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Airport Designs Models - 1:400 & 1:500 Scale
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Wings900 Reviews Airport Accessories
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Wednesday, 20 June 2007 |
Description
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In a world surrounded by plastic we often forget that the root of model building goes back to the basics, paper and glue. While there are companies that sell only paper models of ships, aircraft, buildings, towns, cars, etc., we haven't seen a company that devoted their product line to the model airport community. Enter Airport Designs of the United Kingdom (http://www.airportdesigns.com/) with their all new line of 1:400 and 1:500 terminals, jet-bridges, ground foils and accessories. Ok so at this point you are thinking to yourself that there is no way a paper model could possibly look good on your airport. Think again, this is not an index card model and as we discuss below the amount of detail in these models are impressive, not to mention that it does take a bit of a skilled hobbyist to build the models.
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Review Details
| | Manufacturer:
Airport Designs
Scale:
1:400
Part Number: Multiple
Design: We have a few of the Airport Designs products here at Wings900. Like you, we were skeptical about the quality that a paper model could exhibit in a airport diorama, but we were definately surprised. AD offers contemporary as well as more classic designs. Personally we like the ability to make a modern airport, but the Control Tower Type 1 offers a more old-time look for those retro-ports. The design from a building perspective is well thought out and was obviously designed by an engineer. While the building is complicated, the instructions are well thought out and provide the proper steps to produce a perfect model, however you must take some time to build these, rushing is not recommended!
Details: The printed details are amazing. In fact we were wondering how they accomplished such a high resolution. We suspect some sort of color laser printer or dye-sublimation process was used. Regardless, the details on each of the pieces look very close to that of real buildings, signs, blast fences, and control towers. While each design is fictional, the designs aren't outlandish and represent something that could exist in reality.
Realism: We always look for ways to improve the realism and being made out of paper lends well to the models taking weathering details very well. Chalks or wet washes can be used to make the roofs and walls look like they've seen some weather and jet blasts! The jet bridges are a bit too short in our minds. While they are good for say heavy aircraft terminals, we'd like to see some more traditional jetways that can reach out far from the terminal
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Pluses
| | Inexpensive way to model
Great Designs & modular!
Lends well to detailing
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Minuses
| | Jetways too short
Assembly time
Good modeling skills are needed
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Photos
Editor review: Great start to a promising product line!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall rating |
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8.5 |
| Mould & Assembly |
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8.0 |
| Realism |
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8.0 |
| Details |
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9.0 |
| Overall Impression |
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9.0 |
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User reviews
Average user rating from: 1 user(s)
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| Overall rating |
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9.5 |
| Mould & Assembly |
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10.0 |
| Realism |
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8.0 |
| Details |
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10.0 |
| Overall Impression |
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10.0 |
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