I bought this Academy Su-27 at my local hobby store, and was very excited because the Flanker is a magnificent aircraft for many reasons. I was expecting this to be a very enjoyable build since academy has always made nice quality kits, but i did not find this to be the case with this model. From the beginning fitting was an issue. Especially with the main body of the aircraft. I think if they broke up the main portion of the fuselage into separate parts it would alleviate the issue. Not many of the pieces wanted to go together, so dry fitting had to be done a lot. However, even with that the kit had excellent detail. The panel lines and rivets look great. As did the cockpit detail. The landing gear bays left room to be desired though. Another annoying problem was that the canopy had a horrific seam running down the middle and you can only have it in the closed position. More good features include, positional flaps, rudders, angle of attack deflectors, and airbreak. The kit also comes with a full load of weapons that look quite nice. The instructions are clear and easy to follow like most Academy kits. The last problem I can think of it that the decals were very fragile, but this could be do to age. I'm going to have to say for the cost of this kit, it should have been designed better in my opinion. It will look very nice in the end, but it will be after a lot of frustration. I would suggest looking at other manufactures.

The Academy SU-27 Flanker model kit has some really nice detailed interior and the outter as well. Im really happy with this model kit It should be a fun build with no problems .

This kit was kind of a sleeper to me. You hear lots of raves about Tamiya models. Ain’t none of them any nicer’n this. Building one for a friend, I closed up the fuselage on a Monday night after a Friday start. There’s not a milligram of putty on it anywhere. Interior is adequate (for me) with instrument panel, side consoles, big ejection handle and targeting screen (HUD?). There are 10 missile positions on this jet, and you get 14 missiles to choose from. The Soviet air superiority scheme is a lot of fun to apply and the jolly shark decals are just the most lighthearted image ever to come out of the socialist workers’ paradise. Alternately, you can get decals to finish this plane in Polish, Romanian, Kazakh or Ukrainian livery. All the paint schemes are vivid. The Su-27B comes in 160 gray and clear parts, three vinyl tires and a small photo-etched fret. Add nose weight to this model. If you’re at all into foreign or OPFOR jets in 1/48, this build is not to be missed.