Versus Series Vol. 4: American Airlines 727-200 Dragon Wings vs. GeminiJets

American Airlines 727-200s in the 1990s livery are a favorite of many collectors from North America and surrounding regions. The very attractive airframe, combined with an iconic - and not less attractive - livery, is associated with a period of great success for American Airlines in which it positioned itself as the largest airline in the world in terms of the number of aircraft. During that time the airline also had a particularly comprehensive route network covering most of the western world.

Here I present to you two models representing that aircraft/livery combo: GeminiJets Boeing 727-227 N718AA and Dragon Wings Boeing 727-223 N866AA, both released circa 2000 (wow!)

Both molds are well-regarded and similarly good. As you can tell, my GJ example has the cockpit windows a bit high, while the DW one has them a bit too low (how about in the middle – oh well…) I prefer the GJ version myself.

American Airlines Boeing 727-200 in 1:400 scale. — GeminiJets N718AA

I thought at first that the position of the U.S. flag on GJ's N718AA was wrong, but I have subsequently found pictures showing the aircraft wearing the flag as portrayed by the model. Also, note the GJ font is "taller," which seems slightly more accurate. Again, like with the cockpit windows, maybe somewhere in the middle would have been perfect. Check out the pictures below and decide.

N866AA (the one made by DW) courtesy of Wilfredor via Wikimedia Commons

N718AA (the one made by GJ) Courtesy of Magnus Manske via Wikimedia Commons

Photo of N718AA with the U.S. flag in the same position as in the GJ model.

Photo of N866AA

Finally both of them together. Again, both are very good overall. The angle used to take the photo below helps dissimulate the cockpit windows issues.

Two 1:400 scale models of American Airlines Boeing 727-200 aircraft. — N718AA by GeminiJets on the right and N866AA by Dragon Wings on the left.

Since these were released, Aeroclassics and JC Wings have both also released AA 722s in the same basic livery, albeit earlier versions of it (namely, with a different composite panel on the intake of engine #2, and Astrojet titles in the nose area).