About the Company

AOA is a new decal company and they are purpose driven. AOA’s goal was to fill the gap of a lack of decals for Marine aircraft on the aftermarket scene and boy what a way to make an entrance by going to the 1/32 Trumpeter A-6 model. For those of you looking for Marine markings in all 3 scales they should be added to your list.

What’s on the Sheet?

This particular sheet covers three Marine VMA’s from the Vietnam War covering the years of 1967-1973.

The aircraft covered are as followed:

• A-6A VMA-225 (Vikings) – Da Nang 1969-71
• A-6A VMA-242(Batmen) – Da Nang 1966-70
• A-6A VMA-533(Hawks) – Chu Lai 1967-69 / Nam Phong 1972-73

The Decals are extremely bright and colorful with very little carrier film, AOA has used Cartograf to handle their printing needs and anyone who knows about cartograf know you are getting what you paid for with live colors , quality and accuracy.

The decals have a mini cd as an instruction booklet covering paint schemes, color callout along with decal and stencil placement. The 1st decal sheet has the 3 squadron markings while the 2nd sheet has all the squadron tail codes and numbers with the final sheet containing the stencil data. Keep in mind with the tail code letters and numbers aired with the squadron markings you can build 14 different aircraft with 23 marking options

I did not notice any particular color callouts or specific brand of paints recommended so I would assume use whatever fancies you and makes you happy. A good thing in the mini-cd however was the instructions on the cd that showed you how to properly modify the kit parts and model to correct minor inaccuracies.

My thanks to IPMS and AOA models for giving me the opportunity to review these decals and the patience shown to me during some very trying times in my life.