriers in the liveries of their partner airlines. The non-historic US releases included:
- a second version of the same Loganair aircraft in the same livery (I think the original JC release looks better)
- Pacific Coastal from Canada
- Express Airways of Germany in FedEx colours
- Sunstate Airlines of Australia in Qantas colours
Personally, I really like the US regional releases which cover the following:
- Flagship or Simmons Airlines (American Eagle)
- CC Air (USAir 90s Pinstripes)
- Suburban Airlines (Allegheny Commuter)
- Westair (United Express Saul Bass)
- Simmons Airlines (Northwest Airlink thermometer)
The mould went into effective storage in 2013, which was a shame as there are plenty of excellent possibilities for the mould to be used, although I admit few of them probably meet the level of sales required for them to feature as Gemini releases. With what looks like a relatively small amount of modification the Shorts 360 could also be changed into a Short 330 but this seems unlikely.
As with other long forgotten moulds the Shorts 360 still exists and has recently reappeared for a couple of Chinese releases made for Yu ModeL. These have been China Eastern and China Southern examples, the second of which has also been released more widely by JC Wings themselves.
Release Options
There are a lot of Shorts 360 operators that could be made and I think despite the small size of the model, at the right volumes, these are saleable.
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Maarten Visser from Capelle aan den IJssel, Nederland, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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From the UK there is:
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From the USA there is:
From elsewhere:
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Tim Rees (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons