ijozic

JDAM was also supported on the F-14B after the OFP 321 upgrade (late 2001).

Not an expert, but that's what I'm planning to do, as well. You also need to use the supplied Pave Tack pod. Regarding the cockpit, it would be the 'early' F-111F kit. 'Late' one is post Desert Storm with a bunch of MFDs added.

Yeah, such a kit certainly has a spot in the market since AMK turned out to be a bust.

These are some options I've found with a quick search: http://metdetails.com/catalog/metalic-details/aircraft/148/mdr4805-lau-128adu-552-launcher-set-f-15 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/wolfpack-wp48014-lau-128-adu-552-launcher-and-adaptor-set--237758 There are some options which come with the pylons as well, but are more expensive.

IMHO, for a 1:48 Su-27 kit, the best option would be GWH, followed by Kitty Hawk (which is OOP), I guess. Then it's the HobbyBoss kit which should be the easiest build of the three due to a lower part count. The last option to consider would be the Academy kit, but it's from an older age than the other three so could be an option if found for dirt cheap, but it will probably need some aftermarket parts (weapons, cockpit, etc.). There are also some crude copies of it (MHM), but best avoided.

I have an Encore Su-27 1/72 kit somewhere. IIRC, it was a reboxed Nakotne kit. At the time, pretty much the only options were it and Airfix, but have since been superseded by much better kits so I would avoid it like plague. Though, if your friend just wants to glue something together and practice painting it over and then throw it away, I guess it can do, but if he plans on doing a semi-decent job with it, I'd go for something newer and better as you don't want to scare him off with these crude kits from the 80s.

Yeah, the VP should be for the SM3 upgrade, though I can't find an image of what it looks like.

IIRC, the MiG-23 couldn't really support the Exocet missile, the image shown was just a mounting demonstration. Also, the Iranian F-14 with Hawk missiles or R-27 also didn't work out. They still use the old, but presumably locally refurbished, Sidewinders and Sparrows.

The raised rivets certainly look nice, it might be worth giving it a shot. The thing I dislike is how they handled the cockpit side panel detail - it's molded in the cockpit tub which makes it more difficult to paint or remove since the provided decals are not of transparent type so you could try to blend them over the raised detail. Though, at least the panel detail looks more substantial than on their F-4 kits where it's pretty low making it quite difficult to paint well, which made me give up after a while and go for the Eduard F-4J set which is another story (IIRC,

The bottom one is N001, the top one should be N001VP for Su-27SM3, though it looks similar to Irbis.

I was using LM as a quick reference where the Meng kit goes for 50+, but I can't seem to find ZM kits there ATM to compare.

It's a weird omission of a prominent feature that was probably present on the decal options included with the AM boxing, that's all. Especially puzzling, since the company included it in previous boxing so they could have just ordered some more of those PE sets to be included in this one, as well. As it is now, you'd have to get some aftermarket set, like e.g. a potential Eduard exterior PE set, which is not that cheap. If I do get one, I'd probably just make a Cold War Block 25 bird out of it, I think I have some decals somewhere. But, I'll wait to see how it compares

The detail does look kind of rough at places (e.g. panel lines look similar to AMK ones), but on the other hand they are going for a cheaper price than ZM or Tamiya (e.g. 50ish USD vs 80ish). Academy has incomparably better panel lines IIRC, but is overengineered IMHO while skimping on detail in some areas (some cockpit sides, wheel bays, etc.). They also never released E/G variants for whatever reason.

I have a cheaper no-name version of pretty much the same design Iwata Smart Jet uses. I've bought it used and it leaks air somewhere so it turns itself on for a bit every now and then, but works OK generally. But, I also have a Revell master-class compressor at a different place and is noticeably better since it has a bigger bottle to store the compressed air so it can maintain steady pressure for much longer.

Good to hear, thanks. I guess I'll wait for the A, then. It's nice to see Academy stepping up their game as I wasn't really impressed with their Phantom, which felt over-engineered while not that detailed if that makes sense.