Pre-release review! Aeroclassics 1/400 Kingfisher

[Mark22]

One of my purchases at the Amsterdam Fair. I was actually planning on writing a different kind of article, but I had the chance to do a pre-release review of a model . For some perhaps not the most exciting model, but anyway. In this review I discuss the Aeroclassics Kingfisher A320 VT-KFD, which is planned to be among the "Autumn 2023" releases. At first glance the model already looked pretty good with no big issues, but it turned out to be even better than I expected, especially considering some questionable QC we've seen in the past months. Read about this model and the airline here:

Pre-release review! Aeroclassics 1/400 Kingfisher A320 VT-KFD

In the weekend of 16 & 17 September 2023 the Amsterdam Aviation Collectors Fair was held. Andrew Klein was there selling some new and old Aeroclassics models, of which one was perhaps a little too new. It's the Kingfisher Airbus A320 with registration VT-KFD, which is planned to be among the...

www.yankeevictor400.com

 

[Jazajia]

Glad to see the show paid off for you Mark! I think you also did well selling many models. The model looks good!

 

[YesterAirlines]

Nice review. I notice you don't score the mould itself. I tend to give the Aeroclassics A320 an 8/10 nowadays. The lack of aerials on an A320 is a little annoying and the nosegear tyres with no tyre hub are not an improvement over the old ones.

I'd have also knocked something off the score for the outline of the main titles too. The gold behind the red should be in shadow form and lower than the main titles but isn't:



Great to meet you again at the AMS fair and this does look like a nice little model.

 

[Mark22]

Nice review. I notice you don't score the mould itself. I tend to give the Aeroclassics A320 an 8/10 nowadays. The lack of aerials on an A320 is a little annoying and the nosegear tyres with no tyre hub are not an improvement over the old ones.

I don't rate the mould on purpose because it would score the same for every AC A320 anyway and on a small aircraft I don't care about aerials, they would need to be perfectly sized or else it messes up the entire model. Same thing for the nosegear, it's indeed missing the tirehub, but that's not a QC issue.

Fair point about the shadow by the way. They would need to move it by half a millimeter, maybe even less. Will add it to the review, but need to check on the model if it will be noticeable at all.

 

[YesterAirlines]

The Aeroclassics A320 is a great little mould, and one I buy plenty of, but Panda came along and added aerials and a proper tyrehub to effectively the same mould and it looks much better for it. Aeroclassics altered the nosegear tyre, which was too small, to one which now looks a bit odd because of the lack of the hub.

Aerials on an old aircraft like a 727 I can live without but on an A320 I think they should be present personally because there are quite a few. Aerial size can be an issue with JC but isn't a problem with most of the rest. This neo illustrates the benefits of tyrehubs and aerials:

 

[Mark22]

A drop of grey paint in the middle of the wheels would already improve the AC nosegear a lot, but I think Andrew wants to reduce the chances of his factory workers messing up. Perhaps I will give it a try myself.

 

[Mark22]

One side is currently drying and looking pretty good. The other one didn't go so well, so I removed as much grey paint and possible, added a thin layer of black and try again later.

 

[1/400collector]

Nice review, happy to hear it didn't have any major QC problems!

 

[JJ Skippy]

I am excited for Aeroclassics’ Autumn set! This looks like a good model for those who want Kingfisher.

 

[abdulmohiuddin]

I am excited for Aeroclassics’ Autumn set! This looks like a good model for those who want Kingfisher.

Those are coming out on Friday, correct?

 

[YesterAirlines]

View attachment 22668
One side is currently drying and looking pretty good. The other one didn't go so well, so I removed as much grey paint and possible, added a thin layer of black and try again later.

That does look a lot better!

 

[1/400collector]

Those are coming out on Friday, correct?

I think,

 

[Mark22]

Those are coming out on Friday, correct?

According to ACs Facebook post yes

 

[Phantom]

I think Andrew wants to reduce the chances of his factory workers messing up.

Andrew is so out of luck with his workers all the time. Others seem to have better workers.

Of course, just sticking the tires onto the axle instead of using a more complex axle/hub/tire assembly saves a few dollars. But this is pure coincidence of course.

 

[JJ Skippy]

According to ACs Facebook post yes

Yep. I’m praying that a Frontier 732 is in this set; a few have popped up on eBay lately so part of me is thinking someone got the inside scoop on this next set.

 

[1/400collector]

Yep. I’m praying that a Frontier 732 is in this set; a few have popped up on eBay lately so part of me is thinking someone got the inside scoop on this next set.

Which livery?
The early or the later?

 

[JJ Skippy]

Which livery?
The early or the later?

Later - Saul Bass. I’ve been trying to hunt one down but every time I come across one they go for over $200.

 

[1/400collector]

Later - Saul Bass. I’ve been trying to hunt one down but every time I come across one they go for over $200.
View attachment 22708

Yeah that's a nice livery, surprised they never made the frontier wiene Alaska hybrid in this livery