By Fabrizio Panico
Text and photographs copyright of the Author(s) unless otherwise stated.
The present pandemic has impacted heavily upon our lives and a lot of things that we once took for granted are no longer possible. Travel has almost stopped: railways services have been reduced, entering other countries banned, and airplanes forced to stay on the ground. Lot of airlines are on the verge of bankruptcy. It is only the memory of previous trips that remains for the moment, helped sometimes by the souvenir scale models of the planes we flew in. These are usually to 1:200 or 1:250 scale and made in China, they are plastic snap together kits, with a hollow fuselage. They are quite easy to assemble quickly, with fully printed airline liveries and a stand to display them on. Following our previous articles, and while we wait to resume our journeys, let’s review some of our most recent “souvenirs” from better times.
Wizz Air Airbus A321neo (1:200 scale by OHS Models)
Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Hungary Ltd, is a European low-cost airline with its head office in Budapest, established in September 2003 (IATA code W6). The airline serves many cities across Europe, plus some selected destinations in North Africa and Middle East. Like many low-cost airlines, Wizz Air prefers to use smaller or secondary airports to reduce costs. In 2019 Wizz Air was able to transport nearly 40 million passengers, and although it is not a flag carrier it has the largest fleet of any Hungarian airline : 137 aircraft, mainly Airbus A320 and A321, with almost 250 on order, all A321. At the present time there are two subsidiaries : Wizz Air Abu Dhabi founded in 2019 and Wizz Air UK founded in 2017, mainly to take advantage of landing and take-off slots acquired from Monarch Airlines at London Luton airport, but also to retain full access to the UK market following Brexit. A new livery was introduced in 2015 to celebrate its 11th anniversary and 90 million passengers.
The Airbus A321 is a member of the A320 family: short to medium range jet aircraft. They are twin-engined with a narrow-body (single aisle) and specifically intended for commercial passenger services. Its stretched fuselage (almost 7 metres longer) was the first derivative of the base A320 and entered service in 1994, about six years after the original A320. The A321neo, similarly to the 320neo, has new, more efficient engines, some structural strengthening in the landing gear and wings, and the addition of “sharklets” (Airbus slang for winglets). The first A321neo entered service in May 2017, both medium and long-range (A321-200) versions are available. Since the start of production more than 2,000 A321 aircraft have been delivered, with 3,000 firm orders for further production.
The 1/200 scale model sports the new Wizz Air livery, no registration number and is produced by OHS Models. A nice reproduction of this aircraft, which is in service with more than 100 operators.
British Airways Boeing 747-400 (1:250 scale by Premier Planes, a brand of Premier Portfolio International – ref. 7325 – code SM747-64HB)
We have already illustrated the British Airways history (see part three), the flag carrier and the largest airline in the UK (IATA code BA). No need to repeat it here.
Even the Boeing 747-400 is an old friend, the same mould already seen with Virgin Atlantic livery (see part three). It is much more interesting in British Airways livery, the 1999-2000 “Union Flag/Chatham Royal Dockyard” that replaced the unpopular “Utopia” livery.
British Airways aircraft already shown (see part three) sported the successive liveries : the “Updated Union Flag” on the A380 (2000-2011) and the “To Fly To Serve Union Flag” on the B787-8 (2011-2014). In this case the “tail number” is G-CIVE. The aircraft registration number (or “tail number”) is a code assigned to each aircraft by its own countries National Aviation Authority, according to the Chigaco Convention (Convention on International Civil Aviation). It consists of a prefix indicating the nationality (one or two-character alphanumeric code) and a registration suffix for the specific aircraft (one to five characters). About liveries, in 2019 four British Airways aircrafts received “retro” liveries (BOAC, BEA and two former BA liveries) as part of the celebrations of a centenary of airline operations in UK.
Following the 2020 global collapse of air traffic BA phased out its entire 747-400 fleet, originally intended to leave service in 2024.
Joon Airbus A320-200ceo (1:200 scale by Socatec Aircraft Models – ref. 18257)
Joon S.A.S. was a short lived subsidiary of Air France (IATA code JN) based at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Created at the end of 2016 as “Boost”, it had changed its name to Joon by July 2017. Operations started in December 2017 and ceased in June 2019 when the group decided that the brand no longer formed part of the group’s long term strategies. Aimed at young people, Joon was intended to compete in the low-cost field, serving short and medium-haul destinations in Europe. Its name “Joon” was chosen for sounding similar to the French word “jeune”, meaning “young”. In June 2019 its staff was absorbed in Air France, together with the sixteen aircraft of its fleet (seven A320-200, four A321-200 and five A340-300), all of them had previously transferred to Joon from the Air France fleet.
The Airbus A320-200 is a member of the A320 family, a short to medium range twin-jet narrow-body aircraft, pioneering the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control systems in the 1980s. After the development of the A320neo (neo for new engine option) in December 2010, the original family was renamed A320ceo (ceo for current engine option). The A320-100 was the first to be produced (only 21 units), while the -200 variant has had over 4,500 units produced. The main changes over the -100 being wingtip fences and increased fuel capacity for increased range.
We have already met an Aegean Airlines A320-200ceo by PPC Holland (see part two) and an easyJet A320neo by Premier Planes (see part one). This 1:200 scale model is produced by Socatec Aircraft Models, is quite a bit heavier than the one by PPC Holland (a cheaper product), there are small differences but the detail level is almost the same.
Livery on this model is the one and only Joon one : white fuselage, grey wings and ailerons, blue tail rudder, with no registration number on it. Quite a nice reproduction, just in time for the Joon shut-down.
Joon Airbus A340-300 (1:200 scale by Socatec Aircraft Models – ref. 18423)
The Airbus A340 is a long range, four engine, wide body jet airliner (twin aisle), its family includes four fuselage lengths, developed in parallel with the twin engine A330. The most common type is the first one launched, the A340-300, sharing the fuselage and wings of the A330. A shorter variant exists as the A340-200, while the heavier A340-500 and A340-600 are longer and have larger wings and different engines. The first Lufthansa and Air France aircraft entered service in 1993 and production ended in 2011 with only 380 aircrafts built, all variants included. It was unable to compete with the more economical B777 due to increased jet fuel prices. In January 2021 Lufthansa, the largest remaining operator, decided the immediate retirement of their entire A340-600 fleet following the global crisis of air traffic.
The 1:200 scale model wears the Joon livery, has no registration number and is produced by Socatec Aircraft Models, like the previous A320-200ceo.
In part one we met another A340-300 by Premier Planes for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), but in 1:250 scale. The Joon one is an imposing model, requiring quite a large space to be displayed.
Manufacturer Details
- OHS Models (www.ohsmodels.com).
- Premier Planes is a brand of Premier Portfolio International (www.premier-portfolio.net ).
- Socatec Aircraft Models (www.socatec.aero )
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