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HX B747-409 China Airlines B-18203 1:400
China Airlines aircraft B-18203 completed its maiden flight on November 17, 1997, and was officially delivered to the airline on December 5 of the same year, serving as a core member of China Airlines’ fleet operating high-capacity regional and international routes. The most distinctive feature of B-18203 was its special collaborative livery with renowned Taiwanese picture book artist Jimmy Liao, launched in 2013. Before its decommissioning in 2015, the aircraft had its special livery removed; it was then stored at Victorville Logistics Airport in Southern California in November the following year, and ultimately scrapped and dismantled. It was among the earlier-retired Boeing 747-409 models in the China Airlines fleet.
The “Jimmy Love & Hug” special livery of B-18203 was a classic cultural and creative livery launched by China Airlines in 2013, and also a landmark achievement of the airline’s in-depth collaboration with Jimmy Liao, the celebrated Taiwanese picture book author. Centered around the themes of “Earth’s Treasures” and environmental protection, the livery became a highly culturally recognizable symbol of the China Airlines fleet. Though the livery was applied for a relatively short period, this “Hug Plane” served as a vital carrier for China Airlines to showcase Taiwan’s cultural and creative characteristics. Operating on popular routes from Taipei to Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok and beyond, it often drew aviation enthusiasts and picture book fans to airports for photography, and also became a classic case for aviation culture popularization among teenagers. To this day, it remains a hot topic of discussion among aviation memorabilia collectors.
The HX 747 mold needs no further praise for its outstanding quality. HX excels at fine-detail printing and handling large-scale complex liveries, which also stand as the strengths of this model: the livery features sharp clarity and rich detailing. Even among the same production batch, the plum blossom motif on the vertical stabilizer of this model outperforms that of the “Great Blue Whale” livery variant. A noticeable flaw is that there is still room for improvement in color selection.
China Airlines aircraft B-18203 completed its maiden flight on November 17, 1997, and was officially delivered to the airline on December 5 of the same year, serving as a core member of China Airlines’ fleet operating high-capacity regional and international routes. The most distinctive feature of B-18203 was its special collaborative livery with renowned Taiwanese picture book artist Jimmy Liao, launched in 2013. Before its decommissioning in 2015, the aircraft had its special livery removed; it was then stored at Victorville Logistics Airport in Southern California in November the following year, and ultimately scrapped and dismantled. It was among the earlier-retired Boeing 747-409 models in the China Airlines fleet.
The “Jimmy Love & Hug” special livery of B-18203 was a classic cultural and creative livery launched by China Airlines in 2013, and also a landmark achievement of the airline’s in-depth collaboration with Jimmy Liao, the celebrated Taiwanese picture book author. Centered around the themes of “Earth’s Treasures” and environmental protection, the livery became a highly culturally recognizable symbol of the China Airlines fleet. Though the livery was applied for a relatively short period, this “Hug Plane” served as a vital carrier for China Airlines to showcase Taiwan’s cultural and creative characteristics. Operating on popular routes from Taipei to Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok and beyond, it often drew aviation enthusiasts and picture book fans to airports for photography, and also became a classic case for aviation culture popularization among teenagers. To this day, it remains a hot topic of discussion among aviation memorabilia collectors.
The HX 747 mold needs no further praise for its outstanding quality. HX excels at fine-detail printing and handling large-scale complex liveries, which also stand as the strengths of this model: the livery features sharp clarity and rich detailing. Even among the same production batch, the plum blossom motif on the vertical stabilizer of this model outperforms that of the “Great Blue Whale” livery variant. A noticeable flaw is that there is still room for improvement in color selection.
