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Best to avoid it right now, I ordered a small 1:400 model from China/HK (before I started boycotting Chinese products lol:) in mid April and not only has it not arrived but its untraceable from April 23. Seller has said Indian Postal service has stopped processing/delaying shipments a month ago. With the current situation with China I doubt I will ever get it.

Also be prepared to pay 42%+ customs duty and perhaps a few trips to the local post office. I have never ordered such expensive models from abroad to an Indian address I think @V.Narayan and @Skanchan95 have done so many times and can give you more guidance.

BTW: @V.Narayan did the North American A-5 Vigilante ever manage to escape the evil communist customs? :D

My Swadeshi Collection

Sandesh, that is quite a line up you have of Indian commercial aircraft. i loved that photo of all your 737NGs in a row as well as the Warthog with the 'jungle' skyline and the C-17 and Sukhoi in uppercase and lowercase.:)

Foxbat, I never did manage to retrieve my Vigilante. Along with it went a Hawkeye too! Cost of doing business in our country. <emoji shrugging shoulders with fumes coming out of the head> I am hesitating to order from abroad given the challenges in customs these days.

Thank You sir. Here's the A320 lineup









Oh My God!!!! No:Shockked:!!!! Shameless Thugs!!!

It is better to avoid now because of the current political scenario and our notorious Customs. Shipments are being withheld in the name of "Corona Virus" inspections, but I think we all know what that those "inspections" mean!!!

I had ordered a few "cheap" models from Aliexpress but nothing after January 2020, wasn't charged duty on any of them because they were cheap anyway. But I have reasons to believe that one of those models was deliberately damaged by Customs.

I never buy any expensive models from abroad for the fear of it being stolen in transit and our very "honest" Customs (a dealer also told me about missing models from sealed boxes shipped by the manufacturer. Guess who stole them?).

I only buy locally from a dealer - the import risks are his, but he still tries to do business in tough conditions in our country where shameless fellows do not hesitate to steal things from sealed boxes and cause huge losses to fellow countrymen. This, despite paying all duties and charges that the departments "dutifully" charge!!! :mad:. This is the sad reality of doing business in our country. Nothing moves if you are not willing to compromise!!!!

Any with bogie landing gear?

In your group shots might be better to arrange them scalewise. Mixed scale when there is a theme.

Sutripta

Thats very sad to hear and so much monetary loss! I have never lost any model ordered from abroad but all of my orders have been smaller packages of plastic models. Did you raise a complaint thru the online India Post website? The only time a parcel was lost I did the same and it was magically found promptly !

Also what happened to the 1:200 INFLIGHT200 Air india Sud SE-210 Caravelle VT-DVJ ?

Those are some excellent pictures, almost look like an Indian Airport!:thumbs up

I always thought your Jet Airways 737 was a diecast model, but compared to the Spicejet 737 I now see it is missing the aerials.


:OT As a part of my Boycott China program I managed to cancel my order of a 1:400 model from China placed back in mid April and still not delivered/traceable.

Thank you. Yes, the Jet Airways 737 MAX 8 is Hogan plastic snapfit model like the other AI Express and Boeing House 737 MAX 8.

The Jet Airways 737 is the same Hogan 737 MAX model as Narayan Sir's Spicejet 737 MAX.

Inflight 200 - Indian Airlines Caravelle III VT DVJ

Carvelle bearing registration VT DVJ was in Indian Airlines service from 1966 to 1975. A beautiful model from Inflight

Wow!!! That is a great looking model. Many Congratulations. You are probably the first Indian to own this stunner. Would like to get one for myself some day.

This is the second Caravelle in your collection, right? But being an IC one, it is invaluable!!! More photos please.

clap:clap:What a find. Hearty congratulations. A real stunner. As a child I owned one - locally made - it was the love of my life. Sadly with drop in import protection duties Indian industry has been killed to a point where we don't even make dinky toys. Congrats again. More photos please. Don't wish to nitpik but as this is a thread of friends it is a Caravelle VIN or VIR. I doubt we had III's but I could be wrong.

Thanks sandesh. Yes this is the second Caravelle in my collection.

BTW I love to oogle at your have a beautiful collection of Indian aircrafts especially Air India Boeing 747-100. Wish I had a 747 -100 of my own.:)

Thanks sir. You are right it is VIN.




sir I don't agree on sir that lowering import duties have led to loss of Indian toy manufacturers. IMO the Indian manufacturers are lazy to adopt changing scenarios. Anyways it is good hear your side. I wish I could see your old model.

Phew. Those dying grey cells are still creaking on :-)
I wish I could too. It used to lie at my sisters garage in a box full of my things. She moved cities in 1997 and sold off my contents to the kabadi wallah without informing me !!!!!:Shockked: Along with the aircraft went my collection of old magazines on aircraft & defence from 1970s and 1980s. Aaaarrgghh. I think she unconsciously sought revenge for all the trouble I gave her in our childhood. Till this day I remind her.:D

The Caravelle as many of you will know borrowed the cockpit of the de Havilland Comet lock stock & barrel - layout, levers, dials, control wires, plumbing everything including the nose design and reduced everything for 2 engines instead of four. That rear mounting engine was a first. It was done mainly to reduce noise in the cabin. Very crucial given the extra ordinary noise the Avon turbojets used to produce. It was like two Hawker Hunters taking off together. Another reason was the risk of engine fire, very real in the early years of jet flight. The best thing about the Caravelle was the 36 inch seat pitch in the one class layout and large windows. As you may know the Caravelle introduced a rear stair way too.

Few remember today that the Caravelle prototype in May 1955 became only the second jet airliner ever to fly. The Tu-104 followed a month later. Gotta give the French credit. Sadly Indian Airlines VT-DWN crashed at Mumbai in October 1976 killing all 95 on board due to engine failure and fire.

You sir always Amaze me with your knowledge. It has always a pleasure reading your post on aviation sector. If you have any aviation related books to part with do let me know.

BTW, Sir why did Caravelle have such a chequered history in Indian aviation?

Poor maintenance practices combined with macho attitudes in the cockpit. Of the 9 aircraft in IA service 5 suffered some major incident or the other three of which had fatalities ! Imagine a third of a fleet type being involved in fatal accidents over a relatively short life span of about 15 years. And this in an era when the number of sectors flown in a day was usually lower than the grind today.

The British tried to sell us the Vickers Vanguard as our main standard type. We already were operating the Vickers Viscount and happy with it. The Vanguard was a four-engined turboprop, the pinnacle of turboprop airliners {along with the IL-18 & ill fated Lockheed Electra} but JRD Tata wisely advised the Govt to move to jet power even for IA. While the Vanguard was okay for our purposes of the 1960s it later developed very serious metal fatigue in 18 years!

Wind tunnel testing of the Caravelle indicated some trouble with tail mounted horizontal stabilizers. This was not fully understood then. The French wisely fitted it at half way up the tail. Later the BAC 111 would research the full implications of tail mounted stabilizers with tragic consequences.

Always liked the Caravelle. Transavia used to fly them here in the Netherlands. The Dutch aviation museum still has one of their (cut-off) cockpits on display


Interesting I had no idea?!

Could you elaborate? I recall problems with longitudinal stability at high AoA.
Some problems with Mach Tuck? Maybe I am mixing up stuff here?

Jeroen