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After the 2019 programme (link) here's the first Academy newsletter of the year. Source: http://www.academy.co.kr/6q/board_news_main.asp?pMenuId=BOARD00002&pCode=12089&pCategory=NEWS2 The aircraft kits pages - 1/72nd - ref. 12567 - Boeing F/A18F Super Hornet "VFA-2 Bounty Hunters" - 1/72nd - ref. 12569 - LM F-35B Lightning II "VMFA-121 Green Knights" (Italeri rebox ?) - 1/144th - ref. 12621 - Tupolev Tu-160 "Blackjack" (Zvezda rebox ?) V.P.

Hello everyone Here is my first post in the RFI gallery on this forum. It's Academy PBY-5A Catalina in 1/72 scale. A fine model, not too accurate though . Still, It's my favorite of the flying boats, and I always wanted one on the shelf. Now i find that one is not enough The colors are my mix, using the Mk 1. eyeball to determine the right shade from the available pictures, taking into account the scorching pacific sun. It represents one of the early airframes, so I wanted to give the impression that she was in theatre a long time. Thanks for looking

Hi guys After a long time of prosessing i want share to you my recently build. A Academy F-86 Sabre as Target tug of Montana Air National Guard in 1/48. Hope you like it Happy modelling

Academy is to rebox the Revell F-86D as 1/48th North American F-86D Sabre Dog "ROKAF - 108th Fighter Interceptor Squadron" kit - ref. 12337 Source: http://www.academy.co.kr/6q/board_news_main.asp?pMenuId=BOARD00002&pCode=12112&pCategory=NEWS5 V.P.

Hi friends I've been in this great britmodeller forum for a year now and i was thinking its time to make my own and my first build progress report here. Since im a huge fan of the F-86 Sabre i choose this one for my premiere, but not in typical NMF or any other camo scheme, no, i want make it in a flying target tug for the Montana Air National Guard at Nellis Air Force Base in 1955. Long time i have these decals already in my cabinet and my fingers tingle now,so here we go Ok the experts of you do knowing the real one was a F-86 A not a F-86F-30 what Academy shows, but there is not a,, A ,,on market, so excuse me to choose this one. First i want start with some pictures to share to you what i mean. As you can see many versions you can build with these decal sheet, and they all are very interesting look, so who knows what will comes later........... ok i will come back later in the afternoon or evening, have to assembly now the cockpit

Thought I would give this a try, so in the interest of not embarrassing myself first time round (plenty time for that later, have a 1/72 TSR-2 waiting in my stash...) I picked something that's virtually idiot proof to build. Plus it's a kit that took 2 years to get to my country, much to my annoyance. So, some sexy sprue shots. Box: Part trees in no particular order: Will mainly be using Vallejo paints, with some Tamiya and others. Feel free to pass judgment at my worth as a modeler, good practice for Christmas lunch with the family 🙃!

looking forward to this GB, hopefully I can finish this one, my track record is getting worse. This little lady is winging its way to me 🤗 Perhaps the phantom will be a popular choice in this GB? I think it will be an exciting chance to try some tricky metallic work at the rear and I love the Phantom in SEA schemes. I’ll enliven it with just a touch of AM mainly this.... and a montex canopy mask 😷 Hope it fits in my display cabinet The phantom is a big beast in 1/48!

Hi All, This is my attempt at the Chesapeake, as the SB2U-2 Vindicator was called in FAA service. A batch of 50 Vindicators was originally earmarked for the French Navy, but following the fall of France the order was diverted to the FAA. The Chesapeake was modified to FAA standards, including an extra fuel tank, armour for both crew and 4 wing-mounted 0.303 machine guns. The aircraft were delivered to 811 Sqn at RNAS Lee-on-Solent in July 1941, where it quickly became apparent that the modifications to the aircraft had made it even more underpowered for their planned role of anti-submarine patrol. They were replaced within months by Swordfish and relegated to training duties or squadron hacks. Here is the WIP if anyone is interested. Academy's kit is a re-box of the Accurate Miniatures kit, and includes decals for 3 FAA aircraft as well as a French Aeronavale aircraft. The kit is nicely detailed, although the colour schemes are a little spurious, so good references are key - the decals however seem pretty accurate, down to the non-standard font used for the aircraft serial number. I chose to complete as AL924 of 811 Sqn FAA in July 1941. Here's a photo of the actual aircraft: Here's another shot of a sister aircraft which shows the unconventional font used on the serial number, which the kit decals capture correctly: Following @Dana Bell's references I chose to complete the interior in Dull Dark Green (Bronze Green) with natural metal and doped fabric fuselage sides. The pilot's head armour and headrest were scratch built, and holes were drilled in the wings to represent the 4 wing-mounted 0.303" machine guns. The kit was painted in acrylics using a speculative 'Sky' underside, and EDSG/DSG uppers in the standard TSS scheme as noted in the references - I chose to add doped linen patches for the wing guns, as I thought this to be most likely. Anyway, on to the photos: Although this aircraft had a short and undistinguished FAA career, it is certainly an interesting subject. The kit builds up into a lovely representation of the aircraft and those with more skill could go to town on the highly visible interior. I've thoroughly enjoyed building this interesting footnote in aviation history! Thanks for looking, Roger

Afternoon all, My build rate has slowed up a bit since lockdown restrictions have been relaxed, but I've still been plugging away at the workbench when I can, completing my 14th build of the year this morning. Fittingly, it's the stunning new F-14 from Academy, built completely out of the box as an early A model using the colourful markings of VF-143 'Pukin Dogs' supplied, which performed superbly. Finished as ever using Hataka Orange Line and Alclad, with a touch of Xtracolor here and there too, namely the fin caps, which try as I might I could not get to match the blue colour of the blue fin flashes.... A few other imperfections on my part, but this might just be the finest kit I've ever built in this scale, a pure joy, and given just about all the parts are present to build virtually any F-14, the first of many I'm sure! Academy 1/72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Academy 1/72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Academy 1/72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Academy 1/72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Academy 1/72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Thanks for looking, comments welcomed as always Shaun

Hi All, My next project is Academy's 1:48 Chesapeake MkI, as the SB2U-2 Vindicator was called in FAA service. A batch of 50 Vindicators was originally earmarked for the French Navy, but following the fall of France the order was diverted to the FAA. The Chesapeake was modified to FAA standards, including an extra fuel tank, armour for both crew and 4 wing-mounted 0.303 machine guns. The aircraft were delivered to 811 Sqn at RNAS Lee-on-Solent in July 1941, where it quickly became apparent that the modifications to the aircraft had made it even more underpowered for their planned role of anti-submarine patrol. They were replaced within months by Swordfish and relegated to training duties or squadron hacks. Despite an inauspicious and short career the Chesapeake make an interesting addition to an FAA collection. Released in 2019 Academy's kit is a reboxing of the Accurate Miniatures kit. Here's the box art: Here's the sprue shots. Detail looks to be fine and crisp, although the wing fabric effect looks a little exaggerated on initial inspection: The decals look to be very nice and in good register, with options for 3 FAA aircraft and an Aeronavale version. I'm going to complete as AL924 of 811 Sqn FAA. Here's a photo of the aircraft: Here's another shot of a sister aircraft which shows the unconventional font used on the serial number, which the kit decals capture correctly: Here's artwork of the aircraft - there is much speculation as to the colour scheme, so I shall do some further digging. My initial feeling would be to complete in ANA equivalent colours, but I'm not committing to that just yet. Here's a couple of shots which show interesting detail: Anyway, on to the build! Thanks for looking, Roger

This will be my entry for this GB, I won't actually get started until after I finish my studies in September. The aircraft is BuAer No.89411, 3.F.10 of the Aeronavale's 3F based at Bach Maï during the battle for Dien Bien Phu in 1954. I'll be using the Special Hobby SB2C-5 kit which is itself based upon the Academy SB2C-4 kit with some extra goodies to make up for the differences in the two sub-types. While the kit has markings for an Indochina based aircraft I'll be using the Model Art decals for the unit markings and serials at least. Whilst the aircraft was assigned to 3F, the Allied Wings book has a picture of this aircraft at Bach Maï and it still wears the badge of the Khourigba Station Flight, Kourigba being in North Africa, fortunately the Model Art set includes these markings. The aircraft got into quite a tatty state and was scrapped on its return to France, so I'm aiming for the well worn look with this one! Here's the kit and decals: And here are the references, the SAMI article has a useful build article for the Academy SB2C-4 which I'll be leaning on during the build. This will be my first build post studies so I'm hoping to be able to do it justice, it's so good to have time to return properly to modelling! Thanks for looking and good luck to all in this GB!

Looking forward to building my first Corsair for this Group Build. I'm very tempted to go for the VMF-212 Gloss Navy Blue version piloted by Captain Philip Delong. Scalemates link.

I started this 1/48th Academy F-86F Sabre in February and after some long time gaps have completed her 🙂 20200805_184347 by Ghostbase, on Flickr The kit is the c. 2000 Academy F-86F "Mig Killer", I was quite impressed with the kit for the detail and how easily it went together, it proved to be an enjoyable build and I am reasonably pleased with the finished model. 20200805_184408 by Ghostbase, on Flickr She was painted using a spray can, I think it was Humbrol 11 silver, and all other colours were brushed using Vallejo acrylics. In reality she is much shinier than in my photos. 20200805_184426 by Ghostbase, on Flickr So why "vanilla"? She was supposed to be finished as F-86F 51-12958 "The Paper Tiger" flown by Capt. Harold E. Fischer in Korea in 1953. The problem was the kit decals and specifically the yellow bands on the wing and the fuselage. As much as I drowned them in Decalfix they refused to settle, Inevitably I got frustrated and ham-fisted and they ended up in the bin. I checked my references and found that the F-86F was operated in Europe with buzz codes as well as U.S. Air Force titles on the forward fuselage so I decided to go for a just-out-of-depot look and add a couple of U.S. Air Force decals from the spares box. 20200805_184309 by Ghostbase, on Flickr My next 1/48 Sabre will be the new Airfix kit when it is released. Michael

Hi All, Here's the Academy Gulf War Warrior which I've marked up as a Cheshire Regiment UN vehicle in Bosnia using the excellent Star decals set. The kit is a challenge with no PE,clear parts or individual link tracks. Lots of release marks including one on the front face of all of the turret vision blocks. I don' t think its that accurate as a Gulf War example so this will be way off for detail fans. The mud was to try and disguise the poor rubber band tracks. I did find an ABER barrel which is a huge improvement over the kit one. Usual C&C Welcome. Regards David

Hello Britmodellers! Here's one of my lockdown builds, made for the In The Navy groupbuild. It's the Kinetic 1/32 kit (reboxed Academy) and one of the best jet models you can get. This one's mostly out of the box except the cockpit (Avionix), seats (Aires), chaff buckets (F4dable Models) and armament, which is a mix of Wolfpack (GBU-38) and Trumpeter (GBU-12). It's a really attractive two-sided scheme with the flag on the airbrake, excellent decals by Flying Leathernecks. I used Xtracrylix paint for the main scheme and Colourcoats for the wear and tear effects. This aircraft was painted in Kuwait at the end of the deployment in 2007 but my main references were some excellent photos of it at Las Vegas shortly afterwards, so the degree of dirtiness is reasonable for a special scheme! The wings were depicted folded even though that's not normal for land-based Marine examples, because I think it's nice to show off an aircraft's unique features on a model! The two-sided scheme is also very attractive, commemorating all the units making up MAG-2 at the time. The cockpit was a Black Box/Avionix set from way back, but built up really well. The kit canopy was less fun to build...it's the biggest clear part I've seen on any model, and the attachment points were very flimsy to hold such a large cantilevered piece. Epoxy glue was the only solution. Unusually for me, I even painted up the underside (out of sight out of mind is my usual policy 😂) If anyone's still reading this, the build thread is here: All the best, stay safe and thanks for looking, Alan

?'ve just bought the Academy C-97A in 1/72. I was wondering in is possible to convert it in a Civil B-377 thanks

So I really wanted a Flogger in my collection. The Academy kit was pretty much all I could get my hands on but, knowing the issues with fit and low level of detail, I was hesitant. Ended up biting the bullet after all and steeled myself to expect very little from the build. As expected, the cockpit detail was sparse (and that's being generous) so I stuck a pilot in there after having raised the seat to a more reasonable height, and closed up the canopy. The intakes on both sides of the fuselage had the most horrible fit; these needed large amounts of putty and coarse-grit sanding to shape and smooth the step/join. The main landing gear proved a tricky affair as well, being complex but poorly described in the instructions. I consider it a minor accomplishment achieving good alignment so the model sits evenly on its gear. Being a cheap kit I saw no point to putting in any aftermarket - so this is a completely OOB build. Please excuse the overall grey scheme, it is rather plain. Thanks for looking

Afternoon All! Second entry into this GB. I'll be a bit slow at making a start on this one - working on a few other bits too at the mow. Have the Eduard mask set already and some pre painted etched belts on their way over in the post. I'll be doing the box art markings so that it fits within the time frame needed for the GB I've been having a read over some the previous WIPs on this kit on here. From what I can gather based on what I've read here and on the IMPS link that has popped up a lot - I'm thinking it should be interior green through, with no bronze green around the pilot area? Couldn't find any info on the bomb bay colour - interior green is called out in the AM instructions or should it be zinc yellow / insignia white etc? Any thoughts? This will the first time I've build any of the re-boxed Accurate Miniatures kits so looking forwards to it. Aaron

New Academy mold, furball decals...

New Academy mold, furball decals...

Academy is to release in 2019 a new tool 1/144th Rockwell B-1B kit in the MCP (Multi Color Parts) serie - ref. 12620 Source: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235047967-academy-catalog-2019/&do=findComment&comment=3218086 Box art V.P.

Good day, colleagues! So, finally, I finished my "Black Cat". Carried with her for 3 months, I wanted to slightly improve and diversify the interior, then more and more. By the way, to simulate walkie-talkies, electrical panels and other equipment I tried to use all kinds of SMD components from the old computer motherboard (engineers at work helped). They just fit in size and shape. You can experiment endlessly. I put lead in the nose for stability, but when I put it together, it turned out that the tail was still heavier. In general, the heavy construction came out, so I had to put it on a stand. Separately painted the wing and fuselage. First, in Tamiya aluminum, it blew matte black from above, then, with a wet nulevka, polished black in places to visible “metal”. Well, then I took up oil with white spirit. Top coated with matte varnishes, on the sides matte + glossy (mixture). The junction of the "glass" with the body paved with strips of aluminum self-adhesive, pre-knurling. Redid a lot, not much. Some errors came out on a macro shot. He painted as usual with paints Mr.Hobby, Valejio, art oil from the times of the USSR. The latest photos show the stages of work. Enjoy watching! Sincerely, Mikhail.

Hello everyone, here comes my second entry for this group build. A Super Etendard with spotting the 100 years of French naval aviation livery. As you can see I was crazyenough to order PE-parts again but no masks. This is going to be fun. The kit itself is not overlz complicated it is currently also the only Etendard readily available in 1:72 so my choices where slighly limited. the Syhart decals are as always a joy to the eye however if the Delta Ramex La Fayette is anything to go by,they will be quite fiddly to place. I also have a question for the seasoned modeller. How do I make sure I have the perfect transition and don't get any colour bleeding around the thin yellow line - the line is provided as a decal. My idea was to paint everzthing black, place the yellow decal and then mask the hell out of it, with flexible masking tape. but mazbe someone has a cleverer solution?

Maybe a simple question to ask, but I just can't figure out by reading some of the online reviews; which is the best B-17F in 1/72? The obvious candidates are Academy, Hasegawa and Revell. Any Britmodellers out there that have some good pointers for me?

After planning to build an airplane after a while spent pretty much exclusively with 28mm wargaming figures and armor, me and my friend decided to tackle this lovely kit from Academy in a parallel build starting on May 1st. Dalibor's build can be seen here: My original plan was for this to be straight out of the box build, however one thing lead to another and here's the (for now) complete list of aftermarket detail set: Quickboost Flaps Quickboost Ejection seat Eduard PE Zoom set Aires Exhaust nozzle Master Model pitot tube (not pictured, currently in transport) The plan is to build this as the second decal option out of the box - VF-103 Sluggers BuNo 150303/AJ-201 | USS Forrestal 1964 The flaps are pictured after I've already cleaned them as this was a bit of a worry - managing to cut them clear and not breaking/destroying them in the process. In the end it turned out to be a walk in the park and tehy really look ace. Next step will be the actual removal of the flaps that are part of the wing. So this is it for now. Tune in tomorrow for an update of the first day spent with this lovely kit.