Model Review - Pan Am Boeing 707 by BigBird Mk3

[YesterAirlines]

There are so few 707s made by anyone other than Aeroclassics that you could be forgiven for thinking this new pair by BigBird are a new mould, which of course they aren't. Nonetheless, it is great to see some classic jets even if this one does represent an aircraft from the mid-70s rather than the 1960s. It is the first time this updated Witty mould has been seen since 2019 and the result is a very nice four-holer. Shout out to to Bedfordshire Diecast sponsoring this review:

Pan Am | Boeing 707-321B Adv | N435PA | BigBird Mk3

Classic four-holer jets are a real rarity in 400 scale aside from the output of Aeroclassics. Of over 350 707-320s that have been made to date, over 270 of them are from Aeroclassics and since 2014 only one has been made that hasn't been by them. That is,

www.yesterdaysairlines.com

 

[LeoMuse747]

It's a wonderful model. Too bad the Aer Lingus, released together with this PA 707, is plagued with printing issues... the whole livery seems to be printed too high, and the cockpit windows are too dark, ended up camouflaged against the dark blue cheatline.

Anyway, will be cool to see this 707 mould used more, but I guess most of the stuff won't be in my criteria anyway.

 

[YesterAirlines]

It's a wonderful model. Too bad the Aer Lingus, released together with this PA 707, is plagued with printing issues... the whole livery seems to be printed too high, and the cockpit windows are too dark, ended up camouflaged against the dark blue cheatline.

Anyway, will be cool to see this 707 mould used more, but I guess most of the stuff won't be in my criteria anyway.

Yeah I agree the Aer Lingus was nowhere near as good

 

[planes_on_a_shelf]

Would love more on this mould - AI, AR, Varig amongst others

JC's just sitting there letting these moulds rot away

 

[JJ Skippy]

Man this looks so good; I agree with others, it should be used more often. Oh the possibilities are endless!

 

[reggiehunt]

What a delight to have this mould back in market and nicely updated!
A plethora of worthy examples I hope will follow; EgyptAir, Kuwait Airways, MEA, Libyan, Olympic, Angola.
All would be welcome additions, and fit my 1980s remit nicelt.

 

[abdulmohiuddin]

It's truly a shame how JC Wings sits on these great moulds. There's a plethora of old 707's that could use re-releases, although maybe without that sticker they throw in there.

Fingers crossed we get a Pan Am 747 by the end of the year

 

[Mark22]

Has anyone actually used one of the stickers? Would be somewhat fun to put them all on one sheet for example like pokemon cards, but they are too big for that. And agree about the lack of mould usage; why do we get so few unique airliners? Only twinjets and cargo 747-400/8's. Here's a list of moulds they can use as far as I know, not including the regular modern stuff:

Fokker 50/70/100
ATR42/72
IL62/86
AN26/32
B707-300
B727-200
B737-200
B747-100/200/300/SP
L-188
L-1011
MD-11
MD-80s
Bae146
Dash 8 Q200/Q400
DC-9
A340/A380
Kawasaki C1
ERJ145
CRJ200
Comac C919

 

[jetliner10101]

I remember buying the Gemini Pan Am 707 version back in 1999, few months after they opened for business

 

[YesterAirlines]

Has anyone actually used one of the stickers? Would be somewhat fun to put them all on one sheet for example like pokemon cards, but they are too big for that. And agree about the lack of mould usage; why do we get so few unique airliners? Only twinjets and cargo 747-400/8's. Here's a list of moulds they can use as far as I know, not including the regular modern stuff:

Fokker 50/70/100
ATR42/72
IL62/86
AN26/32
B707-300
B727-200
B737-200
B747-100/200/300/SP
L-188
L-1011
MD-11
MD-80s
Bae146
Dash 8 Q200/Q400
DC-9
A340/A380
Kawasaki C1
ERJ145
CRJ200
Comac C919

Funny story apparently JC made a couple of A340-200s back in 2011 then forgot they owned the mould and it was only recently rediscovered!

You can add to the list:

BAC One Eleven 200
BAC One Eleven 500
Shorts 360
Saab 340
MD-90
VC10
DC-3
DC-6
HS748
Trident 2/3
Britannia 100
Britannia 300

There are probably more!

 

[DTcustoms]

I want to add the DC-8-71 and -73 to the list as well

 

[LeoMuse747]

I want to add the DC-8-71 and -73 to the list as well

yep... these were only used by GJ and sadly went into oblivion. Now these are quite rare to find and cost an arm and a leg most of the time

 

[AustrianCollector]

yep... these were only used by GJ and sadly went into oblivion. Now these are quite rare to find and cost an arm and a leg most of the time

What I don't get at all is the ridiculous price range for older aeroclassics/Gemini models, such as these DC-8's. You can't find a lot of them under 90 bucks...

 

[YesterAirlines]

What I don't get at all is the ridiculous price range for older aeroclassics/Gemini models, such as these DC-8's. You can't find a lot of them under 90 bucks...

A lot of old Gemini DC-8-60s are worth peanuts - Universal, ONA etc are super cheap. Yeah maybe DL and UA command high prices but most don't

 

[AustrianCollector]

A lot of old Gemini DC-8-60s are worth peanuts - Universal, ONA etc are super cheap. Yeah maybe DL and UA command high prices but most don't

Yes I forgot about those, also Aeromaritime comes to mind. But for example the Faucett Peru, Trans-Caribbean or Suriname? You have to empty your wallet for those...

 

[LeoMuse747]

A lot of old Gemini DC-8-60s are worth peanuts - Universal, ONA etc are super cheap. Yeah maybe DL and UA command high prices but most don't

yep, these are super cheap indeed - I got myself a Universal DC-8-61 for $9 on Ebay last month
But the DC-8 series 70... that's another story. Rare and expensive most of the time. Got myself the Emery Worldwide from a seller from Europe for a great price, but sadly that's not the norm. I'd love to have the Arrow Air and Flying Tigers releases.