Late 2020
As this being my first Academy kit, I was very hopeful to find something good in the box. Something better than what I’ve built so far.
In the end, I just ended up with the same midway quality, but in a different way.
The panel line and rivet detail is nice and in some areas a bit too subtle. Which did make me a bit fearful of using too much paint and losing them, but luckily that wasn’t the case. The canopy came in three parts to have the choice for an open or closed one.
Decals were thin, easily conforming the surface and of good quality.
On the other hand…
Cockpit felt a bit bland. No pilot figure as usual. Some fitting issues.
And again… No option for closed landing gear, but that in itself is not a major issue. The biggest issue is that the wheel wells are clearly shallower than they should be.
It was in no way realistic as the wheels wouldn’t fit in it in any shape or form.
Even the covers were barely fitting in, let alone trying to fit the whole tire and the gear arm into that shallow space.
And the tail wheel had zero place to fit into, so I just left it outside. Imagine it not closing properly.
It is a decent kit, but I am not going to pull the trigger on Academy kits without more investigation in the future.