Eastern Express 1/144 Airbus A318 Frontier

The smallest of the A320 series...

The A318 can be called one of Airbus mistakes... The concept of cutting back sections of the airplanes to make them bigger or smaller does work, but ends up not being too balanced in the extremes... This is the case: the plane does fly ok, but for its size, has a consumption too high... Most of them were scrapped and sold for parts, as even if they flew full, they simply weren't that much profitable. Its competition for the segment, like the BAe 146, was much less expensive to maintain and fly...

Eastern Express was an unknown brand to me, and I've risked on buying it. Also it was the only A318 on the market, and i didn't wanted to buy an A319 and chop it off... I do like the end result, but... Lacks some building quality... Its a little blunt, thick, the fuselage didn't fit that well, it didn't felt right as it was being built... Landing gear is ok. Wing flaps seem accurate, but I think that the second line shouldn't be there... They were simple slot. Recessed panel lines, which is nice!

And that is actually the problem, when it is finished seems like a "little baby", And the decals do a good job on the details and on the side windows...

Engines have enough detail, they do look pretty much acceptable...

But building it out of the box, without any upgrades, it is a little stressfull... Its not a kit to relax while building, one distraction and its over... But once done...

The tail decal does look a little pixelized, unlike the rest of them... but it is also the junction of 2 decals, one on top of the other... Nevertheless, they don't look that bad...

This is my advice: if you want one, it is your "only choice". It will stress you a little while building... But you'll like to see it ready in the end... Oh, be carefull on the Frontier and windows decals... They're not the easyest thing to apply...