NG Models - 1:400 March Release "Hints"

[planes_on_a_shelf]

This one's interesting, it's officially licenced by TAP. Would be great if more airlines had licensed NG models in their official stores.

Yepp I'm hoping to get CS-TOO! Will nicely accompany my copies of the PM A333 & A343

 

[Steinar]

Haven’t seen the box art for the Shenzhen B739. Hopefully because they will change the registration. Shenzhen Airlines only had 5 B739 and now all are stored.

 

[Steinar]

Did see the box art now. Still B-5106, so I'll pass on it.
How difficult can it be to check what has been done before. NG had 3 other alternative registrations to select for this release.

 

[B767Avia]

Interesting. I hope this doesn’t become a recurring thing, it makes the box look tacky and cheap.

Welp, they ended up staying on the boxes. Shame, but since they did say they might remove them in the future, hopefully that's the case.

 

[OscarBravo992]

Welp, they ended up staying on the boxes. Shame, but since they did say they might remove them in the future, hopefully that's the case.

That's quite annoying... Hopefully, it will be removed in future, but honestly, I don't have my hopes too high.

 

[Sayan777]

Any idea when can we see the Air India A319s and 787s

 

[SJOIB7685]

I cannot wait to have these in my collection

 

[OscarBravo992]

Any idea when can we see the Air India A319s and 787s

The A319s will arrive in early April, and the 787s will probably be with the April release, so late April/early May.

 

[Mikeymag]

I cannot wait to have these in my collection

I'm getting this one.

 

[MikyleTheAviator]

Hi All! The hints for NG's March release have been posted on DA.C, although not by the usual poster. @BA117, could you please confirm these? (Edit: Nevermind, I saw NG had posted these on their IG)

Airbus A320 family
VH-xxx
N56xxx
G-Xxxx
B-3xxx
RP-C9xxx

Airbus A330
F-Gxxx
A7-xxx
B-5xxx
B-5xxx

Boeing 737
N25xxx
N78xxx
B-5xxx
B-5xxx
B-1xxx
A6-xxx
A6-xxx
EI-xxx
EC-xxx
EC-xxx
HP-18xxxxx
HL7xxx

Boeing 757
N7xxx
RP-C2xxx

Boeing 777
N77xxx
N79xxx
A7-xxx

Boeing 787
VT-xxx
VT-xxx
B-17xxx

Lockheed L-1011 Tristar
JA8xxx

Tupolev Tu-154
B-2xxx

My thoughts:

I'm hoping the VH-XXX A320 will be a Jetstar, but realistically I think it will be one of the boring QLink or VA Regional versions that are readily available. Imagine if it was an Ansett though! Now I'm just dreaming.

Hopefully, the VT-XXX Dreamliners are Air India -8s. If so they will swiftly find themselves a home in my collection.

If the B-17XX Dreamliner is a Shanghai Airlines -9 or a Xiamen -8, it will have the same fate.

Hopefully, the B-5XXX A330s are either China Southern (-300 standard livery), Sichuan Airlines (-300 or -200), Air China (-300) or Beijing Capital (-300). I'd be pleased with any of those.

It looks like March will be another great month. My poor wallet!

If those are real my dreams will be crushed again, no C-XXX or C-FXXX ):

 

[OscarBravo992]

If those are real my dreams will be crushed again, no C-XXX or C-FXXX ):

These are real! If you haven't seen them yet, here are the releases:

77022 Southwest Airlines 737-700/w N251WN (Canyon Blue livery; with scimitar winglets)
77027 AeroMexico 737-700/w N788XA
58150 flydubai 737-800/w A6-FDR
58151 flydubai 737-800/w A6-FEQ (with scimitar winglets)
58163 Ryanair 737-800/w EI-DLY (with scimitar winglets)
58155 Air Europa 737-800/w EC-MXM
58170 Air Europa 737-800/w EC-MKL ("30 años" stickers)
58165 Copa Airlines 737-800/w HP-1841CMP (retro livery; with scimitar winglets)
79017 Korean Air 737-900 HL7706
79019 OK Air 737-900ER/w B-1291
79021 Shenzhen Airlines 737-900 B-5106
53195 TWA Airlines (American Airlines) 757-200 N704X (hybrid)
53197 Cebu Pacific Air 757-200 RP-C2715
72016 American Airlines 777-200ER N776AN
72017 American Airlines 777-200ER N791AN (oneworld cs)
73028 Qatar Airways 777-300ER A7-BEB (FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 cs)
59015 Air India 787-8 Dreamliner VT-ANV (with "150 Years of Celebrating The Mahatma" sticker)
59016 Air India 787-8 Dreamliner VT-ANP (Mahatma Gandhi)
56020 EVA Air 787-10 Dreamliner B-17811
15011 Jetstar Airways A320-200 VH-VFJ (latest livery)
15027 Avianca A320-200 N567AV (TACA Heritage cs)
13073 TCS World Travel (Titan Airways) A321neo G-XATW
13085 Xiamen Airlines A321neo B-32CY
13086 Philippine Airlines A321neo RP-C9938
61030 TAP Air Portugal Cargo A330-200 CS-TOP (with AIR CARGO title; offically licensed by TAP)
61031 TAP Air Portugal A330-200 CS-TOO (offically licensed by TAP)
61057 Air France A330-200 F-GZCL (revised new colors; named "Chenonceaux")
62046 Air China A330-300 B-5946
62047 Air China A330-300 B-5977 (with "50th A330 for Air China" sticker)
31030 All Nippon Airways - ANA L-1011-1 JA8517
54006 Sichuan Airlines Tu-154M B-2630

 

[B767Avia]

I don't see a photos thread for this release set so I suppose I'll post my thoughts here.

For starters, the bright side is the American 777s. The main attractions for me, and they mark the inaugural release for the RR engine variant. I see ample ground clearance for these which seems accurate. Windowline does seem a bit better than it used to be. The TWA 757 looks good too. Overall these look fantastic and I cannot wait for mine to arrive.

NG really seems to be struggling with these A320 family engines though. Half of them are pointing sharply up and the rest are either poorly fitted or pointing down, and ground clearance is taking a toll. Did they forget about the fact that they did an entire overhaul to fix these engines?

Lastly... something doesn't look right on that Air Greenland A332. The cockpit windows. They've never really had a serious issue with the A330 until now. Somehow the 757 still remains unscathed but like please, if it works, don't touch it...

Above all, they still have a concerning number of 28 models on the backlog and they're still putting out 30-model releases like it's no one's business. I'm sure they have their justification for their decisions, but to me it seems like this would be a good time to take things slow.

Okay, enough rants for today. Do let me know if there are any other errors from the release. I'm planning to send an email containing all the issues from the batch.

 

[pons399]

I don't see a photos thread for this set here so I suppose I'll post my thoughts here.

For starters, the bright side is the American 777s. The main attractions for me, and they mark the inaugural release for the RR engine variant. I see ample ground clearance for these which seems accurate. Windowline does seem a bit better than it used to be. The TWA 757 looks good too. Overall these look fantastic and I cannot wait for mine to arrive.

NG really seems to be struggling with these A320 family engines though. Half of them are pointing sharply up and the rest are either poorly fitted or pointing down, and ground clearance is taking a toll. Did they forget about the fact that they did an entire overhaul to fix these engines?

Lastly... something doesn't look right on that Air Greenland A332. The cockpit windows. They've never really had a serious issue with the A330 until now. Somehow the 757 still remains unscathed but like please, if it works, don't touch it...

Above all, they still have a concerning number of 28 models on the backlog and they're still putting out 30-model releases like it's no one's business. I'm sure they have their justification for their decisions, but to me it seems like this would be a good time to take things slow.

Okay, enough rants for today. Do let me know if there are any other errors from the release. I'm planning to send an email containing all the issues from the batch.

Yep, 30-model release sets are fine as long as NG can reliably pump them out on time, without QC issues. That increasingly doesn't seem to be the case... It's not even a difficult fix, just don't do double releases of the same airline/aircraft. And chill a little bit with the Qatars.

Most importantly, I really hope this isn't a sign of things to come with the 747s. Perfecting the -8 and applying the improvements to the Classics should be NG's #1 priority right now.

 

[Steinar]

”Lastly... something doesn't look right on that Air Greenland A332. The cockpit windows. They've never really had a serious issue with the A330 until now. Somehow the 757 still remains unscathed but like please, if it works, don't touch it...”

The wings are not white as they should be. Maybe that’s the problem if you ask me.

 

[planes_on_a_shelf]

”Lastly... something doesn't look right on that Air Greenland A332. The cockpit windows. They've never really had a serious issue with the A330 until now. Somehow the 757 still remains unscathed but like please, if it works, don't touch it...”

The wings are not white as they should be. Maybe that’s the problem if you ask me.

Yeah. Yesterday I did some plenty of looking (at actual photos and the model photos) , hoping that it's not as bad, and yeah, it's not as bad really . The white is currently quite subdued - similar to their earlier 757 release - though it should have been maybe a bit more more brighter. One thing's for sure, that the real thing it's not a stark white white, and neither an eggshell white - but more subdued and perhaps warm-grey-brown.

Regarding the cockpit windows I too was taken aback by NG's side elevation-ish photos of the same - but realised they look higher because of the reflection exposure obscuring the nose profile. Looks alright from the other angles

I do feel though that, even though they've succeeded in altering and correcting the cabin windows template - I think it should still be fractionally lower - although it's not a deal breaker. These are the best A330 moulds now.

Of course I feel the nose gears should maybe be fractionally shorter to replicate the distinctive the tail-up position of the real thing even more pronounced.

 

[B767Avia]

”Lastly... something doesn't look right on that Air Greenland A332. The cockpit windows. They've never really had a serious issue with the A330 until now. Somehow the 757 still remains unscathed but like please, if it works, don't touch it...”

The wings are not white as they should be. Maybe that’s the problem if you ask me.

Oh I did not realize. NG made this mistake on a Delta A330 in 2021 as well, painting inside the fuel tank lines gray when they should not be.

 

[Planeoldwill]

Even the nose profile of their a320 family models is different. Cockpit windows are smaller and the nose itself is stockier. Hard to tell from photos but anyone with a recent 2023 a321 release and a321 circa 2021, compare for yourself. The older nose profile was more realistic - sleeker with appropriately sized cockpit windows.

I can see a very subtle difference with the a321. I compared my wizz a321neo and the air France a321 which is one of NGs latest a321s. The profile of the nose is different but the a321 does have a slight downward slant. The cockpit windows are pretty much the exact same and there's little to no difference. It's definitely the most accurate in 1/400 and pretty much outclasses anything in the scale.

 

[Planeoldwill]

Much in the same way the 737 nose profile has evolved with time, unfortunately for the worse.

I honestly can't see a difference. I'm comparing a Ryanair 737 which was on the first 737s released by NG and a Norwegian 737 which was released late last year. Unless I'm missing something, they're exactly the same.

 

[Bulgogi77]

Above all, they still have a concerning number of 28 models on the backlog and they're still putting out 30-model releases like it's no one's business. I'm sure they have their justification for their decisions, but to me it seems like this would be a good time to take things slow.

Agreed. They'd still have a lot of models to release even if they didn't announce any new releases for April (won't happen though; we'll probably get new hints in the next week or so). The quality control doesn't seem to be suffering too much (albeit there are some minor issues like you pointed out), but they should emphasize getting back on track with on-time releases. It's annoying to have a model announced for February that won't come out until April (e.g. United 737 Max 9).

Cutting down on the amount of nearly identical releases (e.g. normal livery & normal livery but it has a sticker near the nose) would be a good start. That would also improve the variety of releases since they could release different aircraft in their place. There's some highly requested releases that would be absolute slam dunks (e.g. United EvoBlue A320). They seem to be getting carried away by these small variations. I'm all for big release sets if they can keep up the QC and not have 1-2 month delays on certain models. I wouldn't mind some smaller sets in the coming months.

I wonder how much of these delays have to do with Chinese New Year as well (even though it's past us now).

 

[Tropicalista]

Any news regarding Ryanair, when will be released?