This is the first release in Kagero’s new Red Series. From what I understand, the Red Series will consist of decals accompanied by 8 pages of color instructions. Although I have the 1/48 scale sheet for review, it is available in 1/72 and 1/32 as well.

The decals and accompanying booklet come in a re-sealable plastic sleeve, which is useful for storage purposes. The booklet itself is indeed 8 pages (including front and back cover), and is printed on high quality, thin (think good quality magazine) paper stock. Good quality color printing has been used throughout. The cover page has a dramatic in-action painting of Mustang #1 on the decal sheet. The interior 6 pages cover the individual subjects of the decals (see below). The final (back) page has 3 small profiles of the subjects, as well as a brief how-to on the best way to apply Kagero decals.

3 aircraft are covered in this decal sheet:

This decal sheet provides markings for eighteen Dutch Thunderjet aircraft. The package includes two sheets of decals and a four-page printed instruction sheet with general details of the decal placement. This decal sheet is a supplement to Dutch Profile #12, available from the same location. The color profile drawings from the book cover the same aircraft and provide a much clearer indication of the colors.

This decal sheet provides nose and tail numbers for all of the aircraft listed in the instruction sheet plus a few others that can be found in the Dutch Profile. A single set of national markings is provided, along with three sets of tail stripes and seven wing tank markings. Clearly, the modeler can produce a single model from this sheet. By obtaining some Dutch national insignia sheets, more models can be produced.

Airscale is a British company producing fine quality aircraft instrument decals, and this is one of those. Unfortunately, I am no expert on instrumentation; can't really tell a tachometer from an altimeter.

Airscale provides a very detailed callout of each instrument dial on its instruction sheet and a locating number to show which dial it is. Very helpful. There are 44 different decals, each with its own number. The bad side is there is only one dial of each per sheet. Many of these are very small and the only way to see them is with magnification. The instruction sheet provides detailed instructions on how to apply them, and tips on their use.

The decals are printed with a lot of excess film surrounding them, so you will have to cut each one out very carefully or use a punch set (which I haven't seemed to master yet). They go down easily and set using any standard decal setting solution. I tried Microset and Solvaset and both worked with no problems.

The Japanese F-2A fighter is loosely based on the General Dynamics F-16, and if one did not know any better, you would think that is what you were seeing. The F-2A is the single seat fighter of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF).

This sheet is in Platz’s NBM21 Decal line – “Natural Born Modellers” and arrives in a clear plastic package slightly larger than the standard decal sheet we have come to expect.

This great set of decals shows the 50th Anniversary scheme of the F-2A from Tsuiki Airbase 8WG 6SQ in 1/72 scale. The decals were printed in Italy by Cartograf and are in perfect registration, and seemingly contain every stencil mark on the real aircraft! I am not joking here, folks – there are a ton of decals on this 6x9 inch decal sheet!

Yellow-Wings Decals have again filled another gap with this release of the U.S.A.A.C. P-39D Headquarters Aircraft 31st, Pursuit Group, Carolina Maneuvers of 1941. According to Yellow-Wings the 31st Pursuit Group were made up of the 39th, 40th and the 41st Pursuit Squadrons. Even though each squadron had their own color markings: 39th Red, 40th Yellow and 41st White, it was the general practice to incorporate all of these colors and have them painted on the spinner or cowl which is printed on the decal sheet. Other markings on this sheet include our National Insignias, fuselage stripes and wing walk stripes. The 31st pursuit Group Icon and numbers are also included.

Also contained in their package are drawings of the P-39D aircraft, which show the locations of the decals on the aircraft and another sheet with the instructions for the recommended way to lay them down.