Recent acquisition: 1/50 Boeing 727-200, Skyland Models

[Brian Laurance]

Having wished for a large scale model of the Boeing 727 to add to my collection, I was pleased to acquire this 1/50-scale 727-200. I look forward to displaying this one among my other models, representing the aircraft of Pan American.

[Neil Newman]

A very nice model. IMO, the 727-200 is the most graceful of the Boeing family.

[Henry Tenby]

Hi Brian, this is a very beautiful model. Congratulations! It is in mint condition given its age which probably dates from the 1980s. It is a one piece fibreglass model. You are lucky the wings don’t suffer from pancake syndrome as explained in detail in my book! Skyland was notorious for pancake syndrome on their models!

[Brian Laurance]

Thank you Neil and Henry. I'm curious about the "pancake syndrome" with the wings. I'll be ordering your book this week, Henry. {Edit: Your book has been ordered!]

The wings of this model detach, so it's not all one piece. I was told it was a Skyland Model and assumed that this was correct, but there are no markings on the model to confirm this.

Henry, yes, I was advised that the model was built in the early-1980's and was shipped to Berlin for display there with Pan Am's Internal German Service, but was evidently never utilized.

[Neil Newman]

Some of the older, usually larger Skyland models do suffer a ‘wing droop’ Fortunately none of mine seem to have it, but I did used to own one or two of their models which did. I guess that sometimes it’s easy to forget how old some of these treasures are.

[Henry Tenby]

I was never aware that Skyland models productions had plugin style wings. The saggy wing syndrome typical of many Skyland models was in their one piece models where the wings are a single fibreglass casting attached to the fuselage. Their larger floor models were particularly bad in this respect. On the other hand, Space Models and Westway Models never had such an issue with their models. Given that this Pan Am model has plugin wings, I question whether it is in fact a Skyland model? Maybe other collectors will chime in their information on this matter.

[Brian Laurance]

Yes, I welcome any additional input regarding the probable manufacturer of this model.