Reviews of scale model decal sets.

Review Author
Jason Holt
Published on
May 15, 2022
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

The P-51 in Air National Markings have always interested me and when I saw Iliad Decals was releasing another sheet with them, I couldn’t pass it up. Ironically the Ohio ANG marking included on this sheet was one that I had considered including for the 2009 and the 2015 IPMS Nationals Decal sheets but never made the cut. I am pleased that Iliad decided to do this particular marking.

Their ANG Mustangs Part 3 includes markings for 4 different states: Wyoming, California, Arizona, and Ohio ANG units. The Wyoming Mustang is by far the most colorful on the sheet with its checkered tail and I had considered doing this one for the review but I discovered that the decals didn’t size up to the Airfix kit correctly. I did eventually size the checkered decals to a Tamiya kit and found that they are sized perfectly for the Tamiya kit. I’m hoping I will be able to get around to building that one soon.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
April 2, 2022
Company
AOA Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$22.50

The United States Marine Corps were a major operator of the F-4 Phantom during the Vietnam war flying both the B and J versions.

AoA’s very comprehensive set covers six Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons with more than 15 possible schemes. There is also a full set of stencils included for one aircraft.

The squadrons are:

  • VMFA-115 Silver Eagles which include some neat looking metallic eagles
  • VMFA-212 Lancers
  • VMFA-232 Red Devils with their distinctive squadron markings
  • VMFA-314 Black Knights
  • VMFA-323 Death Rattlers which also includes helmet decals
  • VMFA-334 Falcons

There are left side profiles and top views for all aircraft and multiple pages for the stencils which cover all sides of the aircraft. There is also a small sheet that covers details for each airframe including paint specifics and instructions if certain decals need to be applied before others.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
April 2, 2022
Company
AOA Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.00

The United States Marine Corps were a major operator of the F-4 Phantom during the Vietnam war flying both the B and J versions.

AoA’s very comprehensive set covers six Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons with more than 15 possible schemes. There is also a full set of stencils included for one aircraft.

The squadrons are:

  • VMFA-115 Silver Eagles which include some neat looking metallic eagles
  • VMFA-212 Lancers
  • VMFA-232 Red Devils with their distinctive squadron markings
  • VMFA-314 Black Knights
  • VMFA-323 Death Rattlers which also includes helmet decals
  • VMFA-334 Falcons

There are left side profiles and top views for all aircraft and multiple pages for the stencils which cover all sides of the aircraft. There is also a small sheet that covers details for each airframe including paint specifics and instructions if certain decals need to be applied before others.

Review Author
Tom Choy
Published on
March 2, 2022
Company
Foxbot
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$20.00

The Su-25 (NATO name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin engine aircraft developed in 1975 by Sukhoi. Designed to provide close air support for the Warsaw Pact ground forces, the Grach (or Rook) has seen much action over the years, from Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Ukraine and as recently in Syria. This decal sheet focuses on Ukrainian aircraft.

The sheet is printed in Ukraine by Decograph on blue backing paper, clearly printed and in register. Carrier film is minimal. The sheet provides markings for two schemes – one in a tan-medium green and dark green splinter scheme circa 2004, and another with medium green with dark green “clovers,” circa 2008-2015. Some of the aircraft in the latter scheme were involved in the 2014-2015 conflict with Russian-backed separatists, and includes a few that were shot down. There are decals for eight planes, but nine schemes over all (one of them have both paint schemes for the same airframe).

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
November 13, 2021
Company
Werners Wings
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$25.00

Werner’s Wings has been around for some time and is known primarily for rotary wing subjects offering resin and resin in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48 and 1/72nd scale. Their attention to detail rivals all other resin and decal companies on the market and that can be attributed to the owner, Floyd Werner, who served in the US Army as a helicopter pilot and a helicopter pilot for a local police department. With Floyd’s personal experience with rotary aircraft and his connections in the aviation community, reference material he uses can be trusted to be the most authentic.

This decal set comes with one large decal sheet for individual aircraft profiles and a smaller sheet offering comprehensive stencils. This decal set is nicely printed with zero register issues and with the correct colors. With so many choices of aircraft, you should be able to do multiple builds with one decal sheet as long as the subject are years apart or different nationalities.

Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
November 7, 2021
Company
Phase Hanger
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$23.00

The Hobby Boss 1/48 A-10 kit can make up into an impressive kit right out of the box. As with another production kits however, it has some areas that need detail upgrades to represent the aircraft in scale. One of those areas in this kit are the engine exhausts. The Hobby Boss parts C8 & C9 make up the turbine section of the engine. There is no internal detail so you end up with a black hole inside the exhaust.

Luckily, Phase Hangar has developed a solution. This detail set includes one piece -3D printed exhaust cones with amazing surface detail inside and outside. Two other parts create the internal turbine details one would see if looking into the exhaust of the real thing. Phase Hangar provides detailed instructions online that take the builder through the steps to incorporate this set into the kit parts.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
October 25, 2021
Company
Foxbot
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$24.13

Let’s face it, British aircraft are pretty standard as far as camouflage goes, however, they sometimes exercised some individualism in personal aircraft. This release from Foxbot decals deals with just that.

Inside of the resealable baggie, is a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 heavy stock paper folded in half to provide some protection. The instructions are printed in full color and feature the profile view for six aircraft. On the backside of the instructions are stencils and the color callouts using FS numbers, Humbrol, Model Master and AKAN paints. The plan view is also shown with both the A and B scheme.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
October 25, 2021
Company
Foxbot
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$24.75

The Il-2 Sturmovik is THE iconic Russian aircraft for me. It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t maneuverable, but it was a deadly ground attack aircraft. It could take a lot of punishment and was produced on larger numbers than any other aircraft in history. So you know it had to have some colorful markings. Well thanks to Foxbot we have some examples to add to our collections.

Packaged in a standard ziplock baggie, the decals and instructions are protected from moisture. The instructions are printed on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of high-quality paper folded in half. This provides strength to protect the decals from bending. They are printed in full color and feature EIGHT aircraft, two single seaters, three modified single seaters with the gunner in the exposed back, and three of the later model with the enclosed rear gun position. So, there is something here for every modeler.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
October 23, 2021
Company
Lifelike Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.50

Lifelike Decals from Japan has released its 6th installment in a series of Ki-27 “Nate”. You get a total of 8 aircraft, with 5 of them being of the Japanese “Gray Green” color, which the instructions suggest to replace by the German RLM 02.

One of the other three aircraft is painted in Japanese Dark Green over Gray-Green, the next one is an attractive disruptive camouflage of dark green, green and brown over Grey-Green and the final one is an overall Gray-Green with field-applied Dark Green and Brown on a pattern of stripes and bands, which in some cases even slightly overlaps and covers the national markings.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
May 31, 2022
Company
Foxbot
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$32.99

Maintaining aircraft in hot and humid conditions often meant that they would sit around getting worked on. This gave the crews time to personalize their aircraft and since there weren’t any women around most of the time the aircraft sported some beautiful nose art. Foxbot has taken on some very sexy nose art.