Model comparisons

[Jazajia]

Thank you for such a detailed comparison! Looks very good, both are stunning models.

They are both nice, and I was satisfied with the GJ, but I am happy to also have the DW. The overall shape of the DW is more accurate.

Great comparison! The Dragon Wings version beats the Gemini by a mile, in my opinion.
The front section of the Gemini looks very strange.

Obrigado! Yes, the general consensus is that the DW is the clear winner.

 

[Jazajia]

Versus Series Vol. 2: KLM 767 JC Wings vs. Aeroclassics​

Recently JC Wings released KLM 767-300 PH-BZK in the delivery colors. The iconic blue top livery looks gorgeous on the classic GeminiJets mold, which JC Wings has greatly improved. However, a 2004 Aeroclassics release holds up amazingly well against the modern-day JC release. Enjoy a photo comparison of the two models in this article.

 

[LeoMuse747]

Lovely comparison! JC Wings wins for me. I don't like the BigBird/Aeroclassics 767-300 mould too much, the gears look weird, kinda too small. On the other hand, the cockpit window of the JC could be better indeed (as you pointed out). The engines seem to be tilting upwards aswell, which is not nice but might be easy to fix.

 

[Jazajia]

Lovely comparison! JC Wings wins for me. I don't like the BigBird/Aeroclassics 767-300 mould too much, the gears look weird, kinda too small. On the other hand, the cockpit window of the JC could be better indeed (as you pointed out). The engines seem to be tilting upwards aswell, which is not nice but might be easy to fix.

Leo, you are the first person I heard saying they don't like the BigBird 767-300 mold . It is dated, but it is a nice casting. They also produced a really nice series of classics with it. Maybe the nose tires do look small, but definitely not a deal breaker. JC Wings is also making a nice series of 763s that could very well earn their place in the 1:400 die-cast history books, just like the BigBird 763s did. The JC-Wings cockpit windows are superb, they just placed them a bit high on this KLM example. I do have some BigBird 763s from 2008 and their cockpit windows are a whole lot better than what they were in 2004. It is a tough choice for me on this one.

 

[LeoMuse747]

Leo, you are the first person I heard saying they don't like the BigBird 767-300 mold . It is dated, but it is a nice casting. They also produced a really nice series of classics with it. Maybe the nose tires do look small, but definitely not a deal breaker. JC Wings is also making a nice series of 763s that could very well earn their place in the 1:400 die-cast history books, just like the BigBird 763s did. The JC-Wings cockpit windows are superb, they just placed them a bit high on this KLM example. I do have some BigBird 763s from 2008 and their cockpit windows are a whole lot better than what they were in 2004. It is a tough choice for me on this one.

haha yes, i'm aware that I have an unpopular opinion. To be honest, I didn't mean to say that I don't like it, but overall I see room for improvement and I feel it's quite inferior to some others 767 moulds.
I'm also not a fan of the cockpit windows of the BB/Aeroclassics, they look a bit small to me. And maybe the whole front section looks too round.

There's an Air Europe 767 on my wishlist (EI-CIY) which was released by BigBird and it's a great release! I hope I can find a way to replace her gears and cockpit windows as soon as I put my hands on the model

The JC Wings looks fine to me, judging by their latest releases (KLM, LOT, Aeromexico, etc).

 

[Jazajia]

NG Models JA8501:

Blue Box JA8515:

More photos and my personal history behind these two models at:

Versus Series Vol. 3: ANA Mohican L1011 NG Models vs. BlueBox​

 

[Jazajia]

Another comparison:

Versus Series Vol. 4: American Airlines 727-200 Dragon Wings vs. GeminiJets​

https://www.yankeevictor400.com/pos...n-airlines-727-200-dragon-wings-vs-geminijets


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Thanks!

 

[LeoMuse747]

Great models, overall! About the American 727s, I enjoy both moulds and both really look good. However, I feel a bit bothered about the long main gear doors on the Dragon Wings version. The lack of wheelhubs on the nosegear isn't nice either, but that can be solved by simply poking a white dot on the wheels using an Uniposca pen. I did it before in some 1:500 models I had and it worked great!

About the ANA Mohican L-1011s... the NG wins, hands down. Despite the quite obvious win by NG, the Blue Box version is also a nice model. The engines could be more detailed, they look too chunky.

 

[Jazajia]

Great models, overall! About the American 727s, I enjoy both moulds and both really look good. However, I feel a bit bothered about the long main gear doors on the Dragon Wings version. The lack of wheelhubs on the nosegear isn't nice either, but that can be solved by simply poking a white dot on the wheels using an Uniposca pen. I did it before in some 1:500 models I had and it worked great!

About the ANA Mohican L-1011s... the NG wins, hands down. Despite the quite obvious win by NG, the Blue Box version is also a nice model. The engines could be more detailed, they look too chunky.

People complain a lot about the nose of the BlueBox L1011 also. I believe, for a while, they were pretty much the only game in town for L1011s... I was comparing the printing of the two models and I have to say that BlueBox was very detailed and spot-on in that department. But yeah, NG's L1011s and 757s are really something else.

As far as the 727s I have noticed that a lot of people pay a lot of attention to landing gears. For some reason, that is an area that I easily overlook. Having said that GJs are my favorite 727s, both the stubby one and the proper length one I need both anyways for diorama purposes. Speaking of, I need a new diorama

 

[KG3036_SS]

I understand they ain't exactly the same livery, but I believe that those differences don't pose too much problems:
Phoenix vs Herpa - Lufthansa A340-600

In first glance both look okay, but a further look immediately shows problems with Herpa's mould - the wing position is wrong!

Furthermore, the engine and wingtip size on the Herpas are noticeably smaller than the Phoenix!

Worse still - although the font are correct for both Phoenix and Herpa, but Herpa's title were too tall!
 Update
Thanks @Phantom and @LeoMuse747 for pointing it out - the Phoenix one has completely squished the text height while Herpa maintain the correct text height - but my opinion on the Herpa mostly stays - it looks akward. Maybe it's related to the mould?

Tail - Hands down to Phoenix for correctly including the small cutout at the bottom of the vertical stabilizer. The problem is neither Phoenix nor Herpa has got the orange right!(Phoenix is too light while the Herpa is slightly too dark) I am also skeptical on the size of the crane on the Phoenix - it looks too thin!

Oh I should mention that Phoenix has used a gray that is a few shades darker than what the color used by Herpa - however from pictures it seems like Herpa's color is the correct shade of gray
Conclusion:
I don't find either one to be perfect - Herpa is inferior to Phoenix's in almost every aspect, but the mess up on the colors and logo on the Phoenix are so noticeable to be a deal breaker to some.
I myself would have to stick with both unless NG decide to make A346. The Herpa might be the a long term resident as LH + FC Bayern München A346 are hard to find

 

[Phantom]

Worse still - although the font are correct for both Phoenix and Herpa, but Herpa's title were too tall!

Strongly disagree here. Herpa's titles are spot on for Lufthansa as they use the proper (approved) artwork. I'd think that windows and titles sit slightly too high though.
Phoenix is miles off, not only does the font look vertically compressed but it also has an erroneous letter spacing. I wonder why so many (like Phoenix, Aeroclassics and NG) usually mess up Lufthansa titles.
I also would think that Herpa nailed the colors for LH blue and yellow. What you see might however be a case of insufficient opacity of the yellow (hence being toned down by the underlying blue)

I see LHs 346s almost daily and would love to add one to the collection. Though neither Phoenix nor Herpa get my money. On Herpa it's the mould and while Phoenix is better it's still far from great. The artwork kills it though.

Curious on the wing positions. Would you have the actual fuselage lenghtes of both?

 

[LeoMuse747]

About the "Lufthansa" titles, I also agree that Herpa looks better. They got the Helvetica font right. Phoenix looks compressed.

 

[KG3036_SS]

I have further checked pictures and yes - the Herpa has a much better text height while Phoenix has completely squished the height too much
Thanks for pointing out - but the problem is I don't think Herpa's attempt are nice. It looks odd to me with the locations - maybe the errors in the mould?

 

[Jazajia]

Tail - Hands down to Phoenix for correctly including the small cutout at the bottom of the vertical stabilizer. The problem is neither Phoenix nor Herpa has got the orange right!(Phoenix is too light while the Herpa is slightly too dark) I am also skeptical on the size of the crane on the Phoenix - it looks too thin!

I've got the Phoenix one, the thing that jumped at me as soon as I opened was the orange/yellow of the crane. Too pale, at a glance it does not look correct. Nice model nonetheless, I'm glad Phoenix released it, A346s are not easy to come by. Hopefully they will do the same with the Iberia old c/s one.

 

[KG3036_SS]

I wonder if someone will actually get 2 GJ Emirates 77W LOL

GJUAE1845 - GJ Mold
GJUAE2068 - JC Mold
Comparison - 1845 on the left, 2068 on the right

Nose - the size difference of the GE90 between the 2 models are huge...
Tail
Wingspan
I'm getting rid of the GJUAE1845 though

 

[redriveraviation]

2068 looks awesome, one of their best in my opinion!

 

[LeoMuse747]

Yep, the JC version (2068) is miles better. The 1845 GE90 engines are so small... at first glance I thought it was a B777-300 instead of 300ER due to the smaller engines

 

[KG3036_SS]

On a normal situation I won't consider Dragon A330 - but this China Airlines A330-300 just cost a few bucks and forms a good comparison to show the subtle differences between the 1995 and 2010 livery

Left - B-18301 from Dragon Wings in 1995 livery
Right - B-18351 from JC Wings in 2010 livery

Nose - I think the winner here is rather obvious...
Tail - The Dragon Wings Attempt isn't wrong - it's just that the style DW went on recreating that human paintjob feel was a bit too extreme...
Individual pictures for the two models - notice the difference on the "China Airlines" title

Dragon Wings B-18301



JC Wings B-18351

 

[LeoMuse747]

The Dragon looks surpisingly good to me! Although the nose section needs some better shaping, that's for sure.
The JC version, on the other hand, needs increased length for the main gears.

 

[Phantom]

Posted this elsewhere some time ago but it fits here as well I think. For those who haven't seen...

Mould comparison of the 707-320B/C, Aviation400 vs. Aeroclassics.

Both models stripped down to the bare metal for better comparison.
Left AC, AV400 to the right (please note that the #3 pylon on the AC is damaged)
avac707d by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr
avac707e by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr

Nose to nose. The AC (to the left) is the clear winner here
avac707b by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr

Tail to tail. Again the AC (left) has the much crisper fuselage cast
acav707a by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr

Aeroclassics (again, note the broken pylon on this one)
ac707a by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr

AV400
av707a by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr

And the entire assembly - again Aeroclassics to the left
AVAC_1280 by Alexander Kern, auf Flickr