The 400 Scale Monthly Wrap-Up for May 2023

Jazajia

Well-known member
The 400 Scale Monthly Wrap-Up for May 2023


What got announced for May 2023:


Aeroclassics/BlueBox:

  1. Air Cal Boeing 737-200 N406AC
  2. Air Deccan Airbus A320 VT-ADW
  3. Air Inuit Boeing 737-200 C-GMAI
  4. Air Malta Boeing 737-200 9H-ABA
  5. Air New Zealand Boeing 767-200 ZK-NBC (Pacific Wave c/s)
  6. Alaska airlines Airbus A320 N853VA
  7. Federal Express Boeing 727-200 N219FE (Purple top c/s)
  8. Vietnam airlines Boeing 767-200 VH-RMA
  9. Volaris Airbus A320 XA-VOM “Sara”
  10. American Airlines Boeing 737-200 N462AC (Air Cal c/s) – Blue Box release.
GeminiJets
  1. Air New Zealand Airbus A321 Neo ZK-OYB (Star Alliance c/s)
  2. Azul Airbus A321 Neo PR-YJE (Brazilian flag c/s)
  3. Delta Air Lines Airbus Boeing 737-800 N346H (World Champion Atlanta Braves nose logo)
  4. Flair Airlines Boeing 737-MAX8 C-FLKD
  5. ITA Airways Airbus A330-200 EI-EJP
  6. JetBlue Airbus A220-300 N3044J
  7. Republic Airways Embraer E-175 N402YX (Republic 2020s Corporate Image c/s)
  8. Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-MAX8 N871HK “The Herb D. Kelleher” (Desert Gold retro c/s)
  9. Trump Boeing 757-200 N757AF (U.S. Flag on tail)
GeminiMACS
  1. Royal Australian Air Force Boeing E-7A (737-700 AEW&C) A30-001
  2. U.S. Air Force Boeing B-1B Lancer 86-0140 (Dyess AFB)
NG Models
  1. Chrono Aviation Boeing 737-800BCF C-GVZB
  2. Copa Airlines Boeing 737-800 HP-1830CMP (Star Alliance c/s)
  3. Air China Boeing 737-800 B-5425 (Star Alliance c/s)
  4. Air China Boeing 737-800 B-5497 (Star Alliance c/s)
  5. Ryanair Boeing 737-800 EI-DLF
  6. British Airways Boeing 777-300ER. G-STBF (fantasy with Landor c/s and RR engines)
  7. Garuda Indonesia Boeing 777-300ER PK-GII (Sky Team c/s)
  8. Jetstar Airbus A320 VH-VFY
  9. Air Transat Airbus A321 Neo C-GOJC (Pride c/s)
  10. Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 Neo N720NK
  11. Aerolíneas Argentinas Airbus A330-200 LV-FVH (Argentina National Football Team c/s)
  12. Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A330-300 B-1017 (Shenzhen City c/s)
  13. Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A330-300 B-303N
  14. Starlux Airbus A350-900 B-58503
  15. Pan American World Airways Lockheed L1011-500 “Clipper Northern Eagle”
Phoenix Models
  1. Air China Boeing 747-8I B-2481
  2. Air China Boeing 747-8I B-2487
  3. Canadian Airlines International Boeing 767-300ER C-FCAB
  4. Cubana Tupolev TU-154B CU-T1256 (last c/s)
  5. HK Express Airbus A321neo B-KKA
  6. ITA Airways Airbus A350-900XWB EI-IFF (Monza 100 logo)
  7. Japan Airlines Airbus A350-1000XWB JA01WJ
  8. Lufthansa Airbus A380-800 D-AIMA
  9. Lufthansa Airbus A380-800 D-AIMA (“Danke! Thank you” titles)
  10. Lufthansa Boeing 747-8I D-ABTU (old c/s)
  11. Qantas Boeing 747-200 VH-ECC
  12. SF Airlines Boeing 767-300ER B-222D
  13. Silkway Cargo Boeing 747-8F VQ-BVB
  14. Thai Airways Boeing 777-200ER HS-TJT
  15. Thai Airways Boeing 777-200ER HS-TJW
  16. Turkish Airways Airbus A350-900XWB TC-LGH (400th Aircraft logo)
Total releases/announcements: 52

Look Back


To put things in perspective, let’s look at how May 2023 compares to some recent key months in terms of releases and announcements by the main brands of 1:400 scale aircraft models.

The previous month, April 2023, included 105 announcements. Interestingly, it included announcements from JC Wings, Panda, BigBird and Aviation400, which do not do regular monthly announcements. This might explain the unusually high number of announcements, even for these times that are characterized by NGs high output, and in spite of the GeminiJets/MACS 400 offering for April 2023 only including a total of three models due to their release of the 1:200 AN-225, which according to sources took up more shipping space than usual.

March 2023 included 92 announcements. The GeminiJets announcement was combined with the February 2023 announcement, and JC Wings made two announcements during the month, one at the beginning and another one towards the end (The latter was labeled as a late March/early April announcement). It is worth noting that many of the JC Wings announcements will join their extensive list of models to be released long-term (we are talking up to more than a year potentially).

We can see that May 2023 saw a decrease in the number of 1:400 models announced compared to the previous months. This is in part due to NG cutting back their output to catch up with a backlog of models from the previous heavily loaded months.

A year ago, May 2022 saw a total of 78 models announced, including 60 from all four regulars (Aeroclassics, GeminiJets, Phoenix and NG), and 18 from JC Wings, all of which seem to have already hit the stores.

What’s Hitting the Stores:

May 2023 Aeroclassics. May 2023 GJs. April 2023 Phoenixes. Some March 2023 NGs, some April 2023 NGs, NGs delayed from February 2023. Some March 2023 JCs.

Crowd Pleasers
  • NG Cathay Pacific L1011-1 VR-HHK (Lettuce sandwich c/s) February 2023
  • JC Wings United Airlines 747-400 N183UA (Saul Bass, flaps up and down versions) March 2023
  • NG Iberia L1011-1 TF-ABM April 2023
  • Aeroclassics Federal Express 727-200 N219FE (purpletop c/s) May 2023
Other Scales

1:200 scale seems to be going through a prolific era with Gemini200 having recently released three new molds (AN-225, AN-124, and C-5), plus a future one announced by Elliot Epstein in a recent interview (767-400). NG Models have also recently unveiled the samples of what is their first airliner in 200 scale (757-200). At the same time, InFlight200 and associated brands and collaborators, such as ARD and El Aviador, are on a roll with a continuous stream of announcements that include many contemporary classics that are highly sought after in 400 scale, as well as some subjects that don’t even exist in 400 scale but rank high on many wish lists. Finally, JC Wings has recently announced two interactive 1:200 freighters: MD-11 and 767-300. Gemini200 has already announced an interactive MD-11 for June (GJ June 1:400 releases to be included in the next month’s wrap-up).

Outlook

We already know about one of the highlights of June 2023! The GeminiJets brand new 767-400 mold in 1:400 scale! Their June announcement was made on May 14th and included a Delta Air Lines 767-400 in the Ron Allen livery.

NG hints for the June announcements include their first 747-8s (One is a fantasy BOAC 748).

And just as we close the month JC Wings dropped their June announcement. Interestingly, their set includes yet another fantasy British aircraft (British Airways 748 in the Landor c/s).
 
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I found myself with too much extra time in hotel rooms this month and started to compile what was being released.

Someone posted a thread about starting a newsletter some time ago, but the idea didn't take off. I liked the idea though, but I know a full-blown monthly newsletter is too much. So I thought a monthly summary of what was released/announced during the month could be manageable.

I almost desisted of this idea too because turned out to be more complicated than I thought. NG and JC are particularly a headache. For example, a lot of the delayed NGs are showing up now as part of the May releases (I did not list those here, because they were not included in their announcement labeled as "May"). Then JC shows up with their June announcement and I get bombarded with emails from retailers with those releases available for preorder, while we are still in May :ROFLMAO: and those releases won't hit the stores in June either. (So they are announced in May, who knows when will be available, but they are tagged as "June" 🤯)

The crowd pleasers section was purely subjective. It is what I have seen people talking about the most and posting pictures of. I thought about including the Vietnam Airlines 762 by AC there. Also had a dilemma with the Air Cal 732, a lot of people were excited about it and purchased it, but seems like many examples came with a horribly-shaped nose... What do you call that? a popular model that didn't meet the expectations.

Finally, if I manage to keep up with this on a monthly basis, Ideally I'd like to use it as a source to promote the hobby to people not on social media, since most of us already have access to all this info anyway, though it is extremely scattered.

Thoughts?
 
I found myself with too much extra time in hotel rooms this month and started to compile what was being released.

Someone posted a thread about starting a newsletter some time ago, but the idea didn't take off. I liked the idea though, but I know a full-blown monthly newsletter is too much. So I thought a monthly summary of what was released/announced during the month could be manageable.

I almost desisted of this idea too because turned out to be more complicated than I thought. NG and JC are particularly a headache. For example, a lot of the delayed NGs are showing up now as part of the May releases (I did not list those here, because they were not included in their announcement labeled as "May"). Then JC shows up with their June announcement and I get bombarded with emails from retailers with those releases available for preorder, while we are still in May :ROFLMAO: and those releases won't hit the stores in June either. (So they are announced in May, who knows when will be available, but they are tagged as "June" 🤯)

The crowd pleasers section was purely subjective. It is what I have seen people talking about the most and posting pictures of. I thought about including the Vietnam Airlines 762 by AC there. Also had a dilemma with the Air Cal 732, a lot of people were excited about it and purchased it, but seems like many examples came with a horribly-shaped nose... What do you call that? a popular model that didn't meet the expectations.

Finally, if I manage to keep up with this on a monthly basis, Ideally I'd like to use it as a source to promote the hobby to people not on social media, since most of us already have access to all this info anyway, though it is extremely scattered.

Thoughts?
I definitely agree that it should be a source to promote the hobby, and it's nice to have all of the releases for the month in one place for easy reference.
I would really like to see these continued, but I can also understand the obstacles and challenges involved.
 
I definitely agree that it should be a source to promote the hobby, and it's nice to have all of the releases for the month in one place for easy reference.
I would really like to see these continued, but I can also understand the obstacles and challenges involved.

Thanks, Purpleplane! It sure helps to see a positive response to start off!
 
Seems like a great idea to me as well! With how many models are coming out each month nowadays, it's easy for us to sometimes miss out on some release batches. The June one will definitely be interesting to see, with that boatload of NG gems announced as they also try to clear out their backlogs.
 
Inflight200 also recently announced a new 772 mould, and JFox is putting it to good use with Cathay and Singapore releases.
 
Seems like a great idea to me as well! With how many models are coming out each month nowadays, it's easy for us to sometimes miss out on some release batches. The June one will definitely be interesting to see, with that boatload of NG gems announced as they also try to clear out their backlogs.

Indeed, seems like a lot of people miss out on releases. The only issue with a monthly wrap-up is that some Aeroclassics might already be sold out by the time it gets out at the end of the month.

Yes, but the OP did include 1:200 news as well.

Yes, I think keeping up with 1:200 releases is too much of an undertaking, but I thought I at least needed to acknowledge that there are other scales. Thanks.
 
This is how the final product turned out:

The 400 Scale Monthly Wrap-Up for May 2023

I shared the link on the Facebook groups, but again it is a bit of a moot move since all new releases are also announced there, and people still miss them as they get buried with all the other junk we post there :ROFLMAO:. Not to mention that silly algorithm that tries so hard to determine for us what is it that we would like to see and, at least in my case, keeps getting it so wrong. Rant over.

I will add a subscription link on www.yankeevictor400.com (link does not exist yet) and see about adding a new section where these can be stored and shared as needed.
 
This is how the final product turned out:

The 400 Scale Monthly Wrap-Up for May 2023

I shared the link on the Facebook groups, but again it is a bit of a moot move since all new releases are also announced there, and people still miss them as they get buried with all the other junk we post there :ROFLMAO:. Not to mention that silly algorithm that tries so hard to determine for us what is it that we would like to see and, at least in my case, keeps getting it so wrong. Rant over.

I will add a subscription link on www.yankeevictor400.com (link does not exist yet) and see about adding a new section where these can be stored and shared as needed.
I like the idea of the link. I need to check out your website anyway.
 
Indeed, seems like a lot of people miss out on releases. The only issue with a monthly wrap-up is that some Aeroclassics might already be sold out by the time it gets out at the end of the month.



Yes, I think keeping up with 1:200 releases is too much of an undertaking, but I thought I at least needed to acknowledge that there are other scales. Thanks.
I agree. I would think 1/400th would take up enough time, adding 1/200th to the mix would be too much.
 
I added a subscription form on www.yankeevictor400.com, as well as a section where I intent to store all monthly wrap-ups as blog posts.

The sign-up form is under the "recently added photos section" and it should be clearly visible using a laptop or PC. On mobile you will have to scroll down a little bit.

I'm not completely sure how the whole thing will work out.

Screenshot 2023-06-02 at 8.59.04 PM.png

IMG_1BE6D799102C-1.jpeg
 
This is very useful information Yankee Victor, thanks for doing it. It gave me the chance to see if there was anything I had overlooked and wanted to purchase!
 
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