IPMS/USA Reviews

Thank you to AOA Decals for sending these excellent decals for review, and thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for letting me review them! I am very appreciative of the chance to contribute back to the scale-modeling community. AOA Decals is a new company providing thoroughly researched decals emphasizing USN and USMC subjects, particularly of the Vietnam era.

I looked at this decal set from the perspective of 1) someone who has deep interest in USN carrier aircraft but no direct experience, and 2) how effectively and efficiently could a historically accurate model be built using the decal markings. AOA Decals has gone well beyond their superbly researched and printed decals by including abundant references and building suggestions specific to the target kit. Nine double-sided, letter-sized, color pages of general information, paint scheme notes, kit modifications, stencil placement, and specific aircraft markings are provided with two decal sheets, protected in a 9 x 13 inch zipper-closure poly bag. The decals are printed by Cartograf, are extremely crisp, have very good opacity, and minimal carrier film. Furthermore, no registration errors were seen anywhere, even at 10x magnification! Complete markings are provided for one aircraft, but additional airframe stencils are available from AOA Decals (set 48-002), which will allow you to use all of the marking in this set if you choose. I also really appreciate how decals are grouped on the sheets, with each aircraft's markings in mostly the same place. This placement allows better organization for future use; I know this seems like a small thing, but it shows good planning and consideration of the end-user by AOA.

The decals in the set are on two sheets, a large 8 x 10.25 inch main markings sheet, and a smaller 8 x 8.25 inch sheet. Aircraft covered by this set are:

• 5 aircraft from VMA(AW)-224 Bengals, aboard the USS Coral Sea, 1971-72:
  • Three A-6As, including CAG scheme
  • One A-6B
  • One KA-6D
• 2 aircraft from VA-95 Green Lizards, aboard the USS Coral Sea 1973, A-6As, including CAG scheme
• 4 aircraft from VA-165 Boomers:
  • aboard the USS Ranger 1967-68, A-6A
  • aboard the USS Ranger 1968-69, A-6A
  • aboard the USSAmerica 1970, A-6A
  • aboard the USS Constellation 1971-72, A-6A, CAG scheme
• 5 aircraft from VA-196:
  • aboard the USS Constellation 1968-69, A-6A
  • aboard the USS Ranger 1969-70, A-6A
  • aboard the USS Enterprise 1971-72, A-6A
  • aboard the USS Enterprise 1971-72, A-6B
  • aboard the USS Enterprise 1972-73, KA-6D
• Decals are included for MERs and fuel tanks in the stencils.

The AOA Decals website has excellent color profiles of each of each aircraft.

I highly recommend these decals without reservation. I expect an A-6A kit to arrive momentarily and I can get busy!

Thank you again to AOA Decals for providing the decal set to review, and to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for letting me review them, it is a much appreciated privilege.