Fightertown Decals 1/48 TESTEVAL/Adversary Centennial Celebrations Decal First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | April 2011 | Manufacturer | Fightertown Decals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | TESTEVAL/Adversary Centennial Celebrations | Scale | 1/48 |
| Set Number | 48058 | Pros | First markings from the Naval Aviation Centennial and nicely done as well |
| Cons | Nothing noted | Skill Level | Novice |
| MSRP (USD) | Out of Production |
First Look
I was browsing through the new releases listed by one of the online retailers and spotted some new releases from Fightertown Decals. We've been following the terrific 'retro' colors that were applied to a wide range of US Navy aircraft to celebrate the US Navy's 100th Anniversary of Flight. You'll see many of these color schemes here on Cybermodeler Online from Fotios Rouch's visit to the San Diego kick-off of the Centennial celebration (and airshow). I wondered how long it would be before we'd see these color schemes available as decals.
Fightertown Decals is the first to market with two sets of markings, this set focuses on the late World War II and later color schemes as applied to contemporary aircraft. The aircraft in these schemes came out of the flight test and adversary communities. What especially caught my eye were the two F-14 Tomcats in Vandy One colors. There's nothing like an F-14 (or F-4) with a white Playboy bunny head on its tail!
The aircraft presented in this set include:
- F/A-18F, 166673, VX-9, XF/250, NAS China Lake, 2011
- F/A-18C, 164673, VFC-12, 10 (VF-12 USS Randolph Air Group 1945), 2011
- F/A-18A, 162866, VFA-204, 01 (Historic Naval Reserve), 2011
- F/A-18C, 165210, VX-31, (Retro Test Scheme), 2011
- F-14A, 159853, VX-4, Vandy 1, NAS Pt Mugu, 1990
- F-14D, 164604, VX-9, XF/1, NAS Pt Mugu, 1997
- NA-4F, 152101, NAWC/WD, NAS China Lake, 1979
The markings are sharp and in perfect register. The decals are printed by Microscale and you'll note that all of the decals (including the NAVAIR emblems) are printed as single layer decals. You don't see the two (or more) decal layers that other companies force you to lay one atop the other in order to recreate the artwork. Fightertown Decals takes care of that for you with quality artwork and Microscale printing.
While a few decal makers have been promising NAVAIR Centennial decals, Fightertown has delivered and these are nice!