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~~I have already covered the Fairchild FH-227 in a previous post so I thought I'd take a look at its smaller ancestor the Fokker F27 also produced in the USA by Fairchild as the F-27 (note the hyphen). Fokker's F27s had standard 100 series variants with the series 200 and 500 being commonest whilst Fairchild simply made F-27s, F-27As and F-27Bs.
The series 100/200 had similar dimensions to Fairchilds standard F-27s whilst the series 500 was longer with a 1.5m stretch (smaller than the earlier FH-227 stretch of 1.83m).
Mould One
Aeroclassics have made 44 mixed Fairchild and Fokkers but something I only just discovered is they have used 2 separate moulds for this. The first mould is distinctly longer behind the wing than the second and was perhaps supposed to be a F27-500? Oddly it was never used as such with all the releases being series 200s or F-27s.
This longer mould was used for the first 11 F27/F-27s at least and I have three of them - Piedmont, British Midland and Quebecair.
Perhaps the incorrect size of this mould is one of the reasons for the recent rereleases of the Bonanza and Hughes Airwest models?
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Mould Two
The resized mould has been used since 2012 and is just noticeably shorter behind the wing than the first. You can see this by counting windows. In the photos above two full windows are visible unimpeded by the length of the engine nacelle whereas below only one window is unimpeded. This new mould no doubt shows the correct length for the shorter F-27/F27-200. I have 8 models using this mould (I forgot to include the Mesaba example in the photo below).
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Like most of AC's moulds the F-27 is really nicely made. I did note one wrinkle though. My most recent addition is the Mahalo Air example N980MA. This is actually a Fokker rather than a Fairchild (as many of the later US operated versions were) however it is a series 500 so shouldn't be using the smaller second mould. Perhaps the original mould (assuming it was supposed to be a series 500) is no longer available?
Similar the Aer Lingus series 100s really ought to have a short nose (unless they were retrofitted later on)?
Here's N980MA 'The Nene' - I really like this scheme. Mahalo was a Hawaiian startup that began operations on October 4th 1993 on the highly competitive inter-island routes using a trio of Fokker F-27s under an agreement with Empire Airlines whose certificate it used. Each of the aircraft received a unique Hawaiian themed scheme with N980MA getting the Nene, Hawaiian Goose. In mid 94 the agreement with Empire lapsed and services were suspended until October when they restarted with ATR-42s. This aircraft began life in 1970 as OY-APC with Maersk Air before sale to Air Rouergue as F-BYAC in 1976. In 1978 she became VH-EWT with EAST-WEST of Australia and in Jan 1984 N4560Z with Mississippi Valley. Briefly with Air Wisconsin before lease to Mesaba in Jan 86 where she operated in Northwest Airlink colours until 1991. From 1996 she was with 1st Aviation Co and was bought in 1999 by International Air Parts and scrapped.
Mahalo Fokker F-27 'The Nene' by rstretton, on Flickr
Mahalo Fokker F-27 'The Nene' by rstretton, on Flickr
Mahalo Fokker F-27 'The Nene' by rstretton, on Flickr
One last point all the F27s in the db are erroneously called Fokker F27s rather than Fairchild F27s.
The series 100/200 had similar dimensions to Fairchilds standard F-27s whilst the series 500 was longer with a 1.5m stretch (smaller than the earlier FH-227 stretch of 1.83m).
Mould One
Aeroclassics have made 44 mixed Fairchild and Fokkers but something I only just discovered is they have used 2 separate moulds for this. The first mould is distinctly longer behind the wing than the second and was perhaps supposed to be a F27-500? Oddly it was never used as such with all the releases being series 200s or F-27s.
This longer mould was used for the first 11 F27/F-27s at least and I have three of them - Piedmont, British Midland and Quebecair.
Perhaps the incorrect size of this mould is one of the reasons for the recent rereleases of the Bonanza and Hughes Airwest models?
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Mould Two
The resized mould has been used since 2012 and is just noticeably shorter behind the wing than the first. You can see this by counting windows. In the photos above two full windows are visible unimpeded by the length of the engine nacelle whereas below only one window is unimpeded. This new mould no doubt shows the correct length for the shorter F-27/F27-200. I have 8 models using this mould (I forgot to include the Mesaba example in the photo below).
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Aeroclassics Fairchild / Fokker F-27s by rstretton, on Flickr
Like most of AC's moulds the F-27 is really nicely made. I did note one wrinkle though. My most recent addition is the Mahalo Air example N980MA. This is actually a Fokker rather than a Fairchild (as many of the later US operated versions were) however it is a series 500 so shouldn't be using the smaller second mould. Perhaps the original mould (assuming it was supposed to be a series 500) is no longer available?
Similar the Aer Lingus series 100s really ought to have a short nose (unless they were retrofitted later on)?
Here's N980MA 'The Nene' - I really like this scheme. Mahalo was a Hawaiian startup that began operations on October 4th 1993 on the highly competitive inter-island routes using a trio of Fokker F-27s under an agreement with Empire Airlines whose certificate it used. Each of the aircraft received a unique Hawaiian themed scheme with N980MA getting the Nene, Hawaiian Goose. In mid 94 the agreement with Empire lapsed and services were suspended until October when they restarted with ATR-42s. This aircraft began life in 1970 as OY-APC with Maersk Air before sale to Air Rouergue as F-BYAC in 1976. In 1978 she became VH-EWT with EAST-WEST of Australia and in Jan 1984 N4560Z with Mississippi Valley. Briefly with Air Wisconsin before lease to Mesaba in Jan 86 where she operated in Northwest Airlink colours until 1991. From 1996 she was with 1st Aviation Co and was bought in 1999 by International Air Parts and scrapped.
Mahalo Fokker F-27 'The Nene' by rstretton, on Flickr
Mahalo Fokker F-27 'The Nene' by rstretton, on Flickr
Mahalo Fokker F-27 'The Nene' by rstretton, on Flickr
One last point all the F27s in the db are erroneously called Fokker F27s rather than Fairchild F27s.
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