If you’re as big a fan of Spitfires as I am, you’re going to REALLY love this product by Fündekals. Labeled “Spitfire Part 1” this product is actually two and a half sheets of decals, packed with markings. Frankly, I’ve never encountered a more useful decal sheet for Spitfires than this one.

Twelve different sets are included in this package (as well as numerous extras) covering everything from Spitfire Mk. 1s from the Battle of Britain to late-war Mk. XVIes. Not only British Spitfires are offered in the mix, but American Eagle Squadron aircraft are included as well. It does NOT, however, include walkways and stenciling, although it does include the gun patches associated with each aircraft.

The Vietnamese operated the AD-6/A-1H Skyraiders alongside their US counterparts. The Spad, or Sandy, was actually developed in the waning hours of WWII. It saw service in Korea and Vietnam. Capable of carrying a variety of ordnance and still having long loiter times the Spad was a vital part of the Air Rescue operations of the US and Vietnamese. Close air support was the name of the game and the Vietnamese were sold Skyraiders and they used them as effectively as their US counterparts.

The Vietnamese deployed the Skyraider in a variety of paint schemes. This first sheet covers the Skyraiders from 1962 all the way up to 1971 with some really colorful schemes.

Two Bobs Aviation Graphics is one of leaders in aviation decals with an impressive variety in 1/32, 1/48 and 1/72 scale. This latest release has very interesting markings used by VAQ-209 with a “Star Wars” theme on the aircraft. A black/white Darth Vader helmet, the word “VADER” on the spine and VADER 1 on a black fuel tank are on the CAG aircraft. The line jets have a gray/white Darth Vader helmet on the tail.

The sheets are printed perfectly without any print register errors. The small markings are very fine and easy to read. All the markings are included from unit markings down to the stencils and walkways. Stencils and other markings are included for the fuel tanks and jamming pods. There is one (front and back) color instructions sheet that clearly show placement of markings for the three subjects. The instructions indicate the correct FS paint colors for each aircraft and easy to distinguish where each color is applied.

Among my several favorite aircraft I have an affinity for the B-25 Mitchell in any form. So when Airfix announced the B-25C/D in 1/72 scale I put one on reserve at my local hobby shop and my plans are to start building at my local IPMS club modeling retreat this January. I planned on building the Desert Warrior scheme so this set will work out perfectly for me. Up until just a week or so ago I usually took for gospel that decal sheets were reasonably accurate…

Upon receiving the Lifelike decal sheet, I started doing a little research on the B-25 “Desert Warrior” that Airfix provides as one of two finishing choices in their new B-25C/D kit. My goal was to try and get to the bottom of the decal dilemma. The dilemma being why did Lifelike Decals release decals to correct some of the decals provided in the Airfix kit.

Fundekals has released a decal sheet covering Royal Navy Corsairs (F4U-1A) in WW2 for 1/32 scale.

The sheet provides markings for 3 airframes; options are

• Corsair Mk II, JT427
• Corsair MkII, JT 383
• Corsair Mk III, JS70

all of them in HMS Victorious during October 1944 in the camouflage colors of Dark Slate Grey, Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky… or their American equivalents, making the actual colors to be a bit of a guess to say the least!

By the way, all these airplanes had the “square wing tips” so you probably will have to modify either the Tamiya or Revell model to convert the F4U-1A into a Corsair MkII or MkIII.

Research on these sheets is very comprehensive as the instructions (only provided as a download) include plenty of B&W pictures.