ragefury32

Okay, it's been a while since I posted any reviews - been away on vacation and picked up a few new planes, diecast-and-not (that will be the subject of another post). But I was pleased that a few new items were delivered over my time away - this time, the items go right back to late 2007/early 2008. These are from F-Toy's original JAL Wing Collection 1, which is from its Arc-of-the-Sun/Malaise era. The Arc-of-the-sun logo borrows from the red sun used in JAS's 777s, and combines it with JAL's silver blocky titles. It doesn't age well, and frankly, after the merger, JAL lost money until a government-led recapitalization/debt writedown saved it from being liquidated.



The planes featured in this series goes back to the JAL fleet from right after the JAL/JAS merger and features a bunch of -46s (JAL) and -89s (ex-JAS). 2 Boeing 777s were in the collection (a 246 and a 389), a 737-346, a 737-846, a pair of 400s, and a pair of 200s. One of the 200s were notable in that it is rendered in Japan Asia Airways livery (a special livery created to allow JAL to serve Taiwan as a flag carrier without pissing off Mainland China). 2 planes showed up on my doors so far. I am expecting a few more over the passing days.



One of the more curious aspects of these early F-Toys airliner models is its pack-in, which is not the usual effervescent minty gum...it is in fact a pack of granulated brown sugar commonly used as a hot beverage sweetener in Japanese flights. This one seems rather appropriate, considering that brown sugar is typically sourced in the outer islands of Japan, such as Okinawa. And Okinawa is one of Japan's more popular vacation destination, much like Hawaii to the US, the Azores/Mallorca to Europe, Hainan is to China.

Of course, JAL being JAL, the sides of their airliners are typically used as a mobile billboard to celebrate notable events...this one is no exception. I heard you like planes so I put a plane on your plane so you can fly as a passenger while you fly as a passenger.
Yep, I am talking about the JAL 747-400D with a drawing of the first Okinawa-bound JAL flight, performed on a JAL DC-6 named "Nara" (Nara being the capital of Okinawa). According to JAL, this happened on Feb 5th, 1954.



So, this is a 747-400D - it's a derated 747-400D with dense seating (typically one class with 540 seats), long range fuel tankage and winglets removed to allow extra cycles. The winglets and extra tankage can be removed and the engine derate (done on the FADEC) can be reversed by the airline maintenence team with about 2 weeks' work. Both JAL and ANA bought themselves some 400Ds.

So how's the handiwork on this one?



Honestly, from this angle it's not too bad. The proportionality looks about right, the lines are crisp, and there are no major molding errors. The left-right seam is also not evidently.



Doesn't seem too bad - what about the left...?



Oh, mutha....what the hell. F-Toys and their Chinese toy labor struck again.



Yeah, due to some misalignment with the detail printing, the left side "plane" has a downward sloping nose in the front. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the windows are printed on the same process, the window prints are knocked out of alignment as well.

It looks like the same mold was used again in the JAL Wing Collection 3 and its semi-mediocre 747-400. Just look at the 2 outbound engines. Note the intercooler grate on the engine core (not the fan). If it's on the right with the plane's nose facing right like so:



That was a CF6-80C2. And if it's on the left with the nose facing left, it's a Pratt and Whitney PW4056. And AFAIK, JAL only bought 747-400Ds with CF6-80C2s for compatibility with their Boeing 767 fleet. Honestly, the intercooler grate should show up on all engine pods, and it should all have the grating on the right while facing right (the actual JA8097 features GE engines).



Okay, now there is another plane that arrived at my doorstep during the vacation - it's a Boeing 737-800 in JAL’s Arc of the Sun scheme (since retired and replaced in 2011 by the current Eurowhite Tsurumaru scheme).



Handsome little fella. So what does the F-Toys ABS interpretation look like?



Hm. Well, several things. That CFM56-7B24 looks a little short, and the conical exhaust centrebody looks damaged or poorly modeled. That could be the subject of a fix-up (assuming that I can source another one on the cheap to mess with).



The cockpit print also looks...questionable. This will be fixed with yet another decal set from V1 decals...that is, assuming I don't solvent-strip the entire plane for a re-do.



Overall, the lines look about right - I always consider the non-900 Boeing 737s to be a little rotund-looking.



Wings-wise, yep, looks like the NG has the correct, Boeing 777-derived wing shape compared to the 737 Classic's hacked kinked wing.



I am not sure what the deal is with the engines, but the CFM56-3Bs on the Classic features a larger silver exhaust centre-body while the 7Bs seem to feature a pair of drinks stirrers (and the left one looks damaged)



Overall, good mold, mediocre paint job. I really should rip the engines out and re-do them.



Next up, a look at their DC-10 molding - I managed to score one off JAL Wing collection 2 (due to arrive in 2 weeks)