Hi there. I was just wondering if Academy aircraft kits are good as far as fit of parts and ease of build. I'm thinking mainly of their 1/35 scale helicopters and jets. I hear some bad things about their AFV kits and was wondering if their aircraft kits are the same. Thanks for any feed back.

Supposedly (but I can not vouch for it), some of their airplane kits are (very) good. At least I hope so, as I have the 1/48 Su-27 B somewhere in the mail between Hong Kong and my place.

This Flanker then could become my next big summer project (as in next summer).

I built their 1/35th scale AH-1W Cobra helicopter gunship and it went together great. You had some seams to fill but overall fit and detail was excellent in my opinion.

I built their 1/48 P-47D thunderbolt "Big Ass Bird II" went together quickly and fairly easily/

Salams Hisham,

I've build several old Academy ww2 birds. Despite their old age, i can say that they are good with the exception of decals (some decals are too fragile). but compare to their new kit which i've build a couple of jet and helicopters, i can say that they're great also. Not much of fitting problem. It is easy to build and the instructions are okay too. Hope this help

Academy's 1/35 helos are great. Their UH-1B/Cs are awesome and full of extras. They come with all sorts of weapons options, a 4-man crew, extra smoke grenades, ammo boxes, etc. Detail is excellent. Their AH-1W is great and builds into an accurate ODS bird right out of the box. OH-58D is also a great kit, as their UH-60's are too. They are definitely leading the way with large scale helo kits. Not a bad on ein thier line-up.

Thanks for the feed back guys. By the way, the reason I asked is that Luckymodel.com is having an anniversary sale on Academy kits, among others, and they have some pretty good prices. Check it out.. if you haven't already done that. Thanks again.

I assume you mean 1/32 scale jets, as no-one makes jet aircraft models in 1/35 scale. Academy F/A-18C Hornet models in 1/32 scale are truly excellent kits. Unfortunately their recent F-16CG/CJ is much worse than their Hornet and far far behind the quality and accuracy of Tamiya F-16CJ kit. But Academy Viper kit is much cheaper - I guess you get what you pay for...

Pawel

I am having a go at the mig 21 (1/48) and have no difficulties to report