Decals

Keep them coming, Bombshell Decals! The decals Bombshell produces is what the current industry needs, nose art of pinup girls and nicely done! They inspired our service men under wartime conditions and appear to carry on some sort of inspiration for modelers to recreate these aircraft in miniature. There is absolute minimum flash in these decals. No trimming is necessary but a reminder that they should be placed on a smooth finish, preferably glossy. All the numbers and letter designations big and small do not have flash background extended around the complete decal. The flash is a center band enough to maintain character spacing and alignment distance. There are no signs of color overlap, which makes the decals crisp and clear. This is very obvious just looking at the nose art ladies. You can actually see blended skin tones and hair highlights.

Interested in adding an air of realism to your instrument panel?  Well, the easiest way to do that is by using instrument faces.  You know you can’t paint them as good as Airscale can print them.  Well, at least I can’t.

The latest offering from Airscale is aimed at the latest release of Soviet aircraft.  There are no fewer than 31 different instruments represented.  Many of the instruments are duplicated so you can use this sheet on a number of models.  The fidelity of these sheets is beautiful.

Besides the decals, you also are given a small clear acetate sheet to replicate the glass dial faces.  This will require a punch and die set, but it is a nice touch.

The F-14, now retired from Navy service, is one of my favorite airplanes.  Blame “Top Gun” and “The Final Countdown”.  Who can forget the immortal line, “Splash the Zeros!”?  Anyhow, the Academy F-14 is a nice kit and much cheaper than the Hasegawa kit.  There are a couple of options for those wanting to add more detail.  Aires provides three separate options for the turkey feathers – closed, open and varied positioned.  This review is for the varied positioned offering.

The F-14 exhaust section can be seen in any of the positions, which is why Aires offers the varied set.  Normally, while sitting on the ground following the shutdown procedures, the nozzles are controlled hydraulically.  During the shutdown, it is normal for the right nozzle to be closed and the left one opened.  It makes for a unique look.  Here is a good synopsis of what happens: http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-engine.htm

If you are a Phantom Phreak, the one thing you cannot get enough of is stencil data.  The Phantom, no matter what service or nationality, seemed to be loaded with stencils.  Most Hasegawa kits in 1/48 come with a fairly comprehensive set of stencils, though barely legible, incomplete, and they sometimes can be difficult to blend into the paint.  If you have a slatted wing F-4E in your stash, then Afterburner Decals has come to the rescue with this very complete set of stencil data for those Phantoms painted in SEA camouflage and grey undersides.

32-061     $25.00
48-236     $20.00

First, sincere appreciation to our friends at Twobobs Decals for providing IPMS/USA these review items.  These sheets provided impetus for me to finally properly build an F-15 from one of my old units.  Twobobs have consistently filled a niche for decals previously unavailable from other sources.

Wow – this is such a great first release by new company Furball Designs and its chief cook and bottle washer, Geoff Martin. The decals are for the new Hobbyboss 1/48 F3H Demon and include markings for 9 (yup, NINE) planes:

• F3H-2M, 1957, VX-4 (with the Playboy bunny logo)
• F3H-2, 1963, VF-14
• F3H-2, 1962, VF-21
• F3H-2, 1963, VF-54
• F3H-2M, 1958, VF-61
• F3H-2, 1959, VF-101
• F3H-2M, 1958, VF-24
• F3H-2, 1961, VF-31
• F3H-2, 1959, VF-41

The decals come in two sheets – one is color and is 8" x 10" and the other is all black and is 7.5" x 8". Printing is by Cartograf and is superb, is in register, and is colorful. One thing that is excellent is the decals are separated for things like the speed brakes or the wing fences and there is no need for the modeler to cut.

This is a follow-up to Michael Novasad’s earlier review on the 1/48 sheet, but this time it’s the 1/72 sheet. Aviaeology provides well-researched decals on four RCAF Beaufighters covering the changing markings during the service careers of these aircraft. Each subject is complete with narratives on time period and painting suggestions. The instructions and diagrams are provided on four photocopied sheets, but an email request to Aviaeology will get you a promptly sent color PDF of the instructions which will prove helpful. The PDF can be printed or sent to your tablet for reference in your model workshop. You can magnify the profiles as recommended by Aviaeology to identify the subtle shades of extra dark sea grey to aid in weathering your Beaufighter. You also get a tutorial of the rocket projectiles and the rails used, with complete painting guides for them. Listed below is a breakdown of the subjects:

Bob Sanchez continues to turn out great decals.  This sheet is for F-15C Eagles from Bitburg Air Base in Germany.  The markings are on one full and one half sheet printed flawlessly by Microscale.  They include markings for jets ranging from 1983 through 1993 and show three different stencil styles and two paint schemes.  Markings include squadron and wing commander’s aircraft, as well as an aircraft marked for the US/Germany Tricentennial in September of 1983.  Six of the tail numbers shown carry kill marks from Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

The instructions include six full-color pages of drawings and pictures of the different aircraft that can be made from these sheets.  Markings for 13 aircraft are on the sheets, with sufficient stencils to do one full-color, two subdued, and one Mod-Eagle jet.  In my opinion, this sheet is well worth the asking price, especially considering it does function as its own reference guide.

Twobobs has released a sheet for those of us who like