A great surprise upon opening these decals is finding a set of masks as an alternative to the decals themselves. Then the secondary surprise was finding out that you’re provided enough information to do either the 2001/2002 early type or the 2003/2004 late type Demo scheme. This isn’t obvious from the cover sheet for the decals so it was definitely nice to find in the package. Someone who really knows the display teams would probably recognize the different schemes by year without needing a reference on the cover page. The decals are for the early type and the masks are for the late type. The decals on what I’m learning are a classic dark blue and white background for Syh@rt, making them stand out clearly. All of the decals for the paint scheme are in the gloss black striping. The modeler will need to paint all of the other shades of gray and silver. On the bottom, there are quite a few narrow sections of black decal where you will have to be very detail oriented in how you place your tape in order to do the base colors. Check out my review of Syh@rt’s “Vandy One” decals for a look at how well they lay down over paint, super thin and they settle into panel lines easily.

The masks are for the late type. The instructions are easy to understand for how to place the masks. I think they do an especially good job at this. All of the FS colors are shown on the aircraft graphic which is helpful. Especially given that some of these shades of gray are really close. Having to go back-and-forth between a color reference and the picture would be obnoxious so it’s great that they put the FS numbers right on the graphic. I actually think using the mask is going to be the easier of the two schemes. Once the aircraft is in primer, each color could be sprayed and let to dry for a day before applying a section of mask. Once the mask is applied the next section of paint can be applied and the same procedure repeated. The masks are vinyl and as you’ll see in the picture, they show the typical little bit of shrinkage over time once they’re cut from the vinyl. There is a separate instruction page that shows the mask numbers, location and paint codes for the late type demo team scheme.

Sheet 1 is all the placards lettering, striping, stencils and country roundels for the aircraft. Again, one of the things I’m most impressed with is Syh@rt’s ability to do the metallic colors on the decals. These are going to look very sharp on the aircraft.