Afterburner Decals 1/48 Desert Storm Intruders Decal First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | April 2012 | Manufacturer | Afterburner Decals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Desert Storm Intruders | Scale | 1/48 |
| Set Number | 48080 | Pros | Twelve Intruder options |
| Cons | None noted | Skill Level | Novice |
| MSRP (USD) | Out of Production |
First Look
Afterburner Decals continues to turn out some impressive decal releases covering contemporary US subjects and this latest set is definitely no exception. This release covers a cross-section of the A-6 Intruders that took part in Operation Desert Storm. This set is sized for the Revell 1/48 A-6E kit and as we recently discovered, Kinetic masterfully took the design of the Revell kit and did some great updates to fix the original kit's issues. Therefore this set is also sized for the Kinetic kit as well!
The examples presented here include:
- A-6E, 161675, VA-65, AJ/500, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Jan 1991, CAG Aircraft
- A-6E, 155620, VA-65, AJ/503, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Jan 1991
- A-6E, 155600, VA-36, AJ/536, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Jan 1991, Skipper's Aircraft
- A-6E, 155600, VA-36, AJ/536, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Mar 1991, Skipper's Aircraft
- A-6E, 158051, VA-36, AJ/530, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Mar 1991, CAG Aircraft
- A-6E, 155716, VA-36, AJ/535, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Mar 1991
- A-6E, 154135, VA-35, AA/500, USS Saratoga, Jan 1991, CAG Aircraft
- A-6E, 152953, VA-35, AA/505, USS Saratoga, Jan 1991
- A-6E, 155678, VA-85, AB/500, USS America, Apr 1991, CAG Aircraft
- A-6E, 162190, VA-75, AC/500, USS John F Kennedy, Mar 1991, CAG Aircraft
- A-6E, 162191, VA-75, AC/501, USS John F Kennedy, Mar 1991, Skipper's Aircraft
- KA-6D, 152927, VA-75, AC/522, USS John F Kennedy, Mar 1991
Take a close look at the decal sheet. The sheet is printed by Cartograf and the printing is very well done. What's more, none of these decals require the modeler to stack multiple layers of markings atop one another to recreate artwork. This trend by some other decal companies of producing multiple-layer decals is unfortunate as it puts the burden on you to do the work of what should have been done by the decal maker.
This set provides several complete sets of maintenance stencils and markings to replicate at least two kits (and if you use some of the stencils from the kits, you can do more!). This set is designed to work with either the Kinetic or Revell kits.
My sincere thanks to Afterburner Decals for this review sample!