Academy P-40. UGH!

[The Rat]

No pictures, just a 'heads up': If anyone wants to do a P-40 with ROCAF markings, pick up the Academy kit, but ONLY for the decals. I recently finished the Airfix kit, and it's so far beyond Academy that there is really no valid comparison. I bought it a while back to put the decals on a 'What if?', and just got around to assembling it for possible future whiffery. Not good. If you have one, give it to a kid as a starter kit and buy the Airfix. You won't regret it.

[The Wooksta!]

Which boxing was it?  Academy did a P40 in chinese markings as one of their *really* early kits around 1989 and it was a copy of the old Frog kit (see also their F4 Wildcat, Lockheed Ventura and TBM Avenger).  The later kits are much nicer.

[The Rat]

Hmmm... Didn't seem crude enough to be an old Frog product, but I've never seen one.

[The Wooksta!]

I'd need to see the box.  If it's half the length of a standard Academy box, it's their first one.  Their copies of ye olde Frog kits weren't bad - they recessed the panel lines and the fit was better - just not up to the standard of today.

[KiwiZac]

I'm guessing you're talking about the long-nose, earlier B/C/Tomahawk/Flying Tigers variant kit, Dave?

I used to love the Academy E and M/N kits, they're still great whiff fodder (three on the bench now) but the canopy's too tall and the rear glazing is misshapen and has far-too-pronounced framing. I actually used sprue cutters to get rid of them!