I just finished the Fly Model A1 Skyraider in 1/33 scale and it looks GREAT! I used the Gomix vacuformed canopy (cut so it looks open) and turned my own balsa wheels. The markings on this kit are very similar to those of the 518th Fighter Sqdn, Vietnamese Air Force at Bien Hoa, Vietnam, 1967 (Wheeler, Military Aircraft Markings & Profiles). I can't speak to their accuracy but the camouflage, insignia, and checkerboard fuselage band make this a very attractive model.

Most of the kit went together very well. I had difficulties in the following areas:

--Tail Section: The drawings don't make it clear what the construction best sequence is. I don't think I followed it. The skin for this section is in two halves (Parts 16 P &L;). I recommend joining them first (with lots of connecting strips or tissue paper for reinforcement) and then fitting them over the skeleton.

--Wing skins: The fit on the port wing skin was superb, needing only a little trimming around the hinges. (The wings fold and work very well.) I did trim about 1 mm off the leading and trailing edges of the wingtip former for an easier fit at that point. The starboard wing skin gave me a lot of trouble. I don't know whether the skin is a bit off or whether I built up the framework a bit off true, but I did a lot of trimming and fussing to get this one to fit. It eventually did and it looks fine.

--Landing gear well: It's in two parts (28c & 28d--fore and aft) that get assembled and glued to the inside of the wing skins. Be sure to leave room between them for the wing spar. I didn't on the first wing and had to improvise. On both wings, the horizontal spacer between the spars (Parts 26) will have to be trimmed to make room for the aft landing gear well.

--The landing gear looks complicated but is not hard to build. The hardest parts here were the aft landing gear doors (2 per wheel, 2 parts per door--35b & 35c). Work slowly and patiently, and reinforce the joints with white tissue paper. The kit instructions include a few handy expletives (in Polish) in case you need them. (I don't read Polish but "Szablony" and "Sciqc!" look impolite enough.)

--Wing roots: There are no fairings or cuffs to hide the butt joint between the wings and the fuselage, which means the fit has to be very good or the gaps are very obvious. I decided to accept some small gaps and filled the larger ones with cuffs made of scrap card colored to blend. The gaps occur because the fuselage's paper skin bows inward between the fuselage formers. I think the best solution (Ya gotta love hindsight!) would be to back the fuselage skin at each wing root with heavier card to keep that surface flat. That should make for a near-perfect fit.

--Nose cowling: The paint scheme doesn't line up between parts 22 (main cowl) and 23 (nosebowl). If you're a Photoshop Geek, you could fix this. I'm not and I didn't.

--Dive Brake: The kit allows you to model it open (deployed). I left it closed, since it would not be open on the ground. If you model the aircraft in-flight, with gear up, you can open the dive brake. The landing gear is more impressive.

--The bombs: There are 13 of them!! plus two drop tanks! (Sciqc!)

For a model with this much detail, these are minor problems, and the finished model is very impressive. At the display in Oshkosh last weekend, this nearly-finished kit fooled all the plastic modelers.

This was not my first "craftsman-level" aircraft paper model (it's my sixth), and it isn't a kit for first-timers. But modelers with at least some experience in detailed kits should get good results.

One of the things I really enjoy about this hobby is that at times it seems a lot closer to scratch building than kit building (landing gear, prop hub, compound curves, etc.) This kit is a good example, and while it took a lot of patience and care, it was a joy to build and I'm very happy with the results.