eng

Very nice build indeed, I flew on a BA Tristar to Cyprus in 1985 as a youngster, pretty sure it was G-BBAG. A good few years later G-BBAE would be the first live aircraft I worked on as an apprentice engineer, but with its later owner Caledonian Airways. Such a great aircraft to work on. Always nice to see Tristar builds here. Eng

Thats beautiful, I'm just about to hit the painting stage with mine, and to echo your own words its an impressive kit without a doubt. Eng

Off to a great start! I'll be following your build with interest as I've got the same kit and LACI set in the stash with a view to doing a BA 767 in the current livery. The 767's (and 757's) were great aircraft to work on, good robust airframes and plenty power in those reliable RB-211's. Shame they're all gone now. Keep up yet great work, this is gonna be awesome. Eng

Many thanks for all the kind comments folks. More Eagles to come soon! Eng

Hi folks, just thought I'd share some shots of my latest completion - first one for 2025 too! Academy's 1/72 F-15E from the Lakenheath D-day boxing but finished with some stunning markings from the TwoBob's Drone Killers sheet that covers the 494th FS's deployment. There are some amazing options on this sheet for nose art covered jets and the first one that really caught my eye was "Dutchman" with some pirate themed artwork. It was a very tough choice and I have a GWH kit in work which will utilise one of the other options. The kit build is absolutely fantastic, superbly detailed, builds beautifully (I think its actually designed as a "push fit" kit), the only let down was the kits exhaust nozzle which is very basic. Aires to the rescue here with a lovely set of resin pipes! I would absolutely build this kit over and over, and the finished article looks every inch a replica of America's muscle machine (there's now more in the stash!!). Kit: Academy 12568 Extra's: Aires resin nozzles Decals: Kit decals (Cartograph) and TwoBob's Drone killers, Paint: Tamiya, Mr Colour and Vallejo, Weathering: Flory Dark dirt wash, W&N oils, pastels, silver pencil Hope you enjoy the pic's:- Eng

Superb work, looks fantastic and the camo scheme is a great choice 👌🏼

Wow! Blade positions, antenna and gun barrel, absolutely identical

Love the gear retraction, looks well worth the effort, and those markings are very cool. Eng

Having a couple of these Italeri kits I know this isn't the easiest of kits to get together, but this is a superb build! Beautifully turned out and if you hadn't said it could easily pass for a larger scale kit. Superb! Eng

Thats a good price! I'm with you, and am torn on whether or not to deal with opening the weapons bay. My current thinking is leave well alone on the 1/72 kit, I've 2 of the new Academy 1/144 kits on pre-order and these come with a weapons bay as an option out of the box so am more likely to build one of these with the bay open. Eng

Drawdecal also do a P-8 decals sheet for the RAF P-8, shipping's a bit hefty though. The latest boxing (kit number 7223) only has markings for a USN and a Norwegian aircraft (the Norwegian scheme with the Saint figure on the tail is a bit cool!) I've got one of the BPK P-8's in my stash and from taping the main fuselage parts together it will require quite a bit of work to assemble the 3 aft fuselage sections and mate these to the forward fuselage parts. I'm sure Air Graphic's make a "sleeve" that fits inside the fuselage to help this part of the build-up (they also do a open weapons bay). It would be wise to have a good strategy prior to starting the build as to how you tackle it. My own intention was to mate the forward and aft fuselage halves with lots of internal reinforcement and then trim and adjust the lower aft belly section to fit, but I've since seen a video build where the front and rear halves built up and then spliced together without any significant step! I guess there's no right way. Eng

Thank you for sharing the link to your Flickr collection of Commando photo's @Terry1954 I'm sure these will be invaluable for those embarking on Airfix's new release. Eng

Beautiful work! I seem to have accumulated quite a collection of Modelsvit Mirages in the stash, this is great inspiration to get building. Eng

Fantastic! Wonder what schemes they'll offer with this one. Eng

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECBXfXnc_cM Review video now out. Thanks to @Stephen for sending on the link. It looks better every time I see more footage! Appears to have a slightly grainy texture to the plastic but it could just be an early test shot. By the time its primed and ready for the topcoat this won't be an issue. Hope this one sell's well for Academy. Eng