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  1. This Phantom was originally built for the US Navy as 153795 and served in Vietnam with VF-154 ‘Pukin Dogs’ on USS Constellation before later serving with the Marines. Following the UK’s decision to purchase 15 Phantoms for the RAF to fill the gap left by 23 Sqn deploying to the Falklands, the aircraft entered service with the RAF’s reformed 74 Sqn at Wattisham, Suffolk in October 1984 as ZE354. Along with its squadron mates, this Phantom was soon adorned with the unit’s famous black fin and served until mid-1991 when the Tigers took on surplus Phantom FGR2s until disbanding in 1992. This is the 1/48 Academy kit, and it was not without its issues, particularly the fit of the intake sections to the side of the fuselage. The nose section also required filler underneath, but although due to age it compares unfavourably to new-tool Airfix (understandably!), with some care it’s a reasonable build. I particularly like the breakdown of the tail section as it makes painting much simpler. WIP here: I used the Eduard cockpit detail set to enhance the instrument panels, and made my own canopy mirrors. Markings are from the Xtradecal ‘History of 74 Sqn’ set, plus a few stencils, etc from the spares box. I’m still looking for the crew names for the canopy rails. Paint is all rattle cans, with Mr Color 11 for the fuselage and outer wings, Tamiya AS-16 for the underside and TS-81 for the inner upper wing surfaces, plus Halfords satin black for the fin. All comments and discussion welcome! …
  2. My Hurricane is entering a painting and decalling phase and I want to take my time letting each step cure because I am using Vallejo acrylics. So I'm considering my next project... inspired by @Brigbeale's restorations, and @rob Lyttle's Lockheed Ventura/Lodestar masterpieces. Gentlemen, any tips, tricks, and input most welcome. I will also be reviewing builds from @Ed Russell and some articles. Tony O'T was the king of the venturas. I now have four 1/72 minicraft Venturas that I have picked up second hand. This one is a partly-built 1/72 minicraft Ventura I got at a show for $5. The vendor tried to sell me on the fact that a "museum-quality" modeller had done most of the work for me but I told him I was going to take it apart anyway. The paint and seams look good but I want a 1942-era Ventura, freshly built, wearing TLS cammo, and turretless and gunless, snatched away from RAF delivery for the purpose of RCAF training at 34 OTU Pennfield. So this fellow needs to come apart and come clean! I want to make this one into the Ventura coded FY-F AE728 crash that my great uncle experienced while training (described elsewhere on BM). I'll remove the turret and cover the turret and astrodome holes, collapse starboard landing gear, open the escape hatch in the cockpit roof, and open the passenger door on the port side. . In the pic below some more issues... two identical pilot seats? Each with an ejector pin seat cushion? And a giant full bulkhead with a space-age circle in the middle? Nope nope nope. My Ventura needs less than half a bulkhead behind the pilot only, and only one seat. And a better seat. And seatbelts! Behind that would be the radio op position. I'll add that too. I've read crash reports and it's interesting to read the radio op witness statements. They sometimes have no clue about what's going on because they are tied up in the wireless training exercises. I'll need to do something about the nose. I need the windowed version. For some bizarre reason all four of my minicrafts are the USA version of the plane. Same with other ones I've seen in stores. All the RAF versions are being sold cheap down in America where shipping would cost me as much as all four kits together. Drives me crazy but there it is. I may try sawing off the noses and vacuforming new ones in clear. Unless there is a source of noses somewhere? Ah but shipping! I dunno. Does minicraft sell replacement noses I wonder? (for their alternative RAF / B34 Lexington versions) I sent Academy an email. We'll see what happens! Bomb bay is buttoned up. That's fine but it'll come apart anyway probably. In the background you see the tailplane pieces. I would like to cut out the rudders and elevators. I probably need to check on @rob Lyttle's work. Finally, what's this? Some creepy psychopath modeller trophy? No, it's phase 1. Soaking the pieces in water. Then I'll drain them and freeze them for a few days. If CA was used to glue them, supposedly this should help expand and break the bonds. Phase 2 will be handing the pieces over to my wife. She soaks 3d prints in IPA at work and she's due to replace the liquid soon. She'll toss the pieces into the stuff for a week maybe before sending the liquid on to be properly disposed of. I'll clean the stuff off at that point and see what's what. So why start with this one instead of the pristine ones? Something to learn on and just try everything without worrying about it. When my wife bought me the Revell Ventura last xmas (first kit in 40 years) I got so tensed up with perfectionism it really surprised me. Having extra copies helps! This one will proceed slowly as I need to see how well I can break apart and clean his thing first.
  3. Hi everyone, This is a kit I was not supposed to enter. In fact I was not even supposed to join this GB... And then I realized that it may be a very long time before I can build a good-fitting kit with panel lines already scribed. So here I am, hoping to find this kit ridiculously easy and rewarding. First, a few photos: This is the box art: And now the plastic: And last, the decal sheet: I will not be using this sheet, but a Xtradecal decal sheet. More later on that one. Have fun, all of you. JR
  4. Academy is to release a 1/72nd KAI KF-21 Boramae kit - ref. 12585 Sources: https://mmzone.co.kr/mms_tool/mt_view.php?mms_db_name=mmz_info&no=378735 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid05vADP7ySDLhkBhzp6ypqkzwhwTJmtdVAXHdGZfZvtgnH9fpDXTDZmk2vk9ay1v6zl&id=100012407280698 V.P.
  5. Gonna add a companion for the chakra roundeled Tempest. Seems there is no foto evidence, that RIAF Mk XIVs wore chakras, but it´s possible. DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr according to the info provided by a fellow Indian modeler and book author here on Britmodeller, almost all RIAF XIVs had clipped wings, so did cut away the wing tips DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr
  6. Academy 2023 thread - link Waiting the new catalogue expected in February 2024. Newsletter Q1 - 2024 Source: https://academy.co.kr/article/공지사항/1/1480/ The aircraft kits: - ref. 12636 - Tupolev Tu-22M3 "Backfire-C" - (ex-Minicraft Model Kits) - ref. 12637 - Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star - USAF - (ex-Minicraft Model Kits) And the targets V.P.
  7. Here is my third potential build for this STGB I am still trying to pull together references but it will essentially be this: Martin
  8. Well, here's my Cunning Plan! I already gave a sneak preview in the STGB chat,: which have since then been joined by a couple of saucy Special Hobby Streaks. I plan to build four Koninklijke Luchtmacht models (yay, ambition!): - Fighter bomber F-84E (Academy) - Recce F-84G (Academy with ModelArt resin) - Strike F-84F (Special Hobby) - RF-84F (Sword) EDIT: now with added Heller 1/72nd F-84G! Game on, sirs and madams. Game on. Cheers, Andre
  9. Hello all 🥳 After a long absence, 2 hospitalisations and 4 stents later, I'm back on track. Today I am pleased to present to you a perhaps old acquaintance of mine in a new look. I used the time of healing to rework the M12 vignette, i.e. figures, weathering, snow effects etc. were edited or added. What started here as a GB developed into one of my longest projects. I hope you like it - comments are always welcome! MD See you!
  10. So I'm in another city and away from my Ventura for a bit and decided I needed a simple little project to keep me out of trouble. I reviewed my stash on scalemates.com and decided a little $5 Academy Airacobra kit I picked up at the London, ON show in October might be suitable. I did a little searching and discovered Canada had one of these planes for evaluation in 1941 and crashed it in the Gatineau Hills across from Ottawa, where I grew up. Here's the plane flying.... ... and here's the plane after the pilot failed to switch from an empty gas tank to a full one. A write off. So I could model AH621 in its glory but at least a couple other people on the planet have already done that. Someone even made and sold decals for it. So it seemed I should do the crashed version instead. I've modelled a crashed Hurricane and Ventura, so why not? I seem to pick the underdog planes and do them in a crash. Based on crash photos I marked up a diagram for cuts. Here's the kit I am working with. Turns out the previous owner had assembled the cockpit and fuselage... without paint but with a huge chunk of putty in the nose because this is a tricycle landing gear plane. Seems he also included decals for the Mongolian air force. Here you can see what was assembled... including one landing gear door closed. This triggered a deep desire to disassemble all of this. Not sure if that was the right way to go. Unlike the Ventura restoration, I didn't want to go slow and soak in IPA. Acetone had worked wonders in the late stages of Ventura disassembly so I used it here, rubbing it along seams with a q-tip. As of last night when I had started (after drinking a stout and assembling the dough for a kugelhopf sweet bread) I was doing well separating the fuselage but then caused some nasty damage where plastic ripped along the nose and tail where the bonds were stronger. So the fuselage was still fused at nose and tail where both were damaged, and the middle was nicely separated. Cue regret and annoyance until I returned to it this evening. I decided to accept the ugly butchery and focus on making cuts according to my diagram. Perhaps the cuts would help me get the putty out and separate the plane pieces. It worked. Here you can see the rudder, second cockpit door, and nose cowling cut off. You can also see the cut along the tail around the radio access panel, and the chunks of putty I was able to remove. So mood is lifting. The crash photos show the tail was bent quite sharply. In order to facilitate the bend and overlapping panels in the photo, I cut the tail on both sides around the radio access panel, and I cut around the top panel as well. However the plastic is too thick to allow for a realistic fitting of these cut pieces together into a "crunched tail". So, out comes a file and I ground away on the edges on the two pieces of fuselage to bevel them thin. Then I assembled the pieces for a dry fit mockup to approximate the crash photo. Not a bad rough start! I need - a stronger tail bend - build a forward doorframe that gets ripped away from the fuselage (in the photo the door is ripped off and on the ground like my mockup above) - remove access panel in nose - thin out and damage nose cowling pieces - open nose piece and add a mulched up reduction gear mechanism showing I'll also work on the majorly deflected elevators and the sheared wing and aileron. Looks like my relaxing little quickie is moving along 🙃
  11. The Hellcat seems to be my "go to" subject for when my modelling is a bit distracted. I'm deep in a BPK P-8A at the moment (fuselage complete, wings built about to be painted, engines being built), but progress is fairly slow, so I'm doing other things in the sidelines. This is the 1/72 Academy kit, using Freightdog decals for an aircraft of 808 Sqn immediately after WW2, at Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). 808 were part of the British East Indies Fleet, operating from escort carriers HMS KHEDIVE and HMS EMPEROR. The chequered cowling is a bit out of the ordinary for an RN aircraft, which adds a bit of interest for me ! FredT
  12. Some time ago, I can't remember if it was spring of 2021 or earlier, I started a 'quick' project involving a few T-6 builds: I like this subject a lot and already have a few built to which I wanted to add more. Unfortunately, as it often happens, this transformed in a lenghty/stalled/frozen project, mainly due to building kits of three different makes which had different issues to solve. In the end I had to face this as three separate builds to make some progress and here I am hoping to complete the whole project. The first iteration is an Heller T-6 in the last 'Red Chequers' livery, it is actually complete but for some reason I stopped before applying the final satin coat. Will have to remember the (surely good) reasons for that before doing anything and finding later why it was a mistake! While waiting for my brain cells to work on that, I present the second build, which is an Academy T-6 with the earlier 'Red Chequers' livery in silver/dayglo red and fern leaf roundels, also courtesy of a Ventura decal sheet. The third one for the moment I won't tell, just say it will be based on the Hobbyboss easykit. Cheers Fabio
  13. This is the Academy models Sherman Calliope. You can find the buildlog here: It's not my best work but i wanted to finish the model and the base so i made the best of it. Comments are always welcome. Thanks for taking the time to have a look. On to the next one!
  14. Here is one of my latest builds from the Academy F-86F Sabre, the QF-86E drone aircraft. As one of the founding members of the IPMS Target facilities SIG, I thought I should set cracking and build some aircraft that were appropriate to this SIG. After all, we will have a table to fill at Telford going forward! Other BM members include @Martian, @corsaircorp, @Corsairfoxfouruncle and @general melchett. Others always welcome! Apart from the internet, one of the most useful reference sources for the build was the excellent book by Duncan Curtis , Naval Fighters No 58 on the QF-86E/F/H/Sabre. These aircraft were full scale aerial targets converted from numerous different marks and origins of Sabre. Thanks to @Sabrejet for an excellent reference publication. The Academy kit is an F with the later ‘6-3’ root chord extension wing which was also fitted to the RCAF Canadair Sabre 5, from which this conversion originally came, becoming the QF-86E. So this was a reasonable choice for this model. All QF-86E drones seem to have been acquired for US Army use, and the serial I chose 23215 was eventually to meet a gruesome end from a US Army Patriot missile, during 1979! The main driver for choosing this aircraft was that amongst my stash of Microscale decals, I had sheet 72-288 with markings for two F-86’s and a QF-86 23215. The Academy kit went together well and seems to be reasonably good on surface detail. I usually use Alclad for NMF finishes like this but I tried out the AK Extreme metallics for the first time, and they seem to be very good. After airbrushing their gloss black primer, a combination of various colour metallic shades were airbrushed onto various different panels to try and achieve a realistic pure metallic look. The orange tail and wing marking were applied using MRP’s excellent International Orange Lacquer, over a white undercoat. MRP’s gloss varnish was applied prior to decals, and after decals, followed by some very light oil washes. A final coat of MRP’s semi-gloss varnish sealed everything in. These MRP varnishes have become one of my favourite solutions for finishing coats. Some initial pictures during construction And onto the completed model I daresay there will be future builds of a US Naval QF-86F and a USAF QF-86H. Comments/questions welcome Thanks for looking. T
  15. Thanks Stephen ! 👍 Rumour: there's a new tooling 1/48th Fairchild Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II in the pipe line. Candidates: Wolfpack Design (too big kit for such a small producer IMO), Academy (dubious as not mentionned in the catalogue 2021, but in 2022 as the rumour source is M. Gustav Jung from Wolfpack Design who has close ties with Academy), Great Wall Hobby (is supposed working on a new tool 1/48th F-14 family, but considering the numerous new tool kits from the Tomcat... So why not a A-10), AFV-Club (after the 1/48th U-2...), Meng (after the 1/48th F/A-18E...), Kinetic (a surprise kit like the 1/48th (T)F-104, Wolfpack Design - so M. Jung - being the Kinetic distributor in Korea). All bets are off. Source: Reid Air Publications Facebook page. If you go to the link about the new A-10C decal sheet, there's a comment from Gustav Jung (aka Mr. Wolfpack Design - link) about a new tool 1/48th Thunderbolt II kit - see herebelow. https://www.facebook.com/177633712268219/posts/4024256017605950/ V.P.
  16. I've done a 1:48 Stuka a while a go but I wanted to do one in my preferred scale which is 1:72. And I specifically wanted to do the 'cannon bird' with the big underwing mounted cannons. So let's get a kit (Academy in this case) and build it - and we're done. Easy, right? Simple 1:72 kit with couple of sprues. How hard can it be? Maybe get a mask set, that will make things even easier. So we get few extras to correct or spruce things up. Okay it might complicate things a bit... ...oh right so we start to hack'n'slash the fuselage in pieces and carve out the existing cockpit details and install a new one - which I guarantee will not fit - and build up new cannons from a random pile of super thin resin bits and throw in some metal barrels just in case. I'm not sure yet but this might be the hard part of the build. 😬 Oh and the best part, deadline is 24th of February, hoping to attend a modelling show with this build. Oh and I still have to get some decals, Wish me luck!
  17. Hobby 2000 from Poland is to rebox the 1/48th Academy P-38 Lightning kit. - ref. 48027 - Lockheed P-38J Lightning - ETO 1944 Sources: https://www.mn-modelar.com/148-p-38j-lightning-eto-1944-129012 https://hobby2000.pl/index.php?id_product=98322&rewrite=p98322-hobby-2000-48027-p-38j-lightning-eto-1944&controller=product&id_lang=1 - ref. 48028 - Lockheed P-38L Lightning - 80th Fighter Squadron Sources: https://www.mn-modelar.com/148-p-38l-lightning-80th-fighter-squadron-129013 https://hobby2000.pl/index.php?id_product=98323&rewrite=p98323-hobby-2000-48028-p-38l-lightning-80th-fighter-squadron&controller=product&id_lang=1 V.P.
  18. Good day, Here is my sixth submission for the year. This is the new(er) tooled Academy F-14B Tomcat. The highlights are as follows…………… 1. Colors / paints used : A. Engine - Tamiya Gun Metal X-10, Tamiya Metallic Gray XF-56, Polly Scale Burnt Aluminum dry brush highlights B. Airframe - Upper surface aft of cockpit : Mission Models Medium Gray (MMP-072) FS35237, Nose and undersides : Model Master Dark Ghost Gray FS36320, Wing Gloves : Model Master Euro 1 Gray C. Misc : Tamiya Flat Black XF-1, Gunze Flat White, Gunze Flat Yellow, Model Master Light Ghost Gray FS36375, Tamiya Khaki Drab XF-51, AK Buff #AK11031, Tamiya Titanium Silver X-32, Gunze Silver, Tamiya Filed Gray XF-65, Tamiya Clear Red & Blue, Tamiya Dark Iron XF-84, Gunze Burnt Iron D. Washes : Mig Stone Gray ( main panel lines on entire airframe ), Tamiya Brown, Tamiya Black, Vallejo Light Rust, Vallejo Light Gray 2. Kit decals 3. GBU-16`s from Hasegawa Weapons set #VI, AIM-7 & 9 from kit 4. Photo etched seat belts 5. Aluminum metal rod added for support of canopy 6. Master metal pitot and AOA tubes 7. Chalk pastels : black, mid gray, and light gray The fit between parts, details, and options are excellent. The included decals are very good. I often use aftermarket ejection seats but these included with the kit are superb. While there are a multitude of parts, I highly recommend this excellent kit. I enjoyed working on it very much and I`m certain you will too. Thank you in advance, Mike
  19. After finishing the Vigilante and Tempest I've pulled out a kit I've wanted to build for a while, the Academy B17F. Now I know its not the most up to date or detailed kit of the B17 available which is ideal for the subject aircraft which is a formation ship from the 379th Bombardment Grp during 1942, also the wife found it in a charity shop with 2 other Airfix kits loose in the box. Turrets and all guns where removed and the crew was dropped to pilot/copilot, Flt Engr, Navigator, Rad Op and 1 observer. I not sure if any other equipment was removed such as the bomb aimer, oxygen bottles etc but I know that on the B24 formation ships they removed almost everything they could. Some sprue and decals shots. Academy's old style instruction sheet. HAD decals The Academy kits interior is billy basic but it won't be seen anyway so I've made a start on the front end.
  20. Being currently a lot into Helos, it is almost inevitable that I come across the Boeing AH-64. Also, as it followed the AH-1 in the service of various armed forces and the related tenders around the world, it's only consequent it will follow it on my workbench. So it will be the Westland build incarnation of the AH-64, and Academy has a nice kit in 1/72 available, and since quite a while, me in my stash. It's this: It includes decals for the one Capt. Harry Wales, Prince of Sussex flew at RAF Cosworth Airshow in 2013, and I am tempted to do this. You know, a little bit of glamour on the shelf, not always just blunt plastic in olive drab without any personality, but some glitz of the real world red carpet airfields we so rare get close to. And here's the chance - what a rare occasion for us in the airplane section...
  21. Hello team, I'm planning on doing a CAC Sabre Mk 32 using the Tasman conversion with the Academy F-86F kit. I plan on chopping the aft end of the fuselage off the Academy kit and fitting that to the Tasman kit to get the open airbrakes similar to what Courageous did a few years ago with their CAC Sabre (I couldn't work out how to link a WIP thread). In regards to the Academy kit the shape of the airbrake bays need adjusting from a square to a tapered lower edge. Does anybody know the size or angle of the airbrake? If anyone has done this, how did you go about it? Any info would be great. Thanks. JG.
  22. Hello everyone again. Mustang P-51B, pilot - Donald Beerbower What has been improved in the Academy set: Firstly, these are the landing gear bays. All manufacturers offer them in the wrong shape, because... plastic does not allow them to be cast in the required volume. The niches were completely cut out and built from scratch. The machine gun ports have been redesigned, arranged in a cascade and equipped with barrels made of syringe needles and metal tubes. The rear support was dismembered and also completely rebuilt using metal components. The rear support niche is also somewhat filled with parts. Oil and cooling radiators were made and filled with radiator niche parts. The main landing gear struts were also modified on our own - the shock absorber rods were replaced, and the two-link links were cut out. The cockpit was partially redone on our own, complemented by etching from Eduard. Mounted landing light, manufacturer - Elf, Navigation lights - pins made of drawn transparent sprue, painted with a mixture of futura and acrylic. Other additions include True Detail wheels, QuickBoost exhaust tips, and a Squadron vacuum canopy. The main identification marks are decals from KitsWorld, technical inscriptions are from Techmod. *Sorry for the automatic translation and thanks for watching.
  23. My other P-47 build will be of aircraft 42-8130, known as "Frankie". This Razorback operated in the Pacific, flown by Captain Samuel V. Blair, who scored 3 aerial victorious in this aircraft. Frankie was heavily damaged while landing in late '43, determined to be a lost and pushed off to the side at Hood Point Airfield, New Guinea. It was recovered in 1968, and despite initial plans for restoration, has been sold several times since. Most recently, this aircraft was bought by PIMA Air and Space Museum, where it will be restored. I've had the basic Academy 1/72 Razorback sitting around for a while, and figured this would be an excellent time to build it. Decals are by HGW Models
  24. This vessel doesn't need an introduction, but I'll write one anyway: The R.M.S Titanic was a British ocean liner, one of three Olympic-class ships and the largest ship in gross tonnage at the time. During her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York she struck an iceberg at the North Atlantic and sank in just under three hours, resulting in the death of 1,496 of the 2,208 passengers and crew. This was the event that immortalized her name in history. This is Academy's non-premium version of the model, meaning that it only came with the model itself; It didn't have any of the extras that came with the other boxings of the kit such as photoetch or wood decks. Other aftermarket used was Eduard's photoetch set and Master's Olympic-class brass mast set. Other corrections or additions were either scratchbuilt or 3D printed. Here are the photos, before I get into the details of the kit (This is going to be bandwidth-heavy): This is the single longest (8 months) project and largest, most difficult build I've done and it definitely tested my limits as a scale modeller. Being that I usually do aircraft I had to learn multiple skills on the spot to get this model across the finish line. The materials and tools used are fairly straightforward; All of the paints on the model except the white (MRP), anti-fouling red (Mix of (XF-2:2/XF-7:1) and some of the thinner brown parts (light brown marker) were painted with Tamiya acrylics. If I were to revisit this build I'd probably lighten the mix of anti-fouling red and use a much lighter color for the wooden decks and the dark mast color, though. The rigging came from Infini's Super Fine Black Lycra rigging (40 denier), but for the Marconi array that connects the masts I decided to experiment by heating the black PLA filament I use for my 3D printer and pulling it, like stretched sprue. The material behaves like it as well, but is tougher and sags much more consistently than sprue (although more brittle). I used this on the model but the sag disappeared when I attached the lines attaching it to the boat deck and those lycra lines pulled it taut. I would definitely recommend trying it out if you have some PLA to spare at home for rigging that has to droop. As for the quality of the kit, well, of the large scale kits of Titanic the Academy's probably the best one for beginners, but that doesn't say much given that its competitors are a kit released in 1976 and a monster that's twice the size. The way it goes together is relatively straightforward if tedious, but the instructions frequently make it difficult to be sure on anything or to figure out how some parts are supposed to be placed, something that's crucial when there are up to 20 copies of the same ventilator, pipe or crane. The fit isn't great either, especially with the decks and superstructure. It's also highly inconsistent in this regard; sometimes a part will fit just as it's supposed to, and on other times it has to be wrestled in to place. The worst part came when it came to the forward "wall" of the superstructure; This is the part where the bridge windows are located. The gap is inconsistent on each side and I had to use a lot of plastic card shims to get it in place properly, and even then some of the seams are still slightly visible. The inaccuracies on this kit can get annoying as well, so much so that I can't really go into too much detail listing all of them unless I want to make this much longer than it already is. Any builder of the Titanic could uncover many of them through just checking surface-level photos and references and correct accordingly, but I suppose the most important corrections to make are adding a set of missing emergency "cutter" lifeboats (the ones that are opened and hang over the ship), and the lack of C-Deck openings under the forecastle and poop deck. I implemented as many of these as I could but there are some that I had to leave in. For all the inaccuracies, it builds up to a nice looking model in the end, however, and the kit still stands up to what other companies have to offer and is superior to the Revell kit in the same scale. There are many things in the build I know I could have done better in or rushed too much in; but after many months of work I'm just satisfied to call it done for now. Maybe I'll be able to build something closer to the real thing in the future. Thanks for reading!
  25. Well it's all a bit late but I'd like to enter these two: and: they are both relatively modern, state of the art kits. The Revell mould seems tired and has a lot of flash, particularly round the open cowling flaps: Revell correctly gets the gun alignment parallel to the ground, Academy doesn't. But the elephant in the room is the huge difference in fuselage depth: The Revell one (lighter plastic) has a huge belly. Now I don't know for sure (Academy is a -D, Revell is an -M) but I (and the Internet) think that may be a mistake on Revell's part. More digging required... Regards, Adrian
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