Model Review - Korean Air Boeing 737-900 by HX Models

YesterAirlines

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HX Models have until now focused on widebodies, but with their first 737 are moving into smaller 400 scale types. While they have brought some excellent detailing to the scale, and this is the first flaps down narrowbody, they have also at times been sloppy with some of the basics. Both sides of that coin are apparent with this new 737:


KE_B739_HL8248_12.JPG
 
I have the regular wing config on order from Wildcat — surprised to see the retail price as low as it is compared to competing 739s.

GJ/JC is $52.76
NG is $49.99
HX is $37.99 | $39.99 for Flaps Down

I think, factoring in the price, it holds up to the competition despite some of its weaknesses. The Flaps Down is nice to see and I’m hopeful JC will introduce that for some of their narrowbody toolings.
 
I have the regular wing config on order from Wildcat — surprised to see the retail price as low as it is compared to competing 739s.

GJ/JC is $52.76
NG is $49.99
HX is $37.99 | $39.99 for Flaps Down

I think, factoring in the price, it holds up to the competition despite some of its weaknesses. The Flaps Down is nice to see and I’m hopeful JC will introduce that for some of their narrowbody toolings.

Good to see HX retailing for lower in the US - which is the way it is in East Asia as well.
It's because of the their lower price point (on almost all releases - except special schemes like the QFs), that imo they occupy a separate market segment altogether compared to NG or JC
And there's frankly no real competition in that price segment to HX - they're unbeatable there.
NG Lite is in turn cheaper than HX and thus arguably a separate market segment - with its lack of features and details
 
I have the regular wing config on order from Wildcat — surprised to see the retail price as low as it is compared to competing 739s.

GJ/JC is $52.76
NG is $49.99
HX is $37.99 | $39.99 for Flaps Down

I think, factoring in the price, it holds up to the competition despite some of its weaknesses. The Flaps Down is nice to see and I’m hopeful JC will introduce that for some of their narrowbody toolings.

You definitely have a point about the price, however as much as I like HX, and I do, they can't have their cake and eat it too. On the one hand we hear PR about this bringing new levels of quality (this is the Legacy Jets mould after all) and on the other they seem to struggle with nose shapes and cockpit printing quite regularly.

I agree the mould has lots of nice detailing, but personally I'd rather have a correct nose shape than flaps down or an intricate tailbumper.

It is a better mould than the Phoenix and Gemini 737NGs, but that's a low bar. I would definitely favour the NG, Aero Polaris or Panda 737s over this one and that's before we look at the livery issues.

No word on the erroneousely shaped v.tail on this mould? A clear reminder on which brand this factory had previously worked for.

It didn't actually stand out to me. V Stabs are one of your regular pain points. Care to put together a comparison image?
 
You definitely have a point about the price, however as much as I like HX, and I do, they can't have their cake and eat it too. On the one hand we hear PR about this bringing new levels of quality (this is the Legacy Jets mould after all) and on the other they seem to struggle with nose shapes and cockpit printing quite regularly.

I agree the mould has lots of nice detailing, but personally I'd rather have a correct nose shape than flaps down or an intricate tailbumper.

It is a better mould than the Phoenix and Gemini 737NGs, but that's a low bar. I would definitely favour the NG, Aero Polaris or Panda 737s over this one and that's before we look at the livery issues.



It didn't actually stand out to me. V Stabs are one of your regular pain points. Care to put together a comparison image?
I agree with you completely and your review is spot on.
About Legacy Jets, they’re releasing a 737-700. Is that using the same mold as this 737-900 or is it a separate tooling? I’ve actually always wondered how that works.
 
I agree with you completely and your review is spot on.
About Legacy Jets, they’re releasing a 737-700. Is that using the same mold as this 737-900 or is it a separate tooling? I’ve actually always wondered how that works.
Today you usually work on a CAM base giving you the precission to cast and assemble mixed from several dies. For an aircraft family you'd usually have one (or several) die for the shared parts (wings, tailplanes + plastic inj. parts) and one for each fuselage variant. So a 739 would share all parts but the fuselage with a 737 for example. That's why I'm so curious about Legacy's "absolute accurate, precission" 737.
 
Today you usually work on a CAM base giving you the precission to cast and assemble mixed from several dies. For an aircraft family you'd usually have one (or several) die for the shared parts (wings, tailplanes + plastic inj. parts) and one for each fuselage variant. So a 739 would share all parts but the fuselage with a 737 for example. That's why I'm so curious about Legacy's "absolute accurate, precission" 737.
Thank you for the explanation.
If legacy is using an HX 737-700 mold instead of their own tooling, then sure, some of those imperfections might show up. Hopefully not the case. Honestly not even sure if HX ever released a 737-700, I couldn't find any. But either way, I’m still really curious to see how this turns out.
From what I’ve seen on legacyjetmodels.com and on another thread here on maf, Legacy has another release coming soon that will use their own brand new proprietary tooling. No one knows what it is or looks like yet, but if it’s anywhere near what they’ve been hinting at, I think Legacy could take off in a big way. Time will tell.
 
Thank you for the explanation.
If legacy is using an HX 737-700 mold instead of their own tooling, then sure, some of those imperfections might show up. Hopefully not the case. Honestly not even sure if HX ever released a 737-700, I couldn't find any. But either way, I’m still really curious to see how this turns out.
From what I’ve seen on legacyjetmodels.com and on another thread here on maf, Legacy has another release coming soon that will use their own brand new proprietary tooling. No one knows what it is or looks like yet, but if it’s anywhere near what they’ve been hinting at, I think Legacy could take off in a big way. Time will tell.
I have never seen a different variant of a mould that didn't end up sharing the same issues as its siblings when it is just a stretch. I am near certain the HX 73G will share the same nose and nosegear as this one
 
I have never seen a different variant of a mould that didn't end up sharing the same issues as its siblings when it is just a stretch. I am near certain the HX 73G will share the same nose and nosegear as this one
Yes, only in the old days when moulds were basically made on "hand carved" masters you might have seen such difference.
Today's designs are CAD based. Once you have your defined shape (737 nose or tail) you just "copy" it into the next CAD.
 
I have the B748I from HX Models with the new color and I think that they did a very good job on the color. It is difficult to do the metallic color but if you look at most of the pictures on the internet I think HX has done a great job instead of NG as you mentioned, NG is lighter than original. It also depends on the angle that you look at it.
 
HX Models have until now focused on widebodies, but with their first 737 are moving into smaller 400 scale types. While they have brought some excellent detailing to the scale, and this is the first flaps down narrowbody, they have also at times been sloppy with some of the basics. Both sides of that coin are apparent with this new 737:


View attachment 60803
New mould is on the way. Korean and Xiamen can be seen as a trial. Before the better one is done, no 737 product will be released.
I have no idea how they could bring out something like this.
 
I have the B748I from HX Models with the new color and I think that they did a very good job on the color. It is difficult to do the metallic color but if you look at most of the pictures on the internet I think HX has done a great job instead of NG as you mentioned, NG is lighter than original. It also depends on the angle that you look at it.

Maybe they did on the 748I but they didn't here. Even if what you said was true the large sparkle glitter effect doesn't look like the actual plane AND the dark blue titles and Taegeuk is too light

Here are some photos of the real thing: https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-737-900er-hl8248-korean-air/ekj9n6

1764233205800.png
And here are the models. Note my shot was taken using flash and it still is quite dark
KE_B739_HL8248_06.JPG
1764233683605.png
56033 (1).JPG
 
New mould is on the way. Korean and Xiamen can be seen as a trial. Before the better one is done, no 737 product will be released.
I have no idea how they could bring out something like this.
I appreciate that HX improve their moulds gradually BUT why can't they get them correct first time around? Why did they release this one if after a few runs they can see it isn't correct. It isn't the first time they've done this too.

Again it isn't a 'bad' mould but it is inferior to at least 3 competitors who didn't need to constantly massage their 737 mould. As a collector, and a reviewer, I don't want to be buying brand's test products. I appreciate that HX are cheaper to buy but if they want to be compared to other brands, and they do, then they need to get their products correct.
 
I appreciate that HX improve their moulds gradually BUT why can't they get them correct first time around? Why did they release this one if after a few runs they can see it isn't correct. It isn't the first time they've done this too.

Again it isn't a 'bad' mould but it is inferior to at least 3 competitors who didn't need to constantly massage their 737 mould. As a collector, and a reviewer, I don't want to be buying brand's test products. I appreciate that HX are cheaper to buy but if they want to be compared to other brands, and they do, then they need to get their products correct.
Maybe it’s not proper to call it a “test” mould 🤔
Because they really have done all the procedures before the official release.

Every product has problems on first release… In my opinion it’s not a question of “right” or “wrong”; it’s a matter of degree. You can say it is a 737 rather than an Airbus after all… In this case there is no exact right or wrong, unless HX painted green rather than blue on the Korean 737.

PM’s 767 also has problems, NG’s 737 also has problems— but less noticeable.

Well if that Korean is all what they could do, I wouldn’t be so annoyed. What really annoyed me was “could have done better”.

In other words, they may be too reliant on customers’ advice. They need to learn more on how to find where to improve.

It’s comprehensible that they want to improve their product step by step, but if the first version is too…, how could they gain enough feedbacks from the customers? What if we customers feel worried about their proficiency?

Once again I really hope it’s their last time doing things like this.😭
Maybe I’m always too strict, but I surely believe they have the ability to make it pretty, accurate and detailed.
 
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It is a better mould than the Phoenix and Gemini 737NGs, but that's a low bar. I would definitely favour the NG, Aero Polaris or Panda 737s over this one and that's before we look at the livery issues.
Once again I have to say quality control is important. I don’t think their QC can be as good as HX.
 
Good to see HX retailing for lower in the US - which is the way it is in East Asia as well.
It's because of the their lower price point (on almost all releases - except special schemes like the QFs), that imo they occupy a separate market segment altogether compared to NG or JC
And there's frankly no real competition in that price segment to HX - they're unbeatable there.
NG Lite is in turn cheaper than HX and thus arguably a separate market segment - with its lack of features and details
In East Asia, NG lite is sometimes more expensive than HX.
Very funny, especially when things turn to YY Wings 747 AirChina.
 
I have never seen a different variant of a mould that didn't end up sharing the same issues as its siblings when it is just a stretch. I am near certain the HX 73G will share the same nose and nosegear as this one
Not in 400 scale, but the JC Wings A321 in 200 scale has a misshaped nose that's not shared with the other A320 family moulds they have.
 
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