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.

The decals offer the modeler markings for 11 different aircraft. The decal instructions are in full color, very easy to interpret, and the illustrations show the top, bottom, right profile, and left profile of each aircraft clearly showing decal placement. The decal instruction even provide color call-outs in the form of FS numbers.

Decals need to “cover” the colors painted on the model, and it this case that wasn’t much of a problem since the airframe was mostly white. I did take some spare decals and tested them. I applied them to some scrap plastic that I use for such purposes. The scrap plastic is a mess of various colors just to test the opacity of the decal, and the decals tested proved to be quite opaque. Further, there was no silvering. The carrier film is reduced to a minimum on the decal sheet substantially reducing the chances of silvering and completely doing away with the need to trim down close to the decal.

Decals need to be strong enough to resist tearing when being pushed/pulled into position, and yet flexible enough to lay down over any raised detail, and to wrap around a complex curve without wrinkling. My first decal was one of the wing markings and I found that after 20 to 25 seconds in water the decals slid off the backing film easily and snuggled down on the model fairly quickly. As the decaling session progressed I became more aggressive with the decals and began to beat up on them a bit….pushing and pulling well after the decal was in place. The abuse heaped on these decals would have caused some other decals I’ve used to shatter, tear, and fall apart, but these decals weathered the storm nicely.

I did not use any type of setting solution on the model itself, but went back to my test strip of painted plastic and applied some Micro Set, Micro Sol, and SolvaSet to some spare decals. The tests were all successful. No damage was done to the decals.

There were no disappointments awaiting me, no problems, no “fails”, and I found the decaling to go quickly and easily.

Thanks to Furball/D&S for supplying this set of decals to IPMS/USA for review. This product is highly recommended for modelers regardless of their level of experience.