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The Best Moulds in 400 Scale - September 2022

Picture
INTRODUCTION
As discussed here since the level of quality between brands is so close and the line between success and failure so thin it only makes sense to look at the mould being used by that particular manufacturer for the aircraft type. This is where the major differences lie. Everyone has good and not so good moulds and often there is very strong competition between brands for certain aircraft types.
It is regularly asked 'who has the best X' and often there is a general consensus in the hobby as to the answer, however the answers to these questions are usually glib and unsupported by evidence. From what I’ve seen a lot of collectors only know what they own and most think if they own it it must be great. If someone asks what is the best 777-300 mould for example it’d be useful to a) know what ones exist and b) to actually look at a proper comparison. 
That is one of the major aims of this website - to provide information to allow people to make quality decisions. You don't need to necessarily agree with me but you should be able to provide sensible counterpoints if you don't.
I am sometimes accused of bias, usually by people with their own massive and poorly hidden agendas. I am biased - towards high quality 400 scale models. I am interested in the politics and business shenanigans that go on behind the scenes but they rarely influence my purchases and they shouldn't influence yours. This website looks at the quality of the models and that is also what you should do. Everything else is noise.


RESOURCES​
This site contains three main areas of content to aid decision making and I will link to those were appropriate. Broadly they are:
MOULD REVIEWS
A type by type examination of all the moulds that have been made for an aircraft with some basic information about quality.
DETAILED MOULD COMPARISON
A detailed look at the active moulds for specific types scoring them on a variety of categories to determine which comes out on top.
MODEL REVIEWS
Reviews of individual model releases scoring each out of 30. One third of the review and score is dedicated to the mould.


BEST MOULDS
There are lots of different aircraft types and available moulds so for ease of reading I've created separate pages for each of the major aircraft manufacturers. Read on to see who has the best moulds in my opinion:
Picture
A300 / A310 / A320 / A321 / A330 / A340 / A350 / A380
Picture
B377 / B707 / B717 / B727 / B737 / B737NG / B737MAX
B747 / B757 / B767 / B777 / B787
  • Home
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        • The Big Three
        • Hainan Airlines Group
        • Other Chinese Airlines
      • IRAN >
        • Iranian Airlines Pt1.1
        • Iranian Airlines Pt1.2
      • MEXICO >
        • 1988-2005: Competition arrives
        • 2005-2014: Low cost in Mexico
        • Mexican Airline Genealogy
        • Mexicana Livery Tails
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        • Aeroflot Group
        • S7 Airlines & AiRUnion
        • Other Russian Airlines
      • SOUTH AFRICA
      • UNITED KINGDOM >
        • BA Genealogy Pt1
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        • BUIA & BUAF Genealogies
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      • UNITED STATES >
        • Trunk & Local Service Airlines >
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          • Delta / Northwest Genealogy
          • United / Continental Genealogy
          • Braniff / Eastern / US Airways Genealogy
        • Territorial Airlines
        • Intra-State Airlines
        • Supplemental Airlines
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        • Deregulation Startups 2
        • Trunk Airline Livery Changes 1959-1980
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      • San Jose International Pt2
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        • Generation One History
        • Gen 1 Photo Galleries >
          • BAC One-Eleven
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        • Tupolev Tu-134s
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    • Airbus >
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        • JC Wings A320 Upgrades
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        • Herpa 737s
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        • NG Models 757 Production
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      • Aerospatiale / BAC Concorde
      • BAC One-Eleven 200-400
      • BAC One-Eleven 500
      • BAE-146 / Avro RJ-85-100
      • De Havilland DH-106 Comet
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      • Douglas DC-6
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      • Douglas DC-8-60s/70s
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      • Douglas DC-9-41/51
      • McDonnell Douglas DC-10
      • McDonnell Douglas MD-11
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      • Lockheed Super Connie
      • Lockheed L-1649 Starliner
      • Lockheed L-188 Electra
      • Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 1 / Tristar 200
      • Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 500
    • Other >
      • Convair CV-240-580
      • Convair CV-880/990
      • Curtiss C-46
      • Fairchild F-27 / Fokker F27
      • Fairchild-Hiller FH-227
      • Fokker F28/F70/F100
      • SE 210 Caravelle
    • Chinese >
      • Comac ARJ21
      • Xi'an Y-20
    • Soviet >
      • Antonov An-225
      • Ilyushin IL-62
      • Ilyushin Il-86/Il-96
      • Tupolev TU-104
      • Tupolev TU-154B-2/M
      • Tupolev TU-204
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  • 1:400 News
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      • Aviation400 >
        • Airbus A320
        • Airbus A330-900NEO
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        • Boeing 787 Update Mar 21
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      • JC Wings >
        • Airbus A310
        • Boeing 747-400
      • NG Models >
        • Airbus A318
        • Airbus A319/320 CEO
        • Airbus A319/320 NEO
        • Airbus A321CEO & NEO
        • Airbus A330-200/300
        • Airbus A330 Beluga XL
        • Airbus A350-900
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        • AVIC AG600M - 1:200
        • Boeing 737-600/700/900
        • Boeing 737-600 Refresh
        • Boeing 737-800
        • Boeing 737 MAX-8/MAX-9
        • Boeing B747SP
        • Boeing 777-200
        • Boeing 777-300/300ER
        • Boeing 787-8
        • Comac ARJ21 - 1:200
        • Falcon 7X - 1:200
        • Gulfstream G550 - 1:200
        • Lockheed L-1011 Tristar
        • Lockeed Tristar 500
        • Tupolev Tu-154
        • Tupolev Tu-204/Tu-214/Tu-234
    • Retailer Exclusive Releases >
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      • JAL DC-8 Twinset
    • FantasyWings GSE >
      • Apron Equipment
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      • GSE Pax & Cargo Sets
      • Hong Kong Outer Bay Set
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      • 1:200 GSE Cargo/GPU Sets
      • 1:200 COBUS 3000 Buses
  • 1:400 Reviews
    • Detailed Mould Scoring >
      • Airbus A320ceo & neo
      • Airbus A330 Beluga XL
      • Airbus A330-900neo
      • Airbus A350-900
      • Boeing 737-800
      • Boeing 747SP
      • Boeing 747-400
      • Boeing 777-300ER
      • Boeing 787-9
    • 1:400 Model Reviews
    • Model Airliner.com Reviews
  • 1:600 SCALE
    • Schabak >
      • Schabak History 1982-2006
      • Schabak Airline Numbers
      • Schabak Wheel Variants
      • Schabak Window Variants
      • Schabak Decal Cracking
    • Schabak Moulds >
      • Airbus A300
      • Lockheed L-1011 Tristar
      • McDonnell Douglas DC-10
    • Schabak Non-airline Models
    • Silver Wings
    • Imogenia Airport
  • Dioramas
    • Wright Field Airport
    • Xin Long International
    • As Real As It Gets 1:200
    • As Real As It Gets 1:400 >
      • Real As It Gets - Africa
      • Real As It Gets - Asia
      • Real As It Gets - China
      • Real As It Gets - Europe
      • Real As It Gets - Middle East
      • Real As It Gets - N America
      • Real As It Gets - Oceania
      • Real As It Gets - Russia
      • Real As It Gets - S America