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I shall be joining with the venerable Catalina. Starting with the Academy 1/72 PBY-5A kit I will add the Red Roo PB2B-2 conversion. I would have preferred to start with a PBY-5 kit but the 5A is all that is around and easy to find these days in the LHS They come with locally added RAAF decals, though I will not be using them. The Red Roo conversion includes the resin parts to make a wartime or civil PB2B-2 and the set I have includes decals for an 11SQN RAAF machine among others. Though since it also has the parts for a civil aircraft I could be tempted to build a QANTAS one! Perhaps I could do both as I have another PBY-5A kit and conversion in stash

Academy catalog 2018 show a new tooling (yes another one!) 1/72nd Grumman F-14A Tomcat "VF-143" kit - ref. 12563 Source: http://www.greenmats.club/topic/4437-academy-172-f-14a-vf-143-№12563-анонс-на-2018/ V.P.

The Academy catalogue 2017 is online here: https://www.facebook.com/academymodeleurope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1575659209129938 News pages: Just one new aircraft tooling: the 1/72nd McDD F-15E & K Strike/Slam Eagle - ref.12550 & 12554 - thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013557-new-tool-f-15ek-by-academy-in-172/ All the other "new" kits being repop (with new decals) or variants from old kits. Nonetheless interesting is a 1/72nd single seat F/A-18E Super Hornet kit (thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235014755-172-boeing-fa-18e-super-hornet-release-in-2017/) a variant from the FA-18F Super Bug - ref. 12535 - released on July 2016 (thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234994146-172-boeing-fa-18f-super-hornet-by-academy-released/). Not even a 1/48th F-4E (derived from F-4C/D kit) nor a FA-50 (derived from the T-50 kit)... And a few other "things" V.P.

This is a leftover from the F-15 GB. I will start this one up after the Telford show. Here is the link of what alread has been done. Cheers,

Hi, That's my latest build. Israeli Apache, AH-64D Saraf. Kit made by Academy, bought cheaply for 8 quid if I remember, it was ok at first glance. Then I bought a Aires cockpit set and a set of decals by Armycast. On top, I wanted to paint it with Hataka IAF paint set for modern rotors. Oh, and of course Eduard masks for canopy. Ok, where do I start.. Oh yeah, I had to adjust a cockpit to fit Academy kit (originally designed for Hasegawa), a lot of mess, but quite easy. Cockpit itself is absolutely BRILLIANT! Well detailed and well designed. Then I moved to the kit.. First disaster. Bad fit, even worse instructions, flash on most parts, etc. I was on a brink of depression. But at some point decided that it's not gonna be a masterpiece (never meant to be:P) so I'll just do whatever is necessary to just finish the model. I wasn't easy, trust me. Finally got to the stage of painting. Another disappointment - Hataka paints. I bought them because I've read some reviews that they're hassle free, easy to use and working well. I was struggling to even finish the first coats. Couldn't find the right ratio, airbrush constantly clogging etc. I've managed to spray base sand colour and gave up. Finished with some mixture of Tamiya paints. Very disappointing as set wasn't cheap. At least decals were brilliant as the cockpit. Anyways, managed to get to the end of the build and the result you can see below. I know, that there are parts missing, I know there is vast amount of errors referring to israeli version of the aircraft, but I simply couldn't care less after a disaster that this kit was. Please be kind.. Thank you for your attention! Bart

I am doing the two together, the Su-30MKI is a ton of work so I've started the Kitty Hawk Su-35 as an easy side project (hopefully). The Su-30MKI will be Blue 01 prototype which crashed at the Paris air show. So a lot of carving and fitting the Sol Su-35 (Su-27M) canards to the Academy fuselage but the major part of beginning has been the cockpit. I have the Neomega Su-30 cockpit but the MKI is a different layout so the front and back consoles had to be remade. I tried making some resin copies of what I made with plastic card but I'm new to casting and gave up. .

Hi guys. Welcome to my latest WIP of the lovely Academy P-38 Lightning. 1/48 Ive been itching to start this for some time now and was held up only by my Eurofighter's canopy malfunction. which has now been remedied and can be found here in RFI (link to be added) I bought this kit a while ago having a yearning to go all silver something I tested out on my Vampire build last year. I'm planning on doing some new techniques on the weathering and painting of the silver panels so fingers crossed all goes to plan. I had also planned on doing the "droopsnoot" variant but while waiting for the Eurofighter parts I ended up falling out of love with the kit decals and falling in love with the brash American nose art that adorned these planes so I went and bought some rather saucy after market decals and some other bits and bobs while I was at it, what was that about the devil and idle hands? So here's my homage to Bold American Aeroplanes with a penchant for rather inappropriate nose art. I hope you will join me it's going to be fun. (Probably) after all it's nearly Summer. First up some pictures of what I'm starting with. The box art is lovely. And here are the decals I'll be using. I love the olive strips on the nose but I'm still not decided on which scheme to go for. this one with a yummy yellow tail and red nose. Or this one with swirls and stripes. any preference? also while checking over the kits office I noticed the lack of detain on the IP and other areas so I couldn't help myself and bought this. looks rather pretty. I doubt if I can make a start tonight but I thought I'd at least start the ball rolling. Thanks for joining me and as always. Happy Modelling. Johnny boy.

Here's my take on the Academy Helldiver, a VB-3 machine flying from USS Yorktown. Nice kit to put together, no problems apart from some trouble with gloss varnish, but that was probably me! Build thread over on the 'Radial Engines Rock' GB. Kit decals, Vallejo ModelAir paint. Didn't use all the stencils, got bored with that part of the build very quickly!

Due to my abysmal work rate with kit building, re; my 1/72 SH Tempest II, there's no way I'm going to get anywhere near finished the SH 1/48th Oxford I planned to do. So, I'm going to attempt Academy's recent Helldiver release under 'Operation Iceberg' guise. Going to be OOB, not going to attempt the PE dive brakes, going to be finished as the VB-3 machine from USS Yorktown. I don't know much about the machine or USN birds in general so just going off the instructions and quick internet searches, so apology's for any glaring errors when finished. Hopefully will be straightforward and WILL be finished before deadline! Davey.

As Prince Harry goes public with the next chapter of his life, what better day to begin a build reflecting his service career. This build is the AH-1 Longbow Apache from Academy, which looks both good fun and comprehensive. and yes, @Procopius and @CedB, it's a flying thing, albeit not much in the way of wings, and yes, it marks a return to the gentleman's scale after recent larger excursions. The model also has another significance, as it was the first online order fulfilled by @Duncan B's BlackMike models. No connection other than as one very satisfied customer. So what are we building? Augusta Westland AH-1 Apache by jongwinnett, on Flickr Augusta Westland AH-1 Apache by jongwinnett, on Flickr Augusta Westland AH-1 Apache by jongwinnett, on Flickr Augusta Westland AH-1 Apache by jongwinnett, on Flickr

About time I dipped a toe in the group build waters. In the stash I happen to have sets containing a pair of P-47 Thunderbolts that would fit the remit. and Unfortunately on inspection the box art on the Academy one is waaaaaay off and both actually have very similar colour schemes which would be a bit dull. Thankfully @warhawk kindly came to the rescue with decals for two alternative schemes So mulling over what to pick for the jugs I realised one set depicts a plane called Ole Cock III and another is Balls Out and the immature Viz reader in me had the casting vote over which decals to use.

Built the ongoing radial engines GB. Revell (camo) and Academy (bare metal) Thunderbolts. Academy seems to have too much rake on the undercarriage but by far the nice kit. Thanks to @warhawk for helping me out with decals WIP here

When I first joined BritModeller, a little over a year ago, the first model that I posted in RFI was an Israeli M51. At that time I had a few problems with posting photos from a hosting site (nothing to do with Photo Bucket, more to do with my incompetence). When I tried to upload the photos (from Village Photos), all that appeared were links. I didn't know what the problem was (I still don't), but it's not occurred since, so I thought that it might be an idea to post the photos again now and hope for better success. So apologies for doing this twice, but here goes. First, a brief run down of how the model was built. The tank that I depicted was what was referred to as a Batch 4 model. Batch 4 M51s were the last ones produced by the Israelis. In 1/35th scale, there are three M51s produced by Dragon, Academy and Tamiya. The first two have got their problems, not least of which is the grossly oversized muzzle brake. The Tamiya kit is a beauty, but it is of a Batch 1 version, but as it is by far and away the best “51”, I used the Tamiya kit a the basis for this build. Without going into a WIP, the conversion consisted of the following; Rear upper hull sliced off of the Academy kit and attached to the Tamiya hull to give an increase in length of 5mm. Extra louvre added underneath. Dragon diesel engine deck added in place of the Tamiya radial engine deck, along with the main gun travel lock from the Academy kit. Extra stowage bins each side made from card and etched brass. Rear stowage bin from the Academy kit. Raised serial numbers (Academy) front and rear. Turret weld lines beefed up with Milliput (beefed up a bit too much!!) Extra turret bin on rhs from card. All of the jerry can holders were replaced with ones from Eduard etched brass. The headlamp lenses are Little Cars. The Eduard set for the M51 was used throughout. It was sprayed with a mix of Tamiya XF57 Buff and XF24 Light Grey in a ratio of 3:2. Decals included in the Academy kit were used and are for an unknown training unit in the 1980's. The casting symbols on the glacis were later removed as I found out that this hull had not been cast by that particular foundry. There are a couple of mistakes/omissions that are in the photos but have since been rectified. As always, thanks for looking. John.

Hi guys planning on evicting some shelf of doom residences, first starting with this p38. I'll probably move some more models into the shelf later, due to doing this one and not the ones I'm meant to be doing! Anyway I got it to the decal stage but looking at it I've done an awful job on the building of the model as none of the joins line up. So first to fill them and then paint job, which has more patches than a pirate. For some reason I started weathering before all the decals went on... what on earth was I do?!! Stripping of the decals sanding back any blobs in the paint work. Then a quick rivet job finished by an OD and NG paint job. Sounds simple enough doesn't it Here's what I've got to work with and who knows what's under that canopy Anyway wish me luck and let's see what we can do! Regards Joss

Hi all, This is my first ever model aircraft build. I chose the new tooling of the Academy 1/72 F-15E from the 333rd FS out of SJ airbase. Straight build out of box, painted and decaled. Apologies for mediocre image quality. I just ordered a light tent on Amazon, and will repost pictures once I have a chance to use it. I began this build in the middle of August, and ran into many issues, like dropping the assembled kit into a pool of plastic cement, and melting the piece where the NMF is up top of the aircraft. I then made it all the way through my build, and proceeded to use an acrylic wash on top of an acrylic sealer coat (future). So, I scrapped that kit (using it as my test-bed) and began a brand new one, same kit, lessons learned. This is the result. It certainly is not perfect, and round two was no walk in the park, but she is done, and I think she looks halfway decent. Let me know your thoughts (good and bad)! Enjoy!

M4A3 Sherman W/T24 “Calliope” Academy 1:35 History The American Sherman tank has to be one of the most famous tanks from World War 2. What a lot of people may not know is that it was once adapted to carry 60 rocket tubes above the turret, a conversion nicknamed the Calliope, after a musical instrument which had similarly arranged pipes. The launcher was developed in 1943 and could fire a barrage of 4.5” M8 rockets. Only small numbers were produced and were used by various US armoured units in 1944-45. The Model The kit comes in a top opening box with an interesting picture of the vehicle firing its rockets, although the effects aren’t particularly well rendered, not that it’s that important. What is important is what’s in the box. There are eleven sprues of bluey grey styrene, a small sheet of etched brass, a pair of vinyl tracks, a piece of string and a small decal sheet. The parts are all well moulded, although the detail is a little soft and perhaps not as effective as some other kits of the Sherman. The provenance of the kit is a little uncertain, but it looks like Academy’s own tool Sherman M4A3 with the rocket launcher parts possibly coming from Italeri. There is no sign of flash or other imperfections on any of the moulded parts and only a few moulding pips. Construction begins with the assembly of the sprocket wheels, each provided as two halves, two piece idler wheels, plus the road wheels, with two piece wheels and two part axle units. The road wheel assemblies are then fitted into the five piece suspension units. The escape hatch and rear track guard sections are fitted to the lower hull, followed by the rear bulkhead, which has been fitted with the exhausts, an access hatch with handle, three piece towing hitch and two small stowage boxes. The idlers and road wheel assemblies are attached to the lower hull, along with the front hull extensions on which the sprocket wheels and their gearbox covers are attached. The drive cover is fitted to the front of the lower hull whilst on the upper hull the bow machine gun, its ball sockets, front headlamps, two lifting eyes and the engine deck hatch with two grille piece are all glued on. The drivers and machine gunners seven part hatches are next, along with the four fuel caps, rear lights and ventilation mushroom. The upper hull is kitted out with the various pioneer tools, front and rear lights, their respective cage guards, the guards being made of either styrene or PE depending on what you prefer, and grab handles. At the rear of the tank the exhaust grille is attached, with the rear mounted covers mounted behind where the idler wheels would be. Above the exhaust shield a four piece storage rack is attached, and another two grab handles fitted to the top of the engine deck. The build then moves onto the main gun and the turret. The main gun is a nicely produced item, moulded as a single piece, with a similarly moulded muzzle attached. The trunnion mount consist of three parts and is fitted to the inside of the inner mantlet, with the outer mantlet covering that. The barrel is then slid into position, being glued to the trunnion mount. The main gun assembly is then attached to the front of the turret, which does as least have some casting texture on it, from the outside, whilst the 30 cal co-axial machine gun is mounted from the inside, with the turret ring glued to the turret base. For the fitting of the rocket launcher legs, you will need to open up the oblong holes on either side of the turret. The commanders cupola hatches are assembled, with the left hand hatch having a periscope fitted from the inside and with a cage guard fitted on the outside. The two hatches are then glued to the cupola which is then glued to the top of the turret. The gunners hatch is also attached, along with the aerial base, which has the option of either a straight or bent version, turret lifting eyes, plus the gunners periscope and guard. The gunners hatch also has a couple of spring like objects fitted and there is a second aerial base fitted to the rear of the turret. The commanders sighting arm is attached in front of his hatch, whilst a searchlight is attached via a PE plate to the base of the main gun. To accommodate the rocket launcher elevation support the gun is fitted with a ring attachment point. The rocket launcher consists of two full width cluster of tubes and four smaller widths. Each sections is made up from two halves with single piece end caps to the rear. Having built the Revel version of this vehicle I found that getting the seams all cleaned up in the bores of each tube was quite difficult. But you can always cover the fronts with a sheet of tarpaulin made form tissue paper and watered down PVA glue. The large rocket tube sections are joined together, as are two pairs of the narrower width tube sections. The launcher frame is made up from four parts, with the front cross member being fitted with the elevation support rod and its attachment block. The launcher side arms are each made up from three parts which are then glued to the side of the turret. The moving gas struts are then slid into position and the attachment plate holds them in place on the side of the rocket tubes. Strangely the is a very nicely detailed M2 50 cal machine gun and mount consisting of fifteen parts included, but this wasn’t normally fitted to a rocket carrying tank, but it can be fitted to one of the options which is carrying the rocket pack. The build is finished off with the vinyl tracks fitted to the lower hull assembly, the upper hull assembly then glued to the lower hull and the slotting into position of the turret/rocket launcher assembly. Decals The small decal sheet is quite well printed, and not as thick as Academy decals used to be. They’re in register and nicely opaque, particularly useful as the stars and other markings are printed in white. There are four stars that have been over-painted in olive drab, although I’m not sure the reason why, they do make for an interesting look. There are markings for three vehicles. Sherman M4A3 Calliope of the US 12th Armoured Division, Fletrange, France, March 1945 Sherman M4A3 Calliope of the 14th Armoured Division, Germany, Early 1945 Sherman M4A3 of the US 95th Infantry Division, Germany, January 1945. Conclusion Ok, this isn’t an uber kit of the Sherman. But it is a great little kit with some nice details, nothing too taxing, which could make for a pleasant break from more complex builds. If it’s anything like the Revell kit, which this does bear a marked similarity to, it will build into a nice looking kit, just right for some heavy weathering. Perhaps one for the weekend? Recommended Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for

Hi Guys, I have got two models in the stash. Both are 1/48 Academy kits( F-15E &F15I). As I have understand is the F-15E more a D version than a E. So for this Groups Build I will build the E into a D. I have got a Blackbox cockpit for a E, b ut that will be no problem as it was intended for the revell kit and they say you use the instrument panels from that kit. I will have a look if I can find a reasonall priced eduard etch set. otherwise I will use the kit parts. As I have got a Cutting edge decal sheet for Israeli F-15's I will use these. O, if you think what a Baz is than that is the name the Israeli's gave the F-15C and D's. It translate into Falcon. I will build the F-15D called "Sky Blazer". It is from 106 squadron and was stationed at Tel Nov in Israel.This airplane hase got downed five Syrian migs and it will be painted in the standard USAF Ghost Gray scheme (FS 36375 and FS 36320). At least I will try. Here are some pictures of what is in the box. The box art The content. As you can see there are some parts from the sprue loose, but it is unstarted. I bought it a few years from a friend and it was already like this. And it was cheap (typical Dutch as I am). The cockpitset from black box. And the nice decals from the Cutting edge set CED48005. And the scheme I will be using. And some books I have from the F-15. It is not much, but I think it will be enough for this build. Otherwise there is always the internet. I hope to start this build soon. Cheers,

Ok I’ve been asked to post these by a fellow member. This is Academy’s T-33. I built this kit when i first got back into the hobby in 2014. Its not the best work still needs harness’s but I figured why not show it. I built the kit to represent a generic S.A.C. Hack aircraft circa late ‘60’s or early ‘70’s. Hope you like it. The only real problem i found was the lower rear fuselage. The wing to Fuselage joint and the seams were a bit troublesome. The Decals from academy just vaporised when they came into contact with water. So I pulled a hodgepodge of decals from my files and came up with this scheme. Most of the decals are monogram from the F-80 kit and The original Pro-modeler F-86D kit. The SAC Band and Badge came from an old Microscale F-84 thunderstreak sheet from the 80’s. Its good enough for my tastes And its not perfect by any shake of the stick. But comments ...questions ?

Hi I have just started to build the new Airfix 1/72 Me 262 and the Academy 1/72 Me 262 In common with my recent theme builds I am building the aircraft of the highest scoring pilots who flew that type. So the top three Me 262A-1a pilots were according to Aircraft of the Aces - German Jet Aces of World War Two by Hugh Morgan & John Weal were: Kurt Welter 20+ jet victories flying Me262B-1a (two seater night fighter and the subject of another build) Heinz Bar 16 jet victories The Academy kit enables you build both his Me 262A-1a Red 13 and the rocket assisted Me262C-1a V 186 which is my first choice to build Franz Schall 12 jest victories However for my second choice ( the airfix kit) I have a dilemma as I would like to build an aircraft that Adolf Galland flew as he was instrumental in the development of the Me 262 and did score 7 jet victories with JV44 that he commanded (representing the elite of the remaining experten in the last months of the war) The Academy kit includes a full set of R4M underwing air to air rockets which Adolf Galland recalls using and will be easy to add to the airfix kit The difficulty is there is so much confusion over the aircraft he actually flew ( let alone the colour scheme) He is widely credited whilst with JV44 flying White 3 although this is far from certain. The Academy kit contains markings showing his rank <- # - and the mickey mouse emblem that adorned all his aircraft. Its very believable that the pilots of JV 44 had their own aircraft markings like Heinze Barr Red 13 but in reality flew whatever was available. Does any one have any further information on the markings for Adolf Gallands Me 262 I would like to do <-#- but would be happier with a bit of confirmation. Ill put pics & comments of the builds, both kits have strengths and weakness but are not straightforward builds Thanks

Hello all, Here is my second entry for this GB - 1/48 Academy F-15C MSIP II, marked as 86-0156 of the 493rd Fighter Squadron 'Grim Reapers' based at Lakenheath. 86-0156 shot down 2 Iraqi Mig-29's during Operation Desert Storm. Kit: Extras: Not much - Caracal decals and Pavla seat. I'll be fully arming this one with 4x AIM-120's, 4x AIM-9x and 2x Fuel tanks - as seen during the Baltic Air Policing mission. F-15C I'm also debating wether to do this one 'in flight' but will cross that bridge when I come to it. Dave

Academy 1:32 F16 Kunsan, 2005, Col Billy 'Wolf' Uhle I finished this a few months ago but only just got round to figuring out a replacement for Photo Bucket! It is an excellent kit and the level of detail is lovely. It is an out of the box build and I chose the smoked glass for the canopy which works well I think. Paints are Tamiya and Alclads for the exhaust etc.

Hi everyone, this is a little bird i made some time ago, it's the Academy sepecat jaguar in 1/144 scale. It's only 10cm long! it was painted with humbrol enamels. I added: - New sidewinder rails -New sidewinder missiles -scratch built avionics pods -new pitot tube -new dorsal antena and light -Also i hand painted the roundels here are a few photos of the process and the final result: Boxart: not sure why they show this scheme because they add desert storm decals xD IMG_7262 by basco.br1, en Flickr These are the new rails IMG_7309 by basco.br1, en Flickr The new missiles: IMG_7345 by basco.br1, en Flickr Here is the final result (before the armament): IMG_7346 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7349 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7352 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7355 by basco.br1, en Flickr my weird looking scratch bomb: IMG_7360 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7361 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7362 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7365 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7364 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7366 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7367 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7369 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7370 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7371 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7372 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7373 by basco.br1, en Flickr IMG_7374 by basco.br1, en Flickr Hope you like it! greetings from Chile Bruno.-

Just finished this one build oot of the box, very nice kit fit is super from academy. Brush painted with humbrol, claer and satin from Alclad by airbrush. Cheers Jes

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Academy P-38J Lightning in markings of 20th Fighter Group. Painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics and Alclad II lacquers. Add-ons: CMK cockpit & wheels, Quickboost Engine Air intakes, Master gun Barrels. Decals from Tally Ho. Photographed by Wolfgang Rabel of IGM Cars & Bikes. Best wishes from Vienna and thanks for your interest.

Good evening from Germany I`m thinking about buying (and of course building ) the Academy B-29 and got some questions to you: At first should I buy the eduard etched Stuff; I mean is it worth it`s prize? And when building one in silver: is it a natural metal finish, so I can highlight some panels, or is it silver painted? Thank you in advance Levin