Santa Fe Skyway DC-3 Decals - Part 1

Published on
November 2, 2012
Review Author(s)
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$10.00
Product / Stock #
VFD 144-056
Base Kit
any 1/144 Douglas DC-3
Company: Vintage Flyer Decals - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: Hobby Depot - Website: Visit Site
Decals

Vintage Flyer is a relatively new decal company producing airline decals from the late 1930s to the late 1960s, according to their website. This review is for their Santa Fe Skyway DC-3 decals in 1/144th, which is quite interesting as Santa Fe Skyway was not around for long at all! These decals will be used on a Minicraft DC-3.

The decals come in a standard Ziplock-type bag. They are Alps printed and come with at least one coat of sealer on them, but adding another coat couldn’t hurt. They are crisply printed on three separate sheets. One sheet contains solid white decals as the underlying base for most of the colorful decals. There is another sheet that contains all the black markings. Finally, the third sheet has the colorful artwork on them, such as the Santa Fe logo. This will lead to a lengthy decal process, as you should let each decal cure before adding another one on top of it.

The instruction sheet is printed in color and looks well printed at first. It contains very clear instructions on how to apply the decals and includes a small historical mention regarding the de-icing boots. The downside with the instruction sheet is that it has no color callouts. Now, from the black and white pictures available on the web, the plane is natural metal. However some of the pictures look as if there are some gray panels. It appears Vintage Flyer leaves that decision up to the modeler.

Vintage Flyer offers these decals in 1/48, 1/72, 1/87, 1/90, 1/100, 1/144, and 1/200 scale. Basically, Vintage Flyer offers decals for any DC-3 kit ever made! Other good news from Vintage Flyer’s website is that their decals will soon be digital silkscreen printed. These decals look good, very crisply printed, and in register. Having three layers of decals may lengthen the decaling process. However, it should result in very vibrant colors with no “see through” effect.

Special thanks go out to The Hobby Depot for supplying the decals for review. Also, big thanks go to IPMS USA for allowing me to review these decals. If you’re interested in classic airliners and unique schemes, I highly recommend picking up some Vintage Flyer decals.

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