DH COMET 4
VICKERS VISCOUNT
SE-210 CARAVELLE
MOULD SUFFIX: 942
MOULD SUFFIX: 941
MOULD SUFFIX: 944
YEARS: 1989-2006
YEARS: 1989-2006
YEARS: 1982-2006
AIRLINES: 4
AIRLINES: 11
AIRLINES: 10
MODEL VARIANTS: 8
MODEL VARIANTS: 23
MODEL VARIANTS: 12
With Schabak having entered the piston prop scene in 1987, with DC-3s and Convairs, the expansion into classic aircraft continued in the late 1980s, a period of great expansion for Schabak itself. This included pure jets and prop-jet types focused on Europe with the Vickers Viscount and de Havilland Comet 4 arriving in 1989. To this pair was added the Sud Aviation Caravelle in late 1990 and the fact that the former were initially made with the old style metal wheels and the latter with the black wheels nicely bookmarks that transition.
MOULD VARIANTS
All the classic euro-jets had a single version of their mould produced with changes limited to only the switching of the the wheels from silver to black.
DE HAVILLAND COMET 4
The Schabak Comet has the look of the original Comet 4 but was used for both Comet 4Bs and 4Cs (both of which had longer fuselages). It’s a decent little mould.
VICKERS VISCOUNT
The Viscount used by Schabak has the feel of the shorter Viscount 700 rather than the longer 800. Once again it is a nice little mould, although Schabak struggled to get the cockpit window decals in the right place.
SUD AVIATION CARAVELLE
Representing the earlier engined versions of the Caravelle, mostly the Caravelle III, in keeping with the Comet and Viscount this is another decent little mould, although you could argue the landing gear is a little too long.
BOXES
None of these three moulds ever used the smallest cuboid box type and in fact they didn’t use the next size up rectangular box either. Instead they all used a larger square box that was typical of the sort used for smaller widebodies like the A300. With the majority of the production for these moulds starting in the early 90s the box didn’t alter. Only one model was all new after 1995 (a TAP Caravelle) and that model is unique in coming in a larger box size.
COMET PRODUCTION
The Comet was unusual in Schabak production in that only 4 airlines were ever made and they all debuted at the same time in 1989 and continued in production until 2006 basically unchanged aside from the wheels.
For a complete list of Comet production by Schabak see the database at MADb that has been updated with photos and accurate records for the type.
VICKERS VISCOUNT PRODUCTION
Somewhat surprisingly the Viscount got the most usage of this trio of classic moulds, although it appears all the models were designed prior to 1994. The majority of production featured European airlines but in addition Air Canada, Malayan, All Nippon and a rather odd United Airlines version were made.
Most of the Viscounts had the older black style windows but Lufthansa and KLM both got upgraded decals with the newer silver style windows. Below are a selection of later Viscounts. Note the All Nippon, from 1993 onwards, was the only airline to only have silver windowed releases.
For a complete list of Viscount production by Schabak see the database at MADb that has been updated with photos and accurate records for the type.
The Lufthansa pair above shows the difference between the original release and the later updated third version with darker blue and silver windows. Below is one of the more unusual, and at the time contemporary releases. Virgin leased a Viscount from British Air Ferries in the early 90s.
SUD AVIATION CARAVELLE PRODUCTION
Caravelle production focused entirely on Europe, which is a little surprising. I would have expected to see a United Airlines example, perhaps as a Silver Wings release. Most of the models were initially released in 1991-93 with the later examples gaining silver windows. The LTU release was unusual in getting 2 versions – the latter upgraded with the silver windows.
Aero Lloyd was a favourite German airline of Schabak and it received two different Caravelles. The first with two cheatlines was made only in 1991-93 and the second with a single cheatline was produced from 1993-2006.Â
For a complete list of Caravelle production by Schabak see the database at MADb that has been updated with photos and accurate records for the type.