PAL 77W

In 2006 Philippine Airlines ordered two 777-300ERs plus two leases, and two options that have since been firmed. First delivery is expected in late 2009.

PAL has since commissioned Herpa to make models for inflight sale, which will also be part of Herpa's regular sales. The model was announced for the March/ April regular sales release, but the official word from the airline is that the models will not be loaded on flights unless the real aircraft are already flying for PAL. It is unsure how this will affect the release date of the regular sales edition.

However, Aviation Center Berlin already has some units for sale:
Note the small "Philippine Airlines" titles and logo underneath the window line just after door 1L. This feature has not been seen on previous PAL aircraft.

At any rate, this model is a fantasy model at best since the official statement from PAL. Further, given that it will be made with the new Herpa mould, it may have some quality problems. Note the droopy engines and the widely-spaced wheels (that will supposedly be rubber).

Another curious bit is that Herpa announced that their model is a 777-36NER, with the registration RP-C7773. While it may be true that the first two deliveries will be the two leased (GECAS) 777-36NERs, the said registration will belong to the first owned 777-3F6ER, which will at least be the third delivered. The GECAS planes will be registered RP-C7770 and ~2, respectively instead. RP-C7771 will be skipped because of PAL's superstitious beliefs that numbers that add up to 13 or 22 (2+2=4) bring bad luck.

Beware of Lousy Trader

I don't know why I'm posting this only now. I should have done this way back.

In my defense, I have posted my bad experience at the Wings900 message board:
http://www.wings900.com/vb/general-squawk-talk/39125-lousy-w900-dealer.html
although I did not name the nasty little vermin. Well, I did but on home territory:
http://www.philskies.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11793

As I said in the previous post, people at W900 tend to be pricks. And this guy, Alvin has a lot of them as his loyal customers. Heck, he even has a 90%+ trader rating. Well, at least not 100% so we know not all of them were quite satisfied.

During my latest trip to Hong Kong, I found out that I was at one point in his "VIP" list. And that he preferred foreigners in this list as he could easily "jack up" his prices. Well, I won't bite that anymore, Alvin. I already know you sell second-hand models as brand-new, and that you have access to the backdoor of factories.

FYI, I reported this guy to the HK Consumer Council, Tourism Board and the HK Police. All wrote back with a file reference and urged me to file claims at the HK Claims Tribunal. I notified this guy to give him one final chance to rectify himself and what do you know, he all of a sudden decided to send me a refund in full!

If he weren't guilty of any wrongdoing as he claims, then why was he so fearful the moment I mentioned the Police and the Small Claims Tribunal? Guilty? I knew it way before - from the time he kept giving all these excuses why he can't replace the model and why he can only refund so much.

Stinking little rascal! He is at it again:
http://www.wings900.com/vb/model-trade-4-sale/39852-400-500-scale-model-sales.html

I pity his victims...

Down with the Nazis

I merely pointed out that a certain new release could have been better with the correct registration, and I get flamed:
http://www.wings900.com/vb/1-500-scale-discussion/40990-new-release-1-500-herpa-qantas-airways-b-747-438-a.html

WTF? When talking amongst themselves, they seem to be quite friendly with their own criticisms of models, yet shoot down others opinions quite readily. Whatever happened to the forum?

This hobby is not quite worth it anymore. There is absolutely no quality in the releases of late, and these morons keep defending the company that makes lousy products. Wadda crap!

After Wings900, I don't know if there is any other forum out there worth visiting for info about this hobby. And with the quality of posts at W900 going down the drain, too, it simply isn't worth it anymore!

The Thai Airways Royal Barge Planes

Note: This is another one of the entries I posted at Wings900 and on my Flickr pages, and I seem to have overlooked doing the same thing on this blog. Better late than never.



The Royal Barge Procession is held in Thailand during very special occasions, usually during celebrations that have something to do with the king. It has a religious significance as well.

In 1999, in celebration of the king's 6th cycle (12 years = 1 birth cycle), Thai Airways painted three of its planes with the image of the two royal barges that are most significant to the current king. The two 747-4D7s, HS-TGJ and HS-TGO were painted with the image of the Royal Barge Suphannahong ('golden swan'). Its bow is adorned with the hongse (head of the swan, with jewels).

HS-TEK, an airbus A330-300, was then painted with the image of the only barge constructed under the current king, the Narai Song Suban. its bow is decorated with the statue of the god Narayana being carried by the Garuda.

In 2002, Thai Airways commissioned Herpa to produce two of the three specially painted planes.

Now we start with the Narai Song Subhan...
Herpa's version has a clear imprint of the Garuda, with the god Narayana behind it:

The pavilion has very intricate details. My camera failed to capture it, but I think it is much clearer in the previous picture.

Note the intricate design of the rear part of the boat design.

In contrast, the StarJets version, which they named simply as "Dragon Boat" has a brownish color.

Further, the pavilion is only a criss-cross pattern without the intricate design.

Now we come to Herpa's version of Suphannahong...

Herpa's version is very well-detailed.

Check out the royal pavilion; note its design.

The rear of the royal barge is very well detailed, too.

Starjets referred to their version simply as the "Royal Barge."

Compared to herpa's, the SJ version has a larger Hongse, and the color is too yellow. Note also, that SJ printed "HARIPHUNCHAL" as the name of the aircraft, when in fact it is "Hariphunchai."

Herpa on the left, and SJ on the right:

And here comes that generic criss-cross again:

Last is the BigBird version...

It is simply too 'red.' Compare it with the SJ on the right.

Again, the generic criss-cross:

Both 747-400s have been repainted into the new mica colors of Thai. Undoubtedly, the Narai Song Subhan's days painted on the A330 are numbered.

Philippine Airlines Inflight Sets

Note: This is one of the entries I posted at Wings900 and on my Flickr pages, and I seem to have overlooked doing the same thing on this blog. Better late than never.


Since 2002, PAL has been selling a set of 1/500 Herpa miniatures through its inflight sale consisting of a 747-400 (N751PR) and a A340-300 (F-OHPJ). It has the Herpa item number 510134. The contents of the set are identical to the regular sales items from Herpa (that were sold separately).

Recently however, the set has been re-editioned and the contents have received a slight upgrade in quality. I'll be making some comparisons between the contents of the two sets.

In this photo, you can note that there are no physical differences in the boxes, except that the new set comes with stands which you can see through the acetate window. Also, the new set is priced USD28 instead of USD26.

From the old set:

1) 747-4F6, registered N751PR.

Note that the windowline towards the nose slopes upwards and ends up being too high! The correct 747 window line should approximate through the vertex of the nosecone.

The tail fins (rudder and elevators) are all made of plastic.

The landing gears are dark gray, and it has the old "herpa Wings" logo on the belly.


2) A340-313X, registered F-OHPJ.

Note the rounded edges of the doors which make it look 'cartoonish.'

The tail fins are likewise made of plastic. The cargo door printing seems a lighter shade (or maybe the line was just thinner) than the printing of the passenger doors.

The belly logo, like in the 747-400, is old-style with "herpa Wings" stamped on. Landing gear struts are dark gray.


From the new set:

1) 747-4F6, registered N751PR [same registration as before].

It comes with a display stand.

The first thing I noticed was the METAL tail! Both the rudder and elevators are made of metal! Also note that the registration is printed much heavier than on the old version.

The belly logo has been updated, with just "herpa" stamped on.


2) A340-313X, registered F-OHPJ [same as before].

The doors look less 'cartoonish' as they have become less rounded on the edges. This model has the correct squarish airbus door profile as can be seen on actual Airbus planes.

The tail section is still made of plastic. To date, herpa has made metal tails only for the airbus A310.

The belly logo has likewise been updated.


Comparisons:

a) Nose section of the 744s:

old = high windowline, dark gray gears;
new = lower windowline, light gray gears.

b) 744 winglets:

old = larger sun/ shorter rays;
new = smaller sun/ shorter rays.

I would like to think the newer one has the correct profile of the rising sun, but it's really too small to notice.

c) 744 tails:

old = plastic, reg printing lighter;
new = all METAL, reg printing heavier.

I have no idea why the metal unit stands higher .

d) 343 nose:

old = rounded doors, heavier printing of windows and door lines;
new = squarish doors, lighter printing of windows (smaller) and door lines.

e) 343 tails:

old = slightly lighter blue
new = blue is a tad darker.

I think all of the above models still have a very pale yellow compare to the originals which have a yellow-orange rising sun.

A followup set would be nice, espeically if it could contain, a) models that have not been made before, such as the A330, A320, A319; b) historic planes like the A300, 747-200 and DC-10; or PAL affiliates like the Air Philippines 737 and PAL Express Q300 and Q400.

Austrian Airlines inflight set

Some months ago, I inquired about the special inflight set directly from Austrian Airlines. They were gracious enough to allow me to order this set. I actually had it delivered to a friend residing in Europe, who then brought it to me during a recent holiday.

The 777 in the set was reportedly identical to the regular release. At any rate, it is one of the most detailed OS plane released by herpa, though not yet as detailed as the ANA Precision Models.

The set also came with an A320-200 exclusive only to this set.

Compared to previous OS releases, this inflight set had better printing - the arrow had a brighter red with a shadow. The previously released A330 on the left had only a monotone red on a non-painted plastic tail.

I'm looking forward to the yet to be released EM 2008 A320!

CX at the Flower Terminal

I originally intended a circular terminal with roofing similar to that at Chek Lap Kok. As you can see here, it became a little too curved and someone commented that it looks like a flower!

This satellite terminal can have six jetways and a skytrain.

I parked most of the CX birds here as I have run out of space and had to delete my other CX photos at my flickr account.


I am delighted that this shot of the terminal made it to the "photo of the week" for one of my flickr groups, "Die Cast and Plastic models." Too bad the original aircraft had been painted into normal colors. The Asia's World City livery was then transferred to CX's newest flagship, the 777-300ER.