Aviation400 A340-300 Review & Ultimate A340-300 Mould Comparison

[Battlecry]

I recently received Aviation400's A340-300 in the Emirates livery and am pleasantly surprised by this new mould. While it forgoes the detachable landing gear found on other Aviation400 moulds, the overall shape, print accuracy and level detail of detail is superb save for one issue, that being the nose shape when viewed from the side. Aside from that, this solves two glaring issues with the Panda Model and NG Model A340/A330 mould: too narrow and small cockpit windows and wings that are too wide at the wingtip, resulting in wings that are too wide. Additionally, both NG and Panda often print the window line too high on their A340s and A330s.

The AeroClassics A330/A340 shares the same inaccuracies with Panda and NG, but has even smaller windshield windows. The JC Wings A340-300 has good sized cockpit windows, doesn't suffer from the too-wide wingtips of the other three moulds, but has a less accurate side profile and too small horizontal stabilizers. The Phoenix A340 has an excellent side profile and good sized cockpit window printing, but the shape of the nose and cockpit area is too wide and completely inaccurate, especially when viewed from the top; and the wings suffer the opposite issue from the NG / Panda / AeroClassics moulds: the wingtips are too narrow, completely missing the indents before the winglets.

After closely comparing all the major manufacturers, the Aviation400 A340-300 looks to be the ultimate A340 in 1:400 scale released thus far.

I will compare and rank each model for its accuracy compared to photos of the real thing. For the nose and side profile comparison, I will also include the recently released HX Models A340-600, even though that has an entirely different wing.




Top right: NG Models A330-300 American Airlines, Top Left: AeroClassics A340-300 SAS, Middle Right: Phoenix A340-300 Austrian Airlines, Middle Left: GeminiJets A340-300 Iberia, Bottom Left: Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates, Bottom Left: Panda Model A340-300 SAS.


1) Wing Comparison


The real thing


Aviation400 A340-300


Panda Model A340-300


NG Models A330-300


JC Wings / GeminiJets A340-300


Phoenix Models A340-300


AeroClassics A340-300

Ranking from most to least accurate for wing & wingtips:

1) Aviation400
2) JC Wings / Gemini Jets
3) Panda Model / NG Model / AeroClassics
4) Phoenix

 

[Battlecry]

2) Nose Comparison

The real thing


Right: Aviation400, Left: Phoenix, Top: NG Models / Panda Models, Bottom: JC Wings / GeminiJets



HX Wings / YY Wings A340-600 Lufthansa.



The real thing.



Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates.



NG Models A330-200 Air France.



JC Wings / Gemini Jets A340-300 Iberia.



Phoenix A340-600 Virgin Atlantic.


HX Models / YY Wings A340-600 Lufthansa.


Ranking from most to least accurate for nose shape:

1) Aviation400
2) Panda Model / NG Model / AeroClassics
3) HX Models
4) JC Wings / Gemini Jets
5) Phoenix

The nose on the HX Models A340-600 is too blunt, the moulding in the cockpit area is good.
JC Wings / Gemini Jets have an okay cockpit area mould and good nose shape, but lack the tapering seen on the real thing.
NG / Panda / AeroClassics have a good nose and cockpit shape, if not too narrow.
The Aviation400 cockpit and nose looks the most accurate from the top and offset at an angle, but it's a close tie with Panda / NG.

Ranking from most to least accurate for Cockpit Windows:

1) Aviation 400
2) JC Wings / Gemini Jets
3) Phoenix
4) NG Models / Panda Models
5) HX Models

Aviation 400, JC Wings and Phoenix all have good sized cockpit windows; the Phoenix windows look wider because the nose is and cockpit area is too wide.

NG Models, Panda and AeroClassics all suffer from too-small cockpit window printing: the windshield windows are too narrow, and the side windows are too squished together. This is more apparent in some models, like the Air France and Alitalia releases. Older AeroClassics releases tend to have even smaller cockpit windows.

The cockpit windows look too large on the HX Models, especially from the side. They are also slightly bent down toward the front. Spacing between the windows is good, but the entire print is too large.

 

[Battlecry]

3) Horizontal Stabilizers comparison

All the models have comparable horizontal stabilizer scales, except for Gemini / JC Wings (which is smaller than the others) and Phoenix (which is larger than the others):



Right: Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates, Left: Panda Models A340-300 SAS



Right: Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates, Left: Phoenix A340-300 Austrian Airlines



Right: Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates, Left: Gemini Jets A340-300 Iberia



Right: Phoenix A340-300 Austrian Airlines, Left: Gemini Jets A340-300 Iberia

 

[Battlecry]

4) Side Aspect Nose & Cockpit Comparison

The real thing (Lufthansa A340-600)


Aviation 400 A340-300 Emirates


Phoenix A340-300 Austrian



Panda Models A340-300 SAS



Gemini Jets A340-300 Iberia


NG Models A330-300 American Airlines


HX Models A340-600 Lufthansa

 

[YesterAirlines]

Funny coincidence. I've got this model being reviewed next week, with most of the review written already. Interesting how our views can differ.

I would say the AV400 A340-300 is the worst of the current A340s (or at least as bad as the JC Wings). They seem to agree as they are replacing this mould (which actually dates from 2017, albeit it had better landing gear back then).

I'm not sure I agree on your wingtip analysis. The AV400 looks incorrect to me (and the JC not much better). The winglet to wing join line on the AV400 (right) is in the wrong place and they don't really mould in the squared off landing lights. I'd take the Panda and NG versions (left) over it myself but I wouldn't say it was 'glaring' on either of them. I just measured the width of the Panda against the AV400 and the difference is about 0.5mm in width.



Your side on photos are quite generous to the AV400. Mine are less so! I would say from the side the nose and cockpit shape aren't great and the inner cockpit windows not tall enough, but it isn't helped by the nosegear, which is too far rearwards, too short, the tyrehubs are ugh and the steering actuators too high:




Also considering your points about the windowline on NG and Panda you might want to check it on the EK as it is definitely much too high on the AV400 release of this Emirates. Look at how it compares to the cockpit windows and where the Emirates titles end up in relation to the roofline.

 

[Theresa apocalypse222222]

2) Nose Comparison
View attachment 56380
The real thing

View attachment 56382
Right: Aviation400, Left: Phoenix, Top: NG Models / Panda Models, Bottom: JC Wings / GeminiJets


View attachment 56407
HX Wings / YY Wings A340-600 Lufthansa.


View attachment 56384
The real thing.


View attachment 56385
Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates.


View attachment 56386
NG Models A330-200 Air France.


View attachment 56387
JC Wings / Gemini Jets A340-300 Iberia.


View attachment 56389
Phoenix A340-600 Virgin Atlantic.

View attachment 56397
HX Models / YY Wings A340-600 Lufthansa.


Ranking from most to least accurate for nose shape:

1) Aviation400
2) Panda Model / NG Model / AeroClassics
3) HX Models
4) JC Wings / Gemini Jets
5) Phoenix

The nose on the HX Models A340-600 is too blunt, the moulding in the cockpit area is good.
JC Wings / Gemini Jets have an okay cockpit area mould and good nose shape, but lack the tapering seen on the real thing.
NG / Panda / AeroClassics have a good nose and cockpit shape, if not too narrow.
The Aviation400 cockpit and nose looks the most accurate from the top and offset at an angle, but it's a close tie with Panda / NG.

Ranking from most to least accurate for Cockpit Windows:

1) Aviation 400
2) JC Wings / Gemini Jets
3) Phoenix
4) NG Models / Panda Models
5) HX Models

Aviation 400, JC Wings and Phoenix all have good sized cockpit windows; the Phoenix windows look wider because the nose is and cockpit area is too wide.

NG Models, Panda and AeroClassics all suffer from too-small cockpit window printing: the windshield windows are too narrow, and the side windows are too squished together. This is more apparent in some models, like the Air France and Alitalia releases. Older AeroClassics releases tend to have even smaller cockpit windows.

The cockpit windows look too large on the HX Models, especially from the side. They are also slightly bent down toward the front. Spacing between the windows is good, but the entire print is too large.

could you measure the chord length of the wing at different spanlength on the panda/AC mould and the av400 mould please, I’m curious about how big the error is ( just the incorrect wingtip or the entire wing is off) I hope the problem is not as serious as the phoenix A346 wings.

 

[Battlecry]

Funny coincidence. I've got this model being reviewed next week, with most of the review written already. Interesting how our views can differ.

I would say the AV400 A340-300 is the worst of the current A340s (or at least as bad as the JC Wings). They seem to agree as they are replacing this mould (which actually dates from 2017, albeit it had better landing gear back then).

I'm not sure I agree on your wingtip analysis. The AV400 looks incorrect to me (and the JC not much better). The winglet to wing join line on the AV400 (right) is in the wrong place and they don't really mould in the squared off landing lights. I'd take the Panda and NG versions (left) over it myself but I wouldn't say it was 'glaring' on either of them. I just measured the width of the Panda against the AV400 and the difference is about 0.5mm in width.

View attachment 56418

Your side on photos are quite generous to the AV400. Mine are less so! I would say from the side the nose and cockpit shape aren't great and the inner cockpit windows not tall enough, but it isn't helped by the nosegear, which is too far rearwards, too short, the tyrehubs are ugh and the steering actuators too high:

View attachment 56447
View attachment 56446

Also considering your points about the windowline on NG and Panda you might want to check it on the EK as it is definitely much too high on the AV400 release of this Emirates. Look at how it compares to the cockpit windows and where the Emirates titles end up in relation to the roofline.

The front cockpit windows are printed too low, and I didn't realize the nosegear was too far back on the model. Aside from those points, the model isn't terrible. It's certainly better than the Phoenix, which has an inaccurate nose & cockpit shape and inaccurate wings, too large horizontal stabilizers; and the JC / Gemini Jets, which has too small horizontal stabilizers and is shaped incorrectly at the cockpit / roof when from the side.

Taking this into consideration, the Panda Models A340 edges it out but still suffers from small cockpit windows, wingtips that appear too wide, and sometimes window lines printed too high. The Aviation400 definitely has an inferior nose shape than the Panda / NG when viewed from the side, but comparing it side by side to the NG Models, it doesn't look that far off.

But NG Models takes the cake when it comes to windowline inaccuracies:


NG Models A330-300 Air Canada & Aer Lingus next to Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates.

 

[YesterAirlines]

The front cockpit windows are printed too low, and I didn't realize the nosegear was too far back on the model. Aside from those points, the model isn't terrible. It's certainly better than the Phoenix, which has an inaccurate nose & cockpit shape and inaccurate wings, too large horizontal stabilizers; and the JC / Gemini Jets, which has too small horizontal stabilizers and is shaped incorrectly at the cockpit / roof when from the side.

Taking this into consideration, the Panda Models A340 edges it out but still suffers from small cockpit windows, wingtips that appear too wide, and sometimes window lines printed too high. The Aviation400 definitely has an inferior nose shape than the Panda / NG when viewed from the side, but comparing it side by side to the NG Models, it doesn't look that far off.

But NG Models takes the cake when it comes to windowline inaccuracies:

View attachment 56514View attachment 56515
NG Models A330-300 Air Canada & Aer Lingus next to Aviation400 A340-300 Emirates.

Yeah agree that NG Aer Lingus is bad, but a bit of a one-off I think. I haven't noticed those issues on the NG 330s I own.

I also agree the model isn't terrible at all. I'm keeping mine and happy to display it. The nosegear is annoying. The older nosegear on this mould was taller, had better tyre hubs and angled better too. I much preferred it. Here's it on a 2018 CX A340 from AV400 vs the EK. Better central cockpit window print too: