FLYING TARGET CARRIER
1/72
Gloster Meteor T.7 Target Tug
By: Moose Republic Decals
Item no: 72023 Price: £10.50
Web: www.mooserepublic.se
Intended for the MPM/Xtrakit 1/72 two-seat Meteors, this delightful product from Moose Republic provides for two of Sweden’s privately owned target tug airframes, one of which was the first civilian military jet aircraft in the country. There are comprehensive notes on the airframes’ colours (principally yellow and red), along with guidance on which aspects must be scratch-built for an accurate Swedish T.7. Full stencilling is supplied, along with wing walkway lines and two styles of fin-located arrow markings (corresponding to the differing locations for these items, depending on the date). The options are:
• SE-CAS, Svensk Flygtjänst AB, Sweden, 1957
• SE-DCC, Svensk Flygtjänst AB, Sweden, 1960
MAGYAR GUSTAVS
1/72
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 in Hungarian Service Vol.I
By: SBS Model
Item no: D72020
Price: €8
Web: www.sbsmodel.com
This is SBS Model’s first foray into Hungarian Bf 109Gs and it includes a quartet of aircraft, all wearing the characteristic yellow lower nose and wingtips plus fuselage band; several also bear the national colours on the vertical fin and horizontal stabilisers. As is usual for this firm, there are sufficient markings for all four aircraft, including national insignia, and there are three different styles of spiralschnauze for the spinner.
The gloss carrier film should aid application by minimising silvering, and the inclusion of two-part unit shields is a neat touch. It is also available in 1/48 scale (D48020). The four schemes are:
• V3+72, Önálló Vadászszázad, Poland, May 1994
• V.7+90, 2/1. Vadászszázad, Budapest-Ferihegy, March 1944
• V.8+63, 101/2. Vadászszázad. Near Zalaszentgrót, August 1944
• WNr 167207/Black 2, 102.2 Vadászszázad, Munkács, autumn 1944
BIPLANES WITH THE HUMP
1/32
Belgian Sopwith Camels
By: Pheon Decals
Item no: 32064 Price: £15.50
Web: www.pheondecals.com
Pheon’s markings are designed to fit Wingnut Wings’ Clergetengined Camels (although it should be possible to use them on Hobbycraft’s offerings) and provide seven colourful Belgian Air Service choices. The decals exhibit excellent colour density and delineation, with sharp boundaries and there is no hint of bleed through from underlying hues. A small correction sheet supplies correctly toned ‘tulips’ for Jean Olieslagers’ aircraft, while the roundels are each supplied as two-piece items to allow them to be folded over the wing edge into the aileron recesses. The choices are:
• Sk 7, Lt Jean Olieslagers, 9me Escadrille, 1918
• Sc 23, Adjt Edouard Tollet, 2me Escadrille
• Sc 35, Capt Ernest Mantell, 2md Escadrille, 1918
• Sc 33, Adjt Léon Cremers, 11me Escadrille
• Sc 11 (ex B5747), 11me Escadrille
• Adjt Jean van der Voordt, 11me Escadrille, Les Möeres, October 1918
• Capitaine-Commandant Robert MGH Dhanis, 3me Escadrilel
TRANSATLANTIC TRIBUTE
1/72
Phantom FGR.2 Alcock & Brown Scheme
By: Xtradecal
Item no: X72297 Price: £7.99
Web: www.hannants.co.uk
Arguably the most colourful scheme ever worn by an RAF Phantom, the livery worn by two RAF jets to commemorate the first non-stop transatlantic flight by Alcock and Brown in 1919 features on Xtradecal’s latest sheet. All the complex trim is supplied here in decal form, so all modellers have to do is paint the exterior overall Light Aircraft Grey. While there are large areas of white, these are of sufficient opacity to prevent any underlying colours being visible, and the tones are consistent for the roundels, trim and large Union flags on the sides of the vertical fin. Either of the FGR.2s involved in the transatlantic flight re-enactment (XV486 and XV424) can be built, and there’s an additional option for the latter airframe as it appears currently in the RAF Museum, Hendon, in 56 Squadron regalia (including Signal Red vertical fin). Designed for Airfix’s new FGR.2 kit, the decals will make for an eyecatching model.
PEACETIME QUINTET
1/48
Pre-War Hurricanes
By: Iliad Decals
Item no: 48001 Price: US$12
Web: www.iliad-design.com
Iliad has reprinted its sheet of pre-war Hurricanes, in response to poular demand, with a bonus fifth scheme. The featured airframes are in standard Dark Earth/Dark Green camouflage, with a mix of aluminium, black and white in varying amounts on the undersides, with a pleasing mix of A- and B-type patterns. Comprehensive notes will aid modellers in fitting the correct styles of exhausts, antenna mast, propeller and wing covering, although aftermarket products or scratch-building skills will be needed for most of these, in the event a Classic Airframes kit can’t be sourced.
The five options are:
• L1568/S/73, 73 Sqn, RAF Digby, 1938
• L1643/NO-B, 85 Sqn, RAF Debden, winter 1938/39
• L1975/UV-K, 17 Sqn, early 1939
• L1990/LR-R, 56 Sqn, RAF North Weald, mid-1939
• 315, 1 Sqn, Royal Canadian Air Force, Calgary, Alberta, 1939
POST-WAR POLES
1/35
Polish Shermans in Italy 2nd Polish Corps 1945 Vol 3
By: ToRo Model
Item no: 35D48 Price: €7
This third collection of Polish Army Shermans focusses on machines assigned to 2nd Polish Corps, and features a mix of standard US-pattern and British modified vehicles. The wellprinted decals exhibit excellent register, clarity and opacity; the latter is notable on the white items. Colour profiles are provided on the ToRo Model website. The seven vehicles (most noted at Loreto in August 1945) are:
• Mk.III, T224737 ‘El-Muchazi’, HQ Pl, HQ 2nd Armd Bde
• Mk.I, ‘Koziatyn’, 1st Sqn, Carpathian Lancers Regt
• Hybrid Mk.Ic, T-269541 ‘Ryś.I’, Krechowiecki Lancers Regt
• Mk.III, T149291 ‘Wieluń’, 6th ‘Children of Lwow’ Armd Regt
• Mk.Ic, T-331605 ‘Trzyniec’, 1st Sqn, 4th ‘Scorpion’ Armd Regt
• Mk.III, T145685 ‘Bohun’, 1st Sqn, 1st Krechowiecki Lancers Regt, Adriatic, July 1944
• Mk.Ib, T-269517 ‘Rekin.I’, 2nd Sqn, Krechowiecki Lancers Regt
FROM EARLY TO MODERNIZÉ
1/72
Super Etendard
By: Armycast
Item no: ACD 72026 Price: €13.90
Web: www.armycast.cz
Armycast’s stunning collection of ten schemes covers French, Argentinian and Iraqi machines from the 1970s to its eventual retirement in 2016. It’s intended for the Sunny Tri-S kit (re-boxed by Academy and Italeri) and supplies sufficient airframe stencils for at least four models, which makes this great value.
Register and colour density are excellent, notably on the French and Argentine Navy insignia. The choices are:
• 51-0752, 3-A-202, 2nd Naval Sqn, Rio Grande, Argentina, 1982
• 51-0753, 3-A-203, 2nd Naval Sqn, Rio Grande, Argentina, May 1982
• 51-0754, 3-A-204, 2nd Naval Sqn, Rio Grande, Argentina, May 1982
• 65/7447, Iraqi AF, 1984-85
• 65, French Navy, 1978-84
• SEM 51, French Navy, final flight, July 2016
• SEM 14, French Navy, 2010
• SEM 46, French Navy, Operation Harmattan (Libya), 2011
• SEM 01, French Navy, last catapult launch, March 2016
• SEM 08, French Navy, Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2007
NEXT-GEN FLANKERS
1/48
Sukhoi Su-35S
By: Begemot
Item no: 48-039 Price: £18.60
Web: www.begemotdecals.ru
When it comes to decals for modern Russian subjects, Begemot is without compare; here it covers the Su-35 Flanker, from prototypes to frontline machines. The firm’s attention to detail is apparent from the outset, and all Cyrillic lettering is readable. Most fuselage/tail numbers are two-part items, with separate white and red/ blue segments. Sufficient stencils are supplied for a single airframe and a full complement of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions and electronics pods. This set is also available in 1/72 scale (72-055). Among the 20 schemes are:
• Su-35 (T-10BM) prototype, Black 901, MAKS-2007 Airshow, Zhukovskij, August 2007
• 01104/Red 35, Main Flight Research Centre, Akhtubinsk, 2012
• 01-18/Red 08, 23rd Ftr Aviation Regt, Dzemgi, 2014
• 02-06/Blue 24, 22nd Ftr Aviation Regt, Tcentralnaya Uglovaya, 2016
• 02-17/Red 03, 23rd Ftr Aviation Regt, Khmeimim, Syria, 2016
KOREAN WAR ‘FUNNIES’
1/35
USMC Shermans
By: Star Decals
Item no: 35-C 1166
Price: US$6.50
Web: www.star-decals.net
This is the fourth compilation (of five to date) of Korean War Shermans, and covers specialised US Marine Corps vehicles, in the form of flamethrower-, dozerand communications-equipped tanks. There are notes explaining whether specific machines carried spare track links or railway tracks as add-on armour, along with additional fuel/water stowage on the hulls. This is an unusual collection and one well worth considering, and is suited to 1/35 offerings from Academy and Dragon/Cyber-Hobby. All seven overall Olive Drab machines (three primary plus four alternatives) are all from the 1st Marine Tank Battalion:
• M4A3 H-5 Flame, 307403/F-33, F Coy, Panbu-Dong
• M4A3 H-5 Flame, 307457/F12, F Coy, Panbu-Dong
• M4A3 H-5 Flame, TK-8/F11, F Coy, Panbu-Dong
• M4A3(105) Dozer, 103161/B43, B Coy, 1950
• M4A3(105) Dozer, 103247/43, A Coy, Naktong Bulge, August 17, 1950
• M4A3(105) Dozer, 44, A Coy, Han River, September 1950
• M4A3(105) Porcupine, Y53
STARS, BARS AND WARNINGS
1/48
USN/USMC/USAF Lo-Viz Insignia and Data
By: Euro Decals
Item no: ED-48114 Price: £13.95
Web: www.fantasyprintshop.co.uk
Modellers seeking spare 1/48 lowvis US national insignia and NAVY or MARINE legends need look no further than this superbly printed doublesheet package from Euro Decals.
There are examples in white, black, FS 35237 Gray Blue, FS36375 Light Compass Ghost Gray and FS 36320 Dark Compass Ghost Gray, plus ‘Rescue’ and ejection seat warning symbols in the same tones. As a bonus, there are intake warning triangles for AV-8B Harrier, F/A-18 Hornet, F-14 Tomcat, V-22 Osprey and A-4 Skyhawk. Other types catered for include F-117A, A-10 ‘Warthog’, MH-60 Seahawk, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15C/E Eagle/Strike Eagle. This is a great value offering, with sufficient markings for multiple models. This sheet is also available in 1/72 scale (72-114).
TRANSPORT ‘FIX’
1/144
RAF Beverley C.1 Update
By: Shelf Oddity
Item no: SO314418
Price: £4.20
While MikroMir’s small-scale Beverley is a very welcome addition to the hobby, the decal sheet has some ‘fluffs’ in the form of missing letters on one of the schemes. Cue Shelf Oddity’s useful sheet, which provides the correct legends, squadron badges and stencil markings. There are no national insignia, so they must come from the donor kit. The aircraft in question is XM106/S, a desert-camouflaged RAF Middle East machine from 84 Squadron, in 1967.
DESTROYER COLLECTION
1/72
Messerschmitt Me 410
By: Xtradecal
Item no: X72286 Price: £7.99
Web: www.hannants.co.uk
Hannants’ own brand has already released a 1/48 version of this sheet, but now fans of the ‘classic’ scale also have 13 new options for the Me 410, if building kits by Finemolds/Eduard, FROG, Italeri, Matchbox, Revell and the like. Most aircraft here wear combinations of day fighter splinter and mottle, but there is one ‘410 with very busy, wavy over-sprayed camouflage, and another with all-black undersides and vertical tail. There’s also a Soviet-flown ‘war prize’. Examples from this generous cache include:
• Me 410A-1, U5+FE, Lt R Abrahamczik, 14./KG 2, Athies, France, 1942
• Me 410A-3, 8H+WH, 1.(F)/33, Munich-Reim, 1945
• Me 410A-1/U4, Black 13, Lt Kaschuba, Ekdo.25 (detached to II./ZG 26), 1944
• Me 410B-2/U2, M8+Yellow 5 –, 6./ ZG 76, Austria, July 1944
• Me 410A-1/U3, 3U+KH, 1./ZG 26, Fassburg, 1944
