Gemini200 1/200 Etihad Airways A350-1000 Unboxing and Review

I'll rate this Gemini Etihad A350-1000 in 10 categories.
This Gemini’s first generation A35K model uses Gemini’s traditional black box packaging. It’s neat but a bit boring. The plane is well protected by the foam inside. I'll give packaging an 8. This Gemini comes with magnetic landing gear, gear covers and a display stand. Just like the JC Wings Cathay and Qatar A35Ks we unboxed in another videos, there’s a problem with the nose gear door on this Etihad. See? It doesn't really fit into the slot no matter how you put it. That looks quite awkward. So, I can only give accessories a 7.
This Gemini mould has captured the major features very well, and outperforms Inflight200’s A350s. The unique nose angle at the base of the cockpit and the plane’s forehead are very well made. The curve at the bottom of the fuselage is excellent. The sharp tail cone and the tail fin are also very accurate. The huge belly and the iconic blended sharklets are very well made. Since this is an early version of A350, this model correctly uses the original shorter sharklets rather than the taller advanced version installed on the newer A350s. I'll give a 9.
This pair of Rolls Royce Trent XWB-97 engines looks very good. They have spinnable fan blades and the titanium colouring looks very cool. Most importantly, it absolutely KO JC’s products of the same generation: You see, there’s one strake on each side of the engine. That makes it a truly A35K engine! For JC’s products, the one on the outboard side is missing! That in fact wrongly turns it into a A350-900 engine. So, I'll give a 9.
This A350 has a very nice build quality. The wings and the horizontal stabilizers are very well attached. And the vertical stabilizer stands right in the middle without leaning towards either side. There's no obvious gap at the wing attachment. The engines have good ground clearance. So, I'll only give a 9.
The sizes of the wheels look very accurate. The wheels on the main gear have very good distance in between. They are much better made than Inflight200’s oversized and trunky wheels. The main gear can tilt. I'll give a 9. All the antennas, wifi dome, the SATCOM and cargo bay doors are finely presented. The APU exhaust is way better than the one on the JC SAS A350 we unboxed in another video. This model has nicely printed an iconic feature of the early A350: the 3 pitot tubes in the middle. But the landing lights on the wings are only printed. And the nose gear leg doesn't come with the landing lights. I'll give an 8.
Gemini has reproduced Etihad’s livery very well. The key colours, typefaces and positions are basically correct. We can find the Etihad title on the belly. I’ll give livery a 9. The iconic Etihad multi-colour livery are largely accurate on this model. But it may have a flaw. We can use these Aviationtags as our colour reference here. See, the pearl colouring is not entirely correct. Unlike the JC Etihad A380 we unboxed in another video, this Gemini’s pearl colour has some sort of minor discrepancy. So, I will only give a 7.
This Gemini Etihad is one of the most highly sought after product around the world. The resell prices have been crazy in the last few years. However, I strongly believe there’ll be a new edition from Gemini pretty soon. So, I'll give an 8 for value.
I'll give this Etihad A350-1000 a total of 83 points in my ARAIG Index.
#unboxing #gemini200 #etihadairways #a350