Several months ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Iliad’s book, Colors of the Falcons, a thorough examination of camouflage schemes and colors used on Soviet aircraft during the Second World War. Since I rated this publication very highly, I was interested to see if their decals were as good. I was not disappointed.

The subject of this review is Iliad Design’s newly released 1/48 scale “Milestone Phantoms” decal set. As the title indicates these decals allow the modeler to finish a Phantom as one of several significant production aircraft. These include:

1. The 1000^thPhantom (F-4B) delivered to the US Navy on July 7, 1965
2. The 2000^thPhantom (F-4D) delivered to the USAF on March 12, 1967
3. The 3000^thPhantom (F-4J) delivered to the US Navy on Sept 5, 1968
4. The 4000^thPhantom (F-4E) delivered to the USAF on Feb. 1, 1971
5. The 5000^thPhantom (F-4E) celebrating its 20^thyear of production
6. The 5057^thPhantom (F-4E) and the last one.

Along with the six sets of decals there are instructions for painting these production milestone Phantoms.

Unfortunately, I do not have a Phantom in the stash and therefore have not used these decals. However, from a close examination I can see that these decals are very thin and should settle down well on the model’s surface detail. The colors also appear to be strong and opaque. The printing is so fine that I can read the stencils with the naked eye. One of the things I look for in any decal is the color registry. This one is spot on.

I did not find a recommended kit mentioned in the set of instructions. These decals should be easy to apply and add a little spark to any 1/48 Phantom kit. They would be a “must have” for any Phantom aficionado. Like Iliad’s book I can highly recommend the purchase of this item.

I would like to thank Iliad Design and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this sample.