Hi Guys!

The great database news is that we have hit 25,000 entries! The landmark plane which had the honour of being #25,000 was the Dragon Wings USAF B-1B Lancer in 1:400. Now, if you click on that link, you'll note that it doesn't yet have a picture. We need to remedy that, stat, so the first person to send us a pic for its page will get something special sent to them. So get photographing and email us your pic on database@wings900.com! 

Of course, all of the info about these 25,000 planes have come from members, who've also helped out with pictures, error-spotting, info as well as new model listings, so a big thank you to all of you who've helped us reach this milestone. In particular, we'd like to thank the following members for their recent help across all counts: 747frank, ACpilot, Aero-D, Ahab75, agsa24, AI742, airport1-600, alexczarn, Andrew 757, Atlantic, atlantic, aciationcombr, B747-enthusiast, Bassem, boiler0178, BuddyK, Caadiankit, clementlo, CraigD, CS-TBO, Cygnum, DeKuyper, dennypayne, diablobaby, diecast1, ecuriel, EuregioAndreas, Flight Fan, flyingdoc (especial thanks to him for his Australian model pics!), FrenchWings06, GemFly, Gene, geswitcher, glr66, Gorki, Guy, Istari, Jake Fox, karun83, KiwiM, love em MD-80, Madridista, Medhat, Moons, PCfou, PR_EMP, rjschiller, ronwood1989, Rstretton, salene, Santos, sapolobos, Scottish_500, Showland, SilkAirA320, Silverbird, smoothjazz, Southwest&Blue, speedbird380super, stevec, syauki, TheChickenFarmer, tomek-czarnyszewicz, vertigo, Virajkamat, VSROY, willia5 & woodski 28. 

And now, the rest of the news...

Reviews: We Want YOU to Write Some!

Let's cut to the chase: we need people to review model planes because we've got models, they need reviewing and we don't have enough people who are currently reviewing them. In return for writing reviews, you will receive Free Models! Sound like a good deal? Yes, that's what we thought! For full details of how it works, just PM Superchevy for more information!

After 45 days of voting, we have winners in our member ALEXAKOS' Model Airport competitions and here they are:

• Best Fictional: Medan Airport by "Diecastdrool" 
• Best Existing: CDG of Paris by "Leadership"    
• Best Retro: Zurich Intl. by "Kabasch"    
• Best Under Construction: Orlando Executive by "Sea Dub"    
• Best Idea: FRA by "Ritter" and "Sharp"

This year, all the entries were so great that it was tough for voters to pick favourites and lots of you were sorry you could only pick one in each category! If you haven't done so yet, swing over and check out the winners and all the other entries by clicking on the links above! 

Many thanks to all who entered and extra special thanks to ALEXAKOS for going out of his way to organise the competitions! We can't wait to see you all back later in the year for Best Model Airports 2011!

Meanwhile, ALEXAKOS' other competitions - the custom ones - are still open, so there's still time to vote. You'll find the various scales at the following links: 1:500, 1:400 and 1:200!  

By popular demand, we've put up new sections for those of you with an interest in models of warplanes and builders of model kits. You'll find the War Birds forum here and the kits forum here. Both have gotten off to a great start thanks to several members who've been posting up a storm.  

Thanks  to flyingdoc and Charter for the great stuff they've added to the War Birds section, like this thread showcasing Charter's collection and this one with more RAAF planes And gratitude also to our new member MC84, who's posted reports on the Boeing BWB and Antonov 149 in the kits section, and to kaitaium for contributing too, and his great photos - check out this thread here on the 1:200 Hasegawa Japan Airlines 747 for some examples!

This month's Member of the Month is actually Member(s) of the Month! Mark AKA fedway and Martin AKA martinw131  recently entered the Model Airports competition on the Wings900 forum (that's their entry to the left!) so we figured we'd talk to them both together!

Mark and Martin built their airport to go with Martin's T-Gauge train set and are relative newcomers to the site, having only joined the Wings family a couple of months ago. They've wasted no time getting involved, however, enjoying the forums as well as participating in the competitions. They also have a very cool blog about their airport - and we're going to see if they'll share a few of the posts in the blogs here on Wings too.

As ever, you can read more about them in the full interview here!

In 1:500, we had Herpa re-releases, and new releases in the shape of the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines B737, Russian Air Force AN-124, Evergreen International B747 and United B767. Plus the Potato Wings Air China B777 and Megawings Qatar A330.

Over in 1:400, we debated the GJ DHC8-Q400's stance and Dragon Wings' 747 quality. There was some great photography of a PIA and Cargo collection, the mystery of GeminiJets II and the puzzle of a missing British Airways DHC-Q400 registration number. Then there was the Aer Lingus retro A320,Aeroclassics Evergreen Supertanker and Dragon Warbirds SR-71 Blackbird.

Moving on up to 1:200, we had a chrome 777, announcements of new AV200/Russell Models and a new IF200 747SP, a member's recapturing of a pair of BOAC models. Also, new releases! Including Herpa's

Squadron Wings' pre-production 1/48 208 Sqn BAe Hawk RAF Valley, a new 1/72 collection, Hobby Master's JASDF F-2B, HM pilot figures and the Skymax Provost.

This month in the Blogs on Wings900, we chatted with master modelman Richard Bizley and kicked off some discussion about aircraft model kits!

Over in General Squawk Talk, it was announced that everyone on Wings can now have a custom avatar! Hooray! Plus a question about what classes future pilots should take, new vs second-hand models, removing unwanted paint, the A340's second life potential, favourite plane types and RR Trent 1000 and GE GEnx engine differences.

In 1:500, we had new releases in the shape of the Herpa South African Airways A330-243, Donbassaero A321-231, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines MD-11, Air New Zealand A320-232 and Royal Jordanian A340-212. Then there was the awesome Thai Airways livery, Charter's "retro" collection, a new Embraer Regional Jets (ERJ) thread and a listing of Herpa's new March 2011 releases. 

Over in 1:400, there's a great new thread about display cases, debate over who made the best Concorde, a Go Air & Air India Express collection, a question about how to fix landing gear and another about theming a collection, an A380 fleet and a member wondering if his Qantas A30 is leaning wrong. 

Going up to 1:200, meanwhile, the $64,000 question was asked: what's your favourite 1:200 scale model?! Plus thre was the Hogan ANA DHC-8-400 with ANA WINGS logo, a limited edition inflight model with no certificate, a FedEx 737, two Tupolevs, Herpa plastic quality, a member wondering if the Herpa LH 747-8I is out yet and a birthday herpa premium!   

And elsewhere on the custom front we had a Finnair A320, EasyJet 757-200W, Philippine Airlines Airbus A320, Air Europa 737 and an Air Canada A319.

And last but not least in our smallest scale at Scale600, there were more of Schuco/Schabak's 2011 releases, more on that A380 poll, a new Embraer 190 and a look at FlightFan's collection.   
 
Meanwhile, on Toy Collector, for those who like their planes to be plastic and come in pieces, there were some really attractive Heller kits. And for something completely different, check out this Bayko airfield!