NG Models as a model maker is nowadays almost unrecognisable from their early years, having grown substantially and matured into a major player in 400 scale. That has however had an adverse impact on model diversity and mould usage, especially as NG seems to be easily distracted by side quests such as NG Lite, CRP, Wish Centre, their new Beijing retail store and other adventures. The A340 has been one of the types to suffer from NG’s change in direction as it was back in September 2022 that I reviewed a fully complete sample and now a full four years later that the first release has got to market. Better late than never? Let’s take a look.
Each review is to split into three key areas:
- The model mould
- The paint and livery reproduction
- Printing and quality control
Each section can get a maximum score of 10 for a maximum combined score of 30
This review is sponsored by Northeast Diecast. Check out their store for an excellent range of hard to find 200 and 400 scale collection sale models and get 15% off!
MOULD
The A340-300 has had something of a mini-renaissance in 400 scale in recent years. Since I reviewed the NG sample in September 2022 there have been 39 releases on 5 different moulds. Sixteen of these have come from the tried and trusted Phoenix version and have shown by far the greatest diversity of airlines. Eight have been made by Aviation400 and six have been made using the Kylin mould for various brands (Geministar, JET Model, Kylin Model and Z2). There have also been four from JC Wings and five from NG (four being Cathay Pacific) including this one.
Those aren’t even all the available moulds as Aeroclassics also has one with the last release made on it dating from April 2023. The Panda Models mould was last seen in 2020 and appears to no longer be available.
NG Models has had an A330 mould since 2019 and that has gone through several versions the latest of which has been modified to remove the stand hole, a feature which curiously remains on this NG A340. Obviously, there are huge amounts of similarity between the A330 and A340 at least in the fuselage barrel. The high quality of the NG A330 certainly stands this A340 in good stead.
When I reviewed the samples back in 2022 there was a lot to like and little to criticise. For that review see:
The nose and nosegear are identical to the A330 and look excellent. They are certainly better than on the Aviation400 mould whereas the oversized nosegear door has been a weakness of Phoenix A330/340s for a longtime.
The rest of the fuselage barrel performs well. The downturned wing to fuselage forward join, looks good and the rear fuselage is also accurate. The length of the wingjoin has been a criticism of the Phoenix A330/A340 for years and so the full length join here is definitely an improvement.
On the underside the mould illustrates the NG doctrine of the time (seemingly now discarded) where some features and detail were not represented for the sake of greater accuracy. On this mould that means the underside NACA intakes are not moulded in but only printed. As mentioned already, there is a standhole unlike several recent mould refreshes from NG, which have discarded this in the move to the overwing stands.
The maingear looks good but does not include pivoting maingear trucks, a feature that has reappeared recently on the NG A380 mould. There don’t appear to be any changes at the wings or engines, which all look good. The engines are solidcore, which is in keeping with other 400 scale A340s given the small diameter of the CFM56s.
One area highlighted in the original sample review was the size of the vertical stabiliser, which better matched the size and shape of that used on the A330-800 amd A340-500/600 rather than the A340 and A330-300. Looking at the tail on this model it measures the correct 2.1cm high (rather than 2.25cm as it did before). This is the only real change from the original sample and frankly this is hardly noticeable.
This mould is excellent, in keeping with their A330s, and jumps to the top of the A340-300 pile in 400 scale. There is strong competition from the other moulds, but this mould has an excellent nose region (unlike the AV400) and superior landing gear (better than on the Phoenix, AV400, Kylin and JC Wings). There’s almost nothing to dislike so it is a shame that it’s first release comes so long after a long line of releases from the competition.
SCORE – 10
PAINT & LIVERY
The selection of Cathay Pacific for the first (and so far, only) pair of NG A340s was not really a surprise given NG’s current release strategy and comes about a year after Aviation400 also made this Oneworld schemed aircraft. Prior to that there had been a 2017 AV400 release, plus 2016 JC Wings and 2009 Phoenix editions.
B-HXG wore the Oneworld scheme from early 2009 until her retirement in 2017. The Oneworld livery removes the signature light grey thick striping as well as the standard CX green and red nose striping making the scheme a lot simpler (and also removing the need to discuss the grey colour being used by NG for Cathay in general).
There are no major concerns with the livery replication or placement on the model. The large oneworld titles and smaller Cathay titles below them look fine. The engines are also painted the blue-grey colour they should be, contrasting with the all-white fuselage.
Directly comparing the vertical stabiliser to the real thing suggests the brushwing logo is marginally too close to the rear margin and the thin red stripe slightly too red towards its rear. Neither are things you’d ever notice without accompanying photo evidence.
SCORE – 9
PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL
As I have stated before NG’s linework printing is so fine that at times it can get rather lost. There is plenty to see, but you really have to look closely to see it. Printwork such as the nose radome line (which isn’t very straight) and engine panelling are almost invisible to the naked eye and only really show up in macro-photographs.
Whether you think this is good or bad depends on your appreciation of printing. Certainly, the printwork here is a lot finer than HX Models have been reproducing recently, which I think is good, but at times it is so hard to see as to be a little pointless.Â
I would also say the windowline printing is slightly too high. The lower margin should align with the lower margin of the cockpit windows but it is slightly higher. NG have also missed out the really obvious line that runs around the wing-fuselage fairing – something obvious enough in photos that I think it should be present.
Quality control and painting are of the standard I routinely expect from NG and show no defects. Unusually for an NG model this version comes with a collector’s card saying it is number 44 of a run limited to 500. That strongly suggests that NG’s usual production runs are much higher than 500, which is probably a major factor in why a lot of NG’s output in recent times has been so bland and mainstream.
Unsurprisingly for a Cathay release nowhere on the box or card is NG Models mentioned!
SCORE – 8
CONCLUSION
It has been a long wait for an NG Models Airbus A340-300 and the choice of Cathay Pacific for the first four, while broadly welcome is not surprising or particularly exciting. It probably doesn’t matter that this is the best A340 mould in 400 scale because even if the competition hadn’t produced a steady stream of A340s in recent years it is highly unlikely that a lot of A340 operators could be made at what seems to be NG’s current MOQ. I expect we’ll see Air China and Lufthansa examples soon but then the mould will go into semi-hibernation as have most of NG’s other newer but not entirely modern aircraft type moulds (747SP, 747-400, 757-200, 767-200, Tu-154, Tu-204, L-1011s, MD-80s etc). That is a shame but the fact that it has taken over 4 years to get this mould into production illustrates that NG nowadays isn’t focused on the release strategy that saw it made in the first place. Regardless of that this is a fine model.
FINAL SCORE –Â 27/30
