Wings900 - Herpa Mexicana Airbus Industrie A318-111 1:500

Wings900 Model Review Reviewer: Michael Warfel Model Photographs � Todd McCartney Real Aircraft Photo Courtesy of JetPhotos.net
*Airline*	*Make/Model*	*Manufacturer*	*Scale*
	Airbus Industrie A318-111		1:500

Introduction

Up until the mid-90�s, the fleet of Mexicana de Aviaci�n had a uniform layout and logo, but differently colored tails. Those liveries were given up a few years ago in favor of standardized green tail units. On 11 March 2005 Mexicana once again presented a new livery with dark blue tails. The model of the A318-100 is released in this livery. The original with the registration XA-UBY was delivered in 2005 as the ninth of ten ordered airplanes.

The Model

Mexicana has introduced a new livery and this is the second model following the Air France A318 on this mould. The mould was never introduced as an NGI mould and came directly as an NGII mould and has all the improvements of the small babybus models. The mould dimensions are well done and are true to the actual aircraft. As you can see the window line is true to the actual aircraft and has the appropiate windows missing above the Mexicana titles.

My first complaint with this model comes with the cockpit windows. They are printed too high and look odd due to their high position. Also unlike the previous widebody Airbus model that I have reviewed this model has the squinting center window panes as previously noted. This seems to be hit or miss on the newest Herpa's models. The winodw line itself seems to be correctly placed, it might just be a smidge too high but nothing of significant concern.

One of the biggest issues with this mould is the under wing seam. They moulded the wing body fairing directly with the wwings which creates quite the noticeable seam on two tone fuselage such as the newest Mexicana colors and is only highlighted by the dark colored cheatline. The cheatline is printed straight throughout the entire length of the fuselage and is only distorted by the seam on the fuselage. The lower grey belly color is correct and well done.

The engine cowlings seem to be just slightly too large, however the bigger issue comes from the exaust which seems to be too long in comparison of the actual aircraft. The mexicana.com titles also seem to have some bleeding with the darker color of the engines on the background. The wings themselves are well moulded and are thin and correctly shaped with teh winglets being painted in the new dark color as the tail. The gears are correctly placed and feature the new lighter color of Herpa's gears.

The rear of the fuselage is well moulded and you can see some of the new Herpa details on this model that include the printed door handles. The vertical stabalizer is made of metal which avoids any light going through and has the leading edge printed very thinly in silver which is true to the actual aircraft. The APU exaust is clearly printed on the rear of the model. The Mexican flag and registration are clearly printed on the fuselage and are of the correct font.

Final Thoughts

This mould is as good as the rest of the NGII family of moulds. The cockpit windows were printed too high which gave the model a slightly odd look. Otherwise the model is well presented and it's great to see this new model to join the Mexicana fleet. Also the engine exhaust seems to be slightly too long and could be shortened a bit, also the two tone exaust would be a ncie feature.

Rating

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