Jun 2, 2023

The 400 Scale Monthly Wrap-Up for May 2023

Updated: Aug 18, 2023

All the 1:400 releases & announcements of the month in one place

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 11. Air New Zealand Airbus A321 Neo ZK-OYB (Star Alliance c/s) 12. Azul Airbus A321 Neo PR-YJE (Brazilian flag c/s) 13. Delta Air Lines Airbus Boeing 737-800 N346H (World Champion Atlanta Braves nose logo) 14. Flair Airlines Boeing 737-MAX8 C-FLKD 15. ITA Airways Airbus A330-200 EI-EJP 16. JetBlue Airbus A220-300 N3044J 17. Republic Airways Embraer E-175 N402YX (Republic 2020s Corporate Image c/s) 18. Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-MAX8 N871HK “The Herb D. Kelleher” (Desert Gold retro c/s) 19. Trump Boeing 757-200 N757AF (U.S. Flag on tail) GeminiMACS 20. Royal Australian Air Force Boeing E-7A (737-700 AEW&C) A30-001 21. U.S. Air Force Boeing B-1B Lancer 86-0140 (Dyess AFB) NG Models 22. Chrono Aviation Boeing 737-800BCF C-GVZB 23. Copa Airlines Boeing 737-800 HP-1830CMP (Star Alliance c/s) 24. Air China Boeing 737-800 B-5425 (Star Alliance c/s) 25. Air China Boeing 737-800 B-5497 (Star Alliance c/s) 26. Ryanair Boeing 737-800 EI-DLF 27. British Airways Boeing 777-300ER. G-STBF (fantasy with Landor c/s and RR engines) 28. Garuda Indonesia Boeing 777-300ER PK-GII (Sky Team c/s) 29. Jetstar Airbus A320 VH-VFY 30. Air Transat Airbus A321 Neo C-GOJC (Pride c/s) 31. Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 Neo N720NK 32. Aerolíneas Argentinas Airbus A330-200 LV-FVH (Argentina National Football Team c/s) 33. Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A330-300 B-1017 (Shenzhen City c/s) 34. Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A330-300 B-303N 35. Starlux Airbus A350-900 B-58503 36. Pan American World Airways Lockheed L1011-500 “Clipper Northern Eagle” N507PA Phoenix Models 37. Air China Boeing 747-8I B-2481 38. Air China Boeing 747-8I B-2487 39. Canadian Airlines International Boeing 767-300ER C-FCAB 40. Cubana Tupolev TU-154B CU-T1256 (last c/s) 41. HK Express Airbus A321neo B-KKA 42. ITA Airways Airbus A350-900XWB EI-IFF (Monza 100 logo) 43. Japan Airlines Airbus A350-1000XWB JA01WJ 44. Lufthansa Airbus A380-800 D-AIMA 45. Lufthansa Airbus A380-800 D-AIMA (“Danke! Thank you” titles) 46. Lufthansa Boeing 747-8I D-ABTU (old c/s) 47. Qantas Boeing 747-200 VH-ECC 48. SF Airlines Boeing 767-300ER B-222D 49. Silkway Cargo Boeing 747-8F VQ-BVB 50. Thai Airways Boeing 777-200ER HS-TJT 51. Thai Airways Boeing 777-200ER HS-TJW 52. Turkish Airways Airbus A350-900XWB TC-LGH (400th Aircraft logo) 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 (to be discussed next month) 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).