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Academy is to release in 2016 a new tool 1/72nd Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet "VF-103" kit - ref.12535 Source: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234994031-academy-catalogue-2016-online/ V.P.

Me 262 build starts here! I started this build on Sunday 28th August. I've cleared up my environment so I'm free to make models once again, although it has been some time, so I thought I'd brush up on my skills again before I finish/ruin that harrier! So far I've been working on a mister craft hawker hunter which is near ready for paint and the aforementioned Airfix harrier which I've been dabbling with...... So, on with this build.... I decided it's going to be fast and from the box! A few parts make up the nose section and wings the fit is excellent, the wing/fuselage joint just clicks in, as does the cockpit assembly. This area was a bit fiddly! I superglued the console to my finger and I lost the control column to the carpet monster.......which, on a clean wooden floor is some feat.... (Oh yeah, there is also a big glue finger print melted into the port wing. Once dry I sanded this up. Looks ok now..... Glad I chose to practice!!,) After getting bored of searching for the missing part I picked out a few colours and laid down some paint.....first use of the gun in a while! Felt goooood! Went to bed, woke up, found the control column. Happy days. I used tamiya paints; German grey for the cockpit. RLM 02 for the undercarriage legs, doors and bays. Me262 round 2....... Cockpit. Some parts of this type I'm unsure of, I couldn't help but look for some pics to see what you should have here. Clearly seatbelts and seat cushion are missing. Also the gunsight is missing. There are a few more little details but I want this to be quick! The piece of foil that holds headache pills has a light embossed pattern. I've read about using this for belts. Why not have a go? It took longer than expected! Cut with a steel rule and scalpel, the "belts" were fixed with superglue. Seat cushion from styrene sheet, rounded a bit with a file so it looks more ummm, cushiony? Painted with games workshop acrylics. Browns on the cushion and bone for the belts. A few (because they were nearest) Airfix acrylic colors were used in the tub for switches and dry brushing. Tamiya flat black for the dials and green for the rediscovered control column boot. Looks ok. A fairly accurate representation of what should be. Except for the gunsight. Not sure about building one yet, I wanted a quick build. Sidewalls could do with something GAP filling... It should be fairly straightforward, looks to be parallel. Maybe next time? The fit of the tub assembly to the fuselage is excellent, it just snaps in... No glue! I just tacked it in with superglue. Me262 Weight and Luck! According to the instructions you need 5-8g in the nose. I found some appropriate sized weights. This time I'm using little screws, this turns out to be a lucky find! The small screws are about 0.5g and the big screws are about 1g. I could only fit two screws in the nose, so I had to remove the cockpit, that's the lucky bit, I'm glad I just tacked it with super glue. I got 8 small plus blu tac between the bulkheads, and I can fit 2 large into each engine nacelle. That's enough! This time I used the scalpel handle and blu tac to form a counter balance, just add screws! Me262 cockpit 2. I had to remove the cockpit to get some extra weight in! While it was out....... I broke the instrument panel off, by accident. While it was off....... I thought I'd add some of the wiring which can be seen through the glass... I discovered this detail while looking for the cockpit references. This took ages but I advanced my skills my a bit. I made some little instrument backs from the spares box, drilled some holes for the wire which was sprayed yellow and everything was superglued into place and trimmed to length with cutters. Then the panel complete was refitted to the tub. I think the wire was too firm for the task, I must try and get some lead wire. That's it for this part! Too much time wasted here....now time for the engines. (Pic to follow......)

The Mighty "JUG" P-47 Thunderbolt by Academy 1/48 Hello and welcome to a build I have always wanted to build. I have loved the P-47 ever since I played this. back in the day at the arcade in Cradely heath. ( part of the royal cinema )😀 I have never had a P-47 in the stash or known much about it but I picked up a dank old kit last time I visited "Parabellum" in Birmingham's Jewelry quarter. the box looked a bit war torn but the picture on the cover had me smitten. 🥰 what a picture!!!!!!. 😇 I have been gathering info all day and have started some work that I will post up later as I gotta walk the hound right now. I do hope that you will join me on a Jugtastic adventure that will definitely involve some photo etch, some scratch building and a whole lotta fun. 🤩 Take care and See ya'll later on for some update action. All the best and as always. Happy modeling. Johnny

Greetings to all, Here is the Academy P-47D Razorback Thunderbolt I built a number of years ago. I used the True Details resin cockpit and Aeromaster “Pacific Thunderbolts” ( Sheet #72-008 ) to dress the Jug. I remember that I used Model Master Metalizer Aluminum spray can paint on it. I have since “graduated” to AK Interactive Extreme and Alclad paints for my natural metal finishes. I primed the airframe first and then applied the colors first. After masking the colors to the required sizes, I simply sprayed the Model Master over everything. I also used metal tubes ( I`m guessing 0.6mm size ) for the wing guns. The decals went on without any issues. I weathered the subject with washes, paints, and chalk pastels. Highly recommended!!!!! THANK YOU in advance!!!!! Remain healthy, happy, and safe my friends!!!!!! Mike

Good evening. Another one flies from the bench to the cabinet..... IIRC, the Academy kit is a reboxing of an old Haseawa kit, but with engraved panels. Even the terrible navy blue plastic is the same. I built it OOB, except for a set of resin wheels (those included in the kit resembled a pair of Mud Terrain BG Goodrichs, fine for a Land Rover, but not for a plane). I used a set of 5" HVAR rockets and bomb from my spares box, as those included in the kit were a mere rubish. This time, I used Testors' enamels...got a few bottles with are still in very good condition, so why not...... Hope you'll like it....Best regards from Tenerife...!!! IMG_20200405_202540[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20200405_202531[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20200405_202520[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20200405_202844[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20200405_202509[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20200405_202627[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

I have posted a photo of this model in another thread, but never in RFI. I built it a few years ago, soon after the kit was released. As far as I can remember, the only things that I added, apart from kit stowage, were the missing rivets on each side of the hull, and the canvas dust cover around the main gun from tissue soaked in dilute PVA glue. I had previously built a 1/72nd kit of the Grant from a Polish company, whose name escapes me, and I used the painting instructions from that kit for this build. The base colour was sprayed, but the brown cammo was brush painted, as was the white surround. The black was applied with a paint pen. One other thing that I've just remembered is hat the tracks (WE210), came from a Dragon Sherman lll kit. Thanks for looking. John.

Hello guys, here's my most recently complete modem, Academy's bf 109G-2 in 1:48. Decals were from Cartograf.

Hello guys, continuing with my building spree, I'll start a Bf 109G-2 from Academy. This kit is actually the Hobbycraft one, and comes with Cartograf decals.

Hello and welcome. Here's my first finished kit this year, Academy's new offering in a livery from circa 1984. A real pleasure to build despite the few little shortcomings. Academy #12563, Aires seats and exhausts, Reskit wheels. Hataka LGG over black surfacer. Decals from MYK/Furball/Hasegawa/kit. Duet pictures with a Hasegawa kit built in 2018.

I am hope someone here can answer this for me. Regarding the canopy in the 1/72 F-86 Sabre kit by Academy. It looks like when they took over the molds from Hobbycraft, Academy changed the canopy, adding detail that Hobbycraft had not. Is the Academy canopy correct for an RCAF Sabre? or would one stick with the Hobbycraft version? Is Academy's canopy type specific to an USAF F-86? or would other Nations have the same layout?

Good evening guys, I present you my most recently completed model, Academy's 1:48 Ta 183. The kit was originally from Amtech.

Afternoon all, Probably a well discussed subject and apologies if it is, but I'm just about to start another long term stash resident and am hoping for some ideas on a homegrown fix for the jet exhaust size/shape issues. I seem to remember seeing someone, somewhere doing a modification to the kit parts or did I dream it, anyway I'm struggling to find it again, I'd be grateful if anyone can point me in the direction of the thread or alternatively any information on the process. MTIA Mark.

These three guys have moved between the workbench, the shelf of doom and back again for many, many years. I recently decided that I'd get them back to the bench and make an effort to get them finished. One each from Airfix, Academy and Matchbox. I'd decided years ago to finish the three of them using an Almark decal set for three Battle of Britain aircraft, each displaying variations in finish. The Airfix kit is not the current kit but one from a few years ago with the trademark rivets. If I'd started this more recently I would have taken down the rivets but as these were started years ago I'm just going to press on. Here are the first few photos.

Inspired by John Trotti’s 1984 book Phantom Over Vietnam, I built my Academy 1/48 kit as the aircraft that features most prominently in that book. Trotti describes the dents and a missing panel of this aircraft in some detail. My plastic modelling patience and ability falls short of the amazing craft-work of some on this forum, but my 'quick and dirty' approach still gets reasonable results, in my opinion, as long as you don't look too closely. Here is the page on my web site describing the build, with more pics: https://everardcunion.com/plastic-models-2/plastic-models-vietnam-war/48thtrottif-4/

hi all, As this is my first WIP report., i thought that i would start with something a little bit different, namely the Academy 1/48 MH-53 Sea Dragon. I managed to pick up the kit itself very cheaply on a trip to Heiden model show in Germany. Then along came some help from an under-the-table Big Ed set from Eduard at a Cosford model show and the update set from Wolfpack, mainly for the seamless exhausts. The only thing that was lacking was some decent markings for a Japanese helicopter based at Iwakuni in the minesweeping role. Wolfpack did an extremely over-priced special edition of the decals and kit (which of course i didn't need), so it was a case of waiting patiently until the decals were released separately, which happened just recently. This event was combined with some fantastic walkaround photos of a JMSDF MH-53 from a Japanese modelling friend and i found myself unable to put off the build any longer. So here goes.................. A very big box The contents The only reference book i could find The decal sheet I had already started the rotor head and added some extra detailing before i decided to do the work in progress report, so here are the photos so far. The kit doesn't include any extra pipework and the rotor head is quite bare, so something needs to be added. All good fun but taxing on the eyes and patience even with a large magnifier and good light. The colours on the rotors are used to code each blade to each arm. The red one has no hydraulics as it doesn't fold, so at least you only have to repeat the pipework six times! A bit more painting and weathering, then it's on to the tail rotor Andy

Kit - Academy 13288 (2014 reissue) Paint - Mig acrylic OD modulation set, Tamiya acrylics. Decals - Kit (Designed by DEF Models, printed by Cartograph) Extras - DEF Model mantlet & barrel, Italeri, Tamiya & Masterbox accessories. M10 GMC Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers-Marins, French 2nd Armd Div. Outside Paris, August 1944. ...and with it's 'brother in arms' the Tamiya M4A3E8. It's hard to explain, the M10 is just one of those subjects that has a very definite appeal to me, but I would never commit to building one until recently because I knew my 'skills' (such as they are), would never come close to building what I saw in my head. It's only in the last two or three years that my AFV 'skills' have started to coalesce, so in 2018 I took a deep-breath, bought the kit and then left it alone... still nervous of it y'see. Started work finally on it just before Christmas and have been grabbing a few sessions here and there for the last eight weeks or so. The Academy kit is NOT a straightforward build, a lot of planning is needed especially in the early stages where building-up, masking and painting the interior sub-assemblies has to be done in such a way as to minimise re-painting and re-masking over and over again. The fit of the turret halves was a nightmare as they seemed to be entirely different sizes, but with some good super-glue, some pulling and twisting and a fair chunk of swearing it did work-out. The kit-supplied gun-barrel is terrible and best consigned to the bin in my opinion - the kit-specific barrel & mantlet set from DEF Model is a massive improvement and highly recommended. I decided before I began that the finished model would have very little in the way of stowage as historically the RBFM vehicles that took part in the Paris Liberation skirmishes drove only short distances from their lager areas, fought then retreated for the evening to start all over again the following day !. Also I recently finished an Easy 8 in 'road march' configuration and fancied something a little more 'minimalist'. As ever thanks for taking the time to look and / or comment, please feel free to ask any questions or suggest any improvements. Next for me is a Eurofighter and then an M41 Walker Bulldog, both for GB's elsewhere on t'interweb. Have a great weekend, folks, best from NZ. Ian.

Dear Colleagues Here is the Academy 1/72 F-8E Crusader. This is a really a charming kit to build, neither too complex nor over simplified. The only problem I had was somehow getting the undercarriage bay out of alignment with the fuselage. I only discovered this once everything was buttoned up and I popped the wheels on, result one drunken Crusader! Answer was to drill a new hole and re-connect one of the undercarriage legs, a working solution and no harm done. Being myself, the aircraft is loaded with an Aires resin afterburner, resin air scoops (Quickboost), Master pitot tube, Eduard sidewinders (which went a bit wrong), Aires resin ejector seat, Eduard PE set and Aviprint decals. hope these pictures work? VF-162 was embarked on USS Oriskany and with her A-4 Skyhawks undertook some of the most dangerous missions of the Vietnam air war. Regular missions to Haiphong and Hanoi took a steady toll of aircraft largely to AA and SAM missiles. The Commander of VF 162, Dick Bellinger, used this aircraft to down a Mig-21 in October 1966. In that year the carrier groups were running short of ordnance, so F-8 aircraft frequently launched with only two sidewinders rather than four. In the evening, helicopters would ferry sidewinders to carriers in the most need for the next day’s mission! The courage of the aviators on USS Oriskany can be read in the book ‘Bloody sixteen’ by Peter Fey The figures are 3-D printed by Reedoak Regards Andrew

Here’s another Spitfire for my 41 Sqn collection. This time it’s a Mk.XIVc using the Academy kit and Print Scale decals. I have a Mk.XII in the works to be finished in 41 Sqn markings.

Hi all, been a while since I made a proper post on here. My newest project will be an M113, with a main feature being the two Eduard sets I will be using on it. It's been a while since I got my teeth into a build like this, so I'm looking forward to it. This is my progress so far. Since the base kit hasn't arrived yet, I've been working on the photo-etch assemblies that stand on their own like gun shields and radios. So far so good, although the inside of the gun shields have a few imperfections. I'm using Gorilla gel glue as usual, and there are a few blotches where I used too much glue. We'll see how they look after a primer coat, I suppose, but that side will be covered by the guns/ammo anyway. Until the base kit arrives, this is pretty much my progress for now.

Good evening all, as a long term resident of the UAE I thought it would be appropriate to build a ‘local interest’ subject. Here is my Hawker Hunter FGA.76 from Sharjah Air Base in the 1970s. It’s the Academy kit with replacement resin cockpit and wheels, Aeroclub jet pipe and aftermarket decals. Paints were mixed by eye to match photos. Hope you like it! Chris

Evening all. Was given this kit by my father about ten years ago while in my early teens. Made a fairly reasonable start to it considering my age at the time: The only parts that have been touched are in the below image, with the rest having been left on the sprue: The cockpit is fairly nice but I may invest in a replacement bang seat, because, as many will know academy modelled a 1/48 scale aircraft with a 1/72 seat... 🤦🏻‍♂️ As the decals on this are naff I will be purchasing some Xtradecals to depict this aircraft: This will he started once I have completed my builds in the P-40 and Film etc GBs. Wish me luck! Ash

I've been building the Academy Bubbletop P-47 Thunderbolt "Eileen" in 1/72. I quite fancied the checker cowling but the decals wouldn't wrap around properly and also the problem I've found with some other Academy kits is that the decals won't even stick to the surface. I'm thinking of getting some aftermarket decals though they are around the same price as the kit purchased. I was thinking of painting a white band around the cowling though this would be more suitable for the Razerback P-47. Has anyone on here any experience with this kit? and how did you successfully get the b&w checked cowling? Another thing, looking at photos should Eileen have a black rudder? This kit does not show this.

With the arrival in the stash of the new Airfix Spitfire XIV I decided to dispose of my old and bloated Academy kit. Since I had a spare Airfix Mk.22 fuselage I decided to bash the two together and come up with this! While it has a couple of shape discrepancies (mainly around the tail) it at least looks a bit more like a Griffon Spit should!!! Thanks for looking, Chris

This is the 1/72 Academy version of the F-14A finished in the colours of VF-51'Screaming Eagles'. Built completely OOB and painted using MIG acrylics. Finished last year but only just photographed. Not entirely happy with the overall finish but as this was a very cheap ebay find I'm not unduly worried and just put it down to experience

1st completion of my current Guadalcanal phase, next up is Airfix F4F-4 Wildcat but in the meantime here is my Academy PBY-5A, was the Black Cat boxing but was not inspired by a black catalina so got some Guadalcanal Starfighter decals 72-139 which had references for this PBY as the first to land on Guadalcanal. Really nice trouble free build overall, totally out of box. First time tried to vary the colours with some pre-shading, came out quite nicely but not sure photos show it too well. And of course for the 4th time in a row, not enough weight in the nose so some white tack need on front wheel 😂 With some friends in the cabinet...