You can't tell anything from these photo angles. They can make anything look good. You need to see the model side on. I agree it doesn't look awful but side on photos tell the story. Waffle's shots usually hold up well
Looks great so far, but I think something’s wrong with the nose, the windows are messed up or it’s too short.
I agree, there's just something about that nose that is just not clicking though, we can't guarantee until photos are released of the aircraft. On the other hand, I'm excited to get the Crj900 as long as there are not any significant errors.
The lack of aerials when both the previous models have had them strongly suggests to me that this model was made in 2021 when the previous N821SK release was put out and that it has been sitting in the warehouse since then. That was the release with the undercarriage and stabilisers problems wasn't it? It looks from this photo like the stabilisers are ok though here.
I'm pretty confident this'll have the updated gear. Gemini heard the backlash from the last release so I'm guessing it's fixed on this release.
But if they were made at the same time how would they have fixed it? Do you think they are going to go to the trouble to take them apart and put them back together? Gemini have historically just pushed models with issues they know about (ATR cockpit windows, Saab wheels, 727 thrust reversers etc) onto the market anyway. After all people still buy them. Those problems may have been surprises to Gemini but I don't believe they were unaware of them when they shipped the models out.
Thing is I don’t think they were made at the same time. I find it hard to believe they would make two batches, each with different registrations, and decide to only release one and keep the other sitting around in the warehouse for a few years.But if they were made at the same time how would they have fixed it? Do you think they are going to go to the trouble to take them apart and put them back together? Gemini have historically just pushed models with issues they know about (ATR cockpit windows, Saab wheels, 727 thrust reversers etc) onto the market anyway. After all people still buy them. Those problems may have been surprises to Gemini but I don't believe they were unaware of them when they shipped the models out.
Hopefully this one will not have the problem but I can't recall Gemini ever reacting to a 'backlash' other than by banning the people talking about it on their socials
They have done that many many times before. It is far cheaper to make 500 models with 99.99% the same details all at once and then split the batch out over time than it is to make say 250 models in 2021 and another 250 in 2023. JC Wings do exactly the same thing and nowadays even advertise it by using the same box with both models on it when they haven't often even announced the 2nd one yet (the recent BD 734 is an example of this). All the experience with GJ has suggested they do exactly the same thing but spread the models out over even longer time periods and if you look at their releases you can often see it. JC wings has confirmed models that have been in its warehouse for 4 years! I have been told Gemini do the same thing.
Well at the very least I’m going to wait for photos of the gear to come out before making that call. As you’ve said before, the photo angle GJ uses can make any model look good, and it easily hides the gear.
Yeah I'm definitely not saying the gear will be wrong. I think there's a good chance they'll be fine. I actually have a JC Wings CR7 in China Express colours and I only noticed the other day when I looked at it the gear was the wrong way around so it isn't a huge issue anyway since the model is so small!!
The whole stock shortage situation with the 2021 release was because of material and production costs going through the roof due to the pandemic so I can't imagine Gemini would've made enough to meet demand because of that. Also they couldn’t get to the factory to supervise production; now I’m aware prior CRJ-900 releases had landing gear problems, but I imagine they wanted it to be fixed sooner as the SAS release a few months later (mind you it has no aerials!) was the first to have the corrected gear.
That's a slouching A300
is this an assumption or is there verified info? I have known that GJ clears production on the basis of pictures sent from their China factory. There is no physical supervision of the production sample. (which is obvious btw) That's too expensive and too logistically complicated. Would be too much to expect a company that tries to make savings on everything (including glue to hold their models together) to invest in 'staff / personnel' flying out from the US to China and back.
I know this is what Crownvic said on DAC and I'm not calling him a liar, no doubt there were mitigating factors BUT Gemini have been in business for 25 years. You'd have thought that by now they could muster a couple of trusted staff on the ground to oversee their production properly, or work with JC well enough to ensure quality at the factory. As @planes_on_a_shelf says there's no way they are flying out to supervise every release anyway. Andrew uses the same excuses about his product as if he is the only person in the whole of China who can get it right.
More of an assumption but it makes sense in the era of the pandemic; no way you were getting there at the time. I wouldn’t imagine they’re out there for every release made but occasionally make a visit when the time is right.
Perhaps; it does make me wonder why having someone there at all times isn’t the case. I think it comes down to logistics to having someone stationed in China at all times; probably not worth it.
To be fair, Gemini has gotten better at assembling their models within the last year; it’s been printing and mainly mould details that have taken the spotlight now. The amount of complaints I’ve seen regarding broken Gemini models is less than what I recall seeing a few years ago. Of course you still have the occasional broken model from them but who else doesn’t have that? I think you’ve said this before but life happens and broken models will happen.
It doesn't have to be an American - they don't need to be stationed their. There are 1 billion Chinese people they could employ to do the job or JC Wings could employ someone. Everyone else uses local labour.
I'm not talking about how the models are put together. That is a different thing altogether but you're right the 4 worst suspects in recent times (EI ATR, NA 727, Logan 340 & Avelo 737) were all from 2022.
I understand why they did it but it doesn't make me think they have the collector's best interests at heart or really care - at least not in 400 scale. Even AK holds back the most egregious errors. The models should never have got to the point of reaching the US. I can't think of any other brand that has made cockups on the same level as the above, certainly not NG or Panda. I'd be interested when you consider NG has made errors of this sort. I'm not talking about not liking a colour shade here.Looking back on those times from a retrospective viewpoint, I have wondered what Gemini’s decision process was like whenever a release had major QC faults. I think it was on the grounds of “is it worth it to fix these models ourselves or ship them back to China?”, and the answer probably was a unanimous no.
After all, we do live in a society where money is just about the only thing many people are motivated by and will make decisions based off those, and in those cases they still wanted the releases to be sent out because people will still buy their products anyway. After all, I have bought Gemini on a few occasions when NG or another brand has done it using their better hard product
