AOA Decals is new and a very welcome addition to the realms of decal manufacturers. Their first set of releases are for the Hobbyboss 1/48 A-6A kits. This review is specific to their Intruder Airframe Stencils which are made for High-Viz gray over white schemes. The stencils are applicable to A-6E, A-6E TRAM and KA-6D also. There are enough stencils to do one airframe. A first inspection of the approximately 1/3 size sheet revels perfect alignment and great color. They are printed by Cartograf which is great. The instructions are six pages of superb direction and show the different locations for the A-6E and KA-6D stencils.

The first thing I noticed with this set is how comprehensive it is as far as covering the entire aircraft. By that, I mean that the following is fully covered by the decals in this set:

What you get in the package is a full gear replacement in white metal for both main gear legs and the nose gear. In many cases SAC will assemble some of the kit parts prior to casting . This is what they have done in this case. They have also cleaned up the gear and filled any imperfections that were present on the original plastic parts.

The gear in the kit consists of six plastic and two resin parts. The metal replacement parts make up 5 pieces, two for each main gear and a single piece for the nose gear.

Furball Aero Design, in association with Detail & Scale, offers an expanding collection of decals for the modeler, and this set is designed to be used on the Kitty Hawk TF-9J Cougar. This review does not include any comments on the Kitty Hawk kit, but focuses solely on the Furball/D&S decals.

My initial response to the decals upon inspecting them was very positive. The decals are the result of much research and it shows. But then, that is a hallmark characteristic of Detail & Scale, which provided the research. The detail in the stenciling and markings is outstanding. I noted that the decals were printed by Cartograf and I have yet to have a problem with a Cartograf decal. Detail & Scale coupled with Cartograf printing? That’s a win-win.

Stuart McKay has updated his out-of-print seminal 1999 edition on the Tiger Moth, Midland Publishing’s 272 page tome, “Tiger Moth, De Havilland’s Legendary Trainer”. If you ask, just who Stuart McKay is, I would have to answer that he is Mr. Tiger Moth. Stuart McKay has been fond of Tiger Moths since his teenage years and is the founding Secretary of the de Havilland Moth Club (Since 1975) and is the editor of the de Havilland Moth Club.

Brengun offers 1/32 model builders a way to add a higher level of detail to the already nicely detailed Hasegawa N1K2-J Shiden Kai (Allied name: George). Set BRL 32017 provides about 122 parts on a single photo-etch fret and two on a printed acetate sheet that can be combined to enhance the cockpit and exterior details of the aircraft. The photo below of the instruction sheet shows where the details are to be installed.

As can be seen in the photo below of the fret, each of the photo-etched parts is impressive. The detail is very crisp and well etched on nickel-plated metal to add considerably to the cockpit’s detail.