Furball Aero-Design 1/48 US Navy Flight Demo Squadron 2021 Decal First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | February 2022 | Manufacturer | Furball Aero-Design |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | US Navy Flight Demo Squadron 2021 | Scale | 1/48 |
| Set Number | 48079 | Pros | Nine colorful aircraft |
| Cons | None noted | Skill Level | Novice |
| MSRP (USD) | $19.99 |
First Look
Furball Aero-Design has released a new set to commemorate the Blue Angels' transition from the 'legacy Hornet' to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. This set provides the markings for any one of the Blue Angels (1-7) plus two notional schemes that would have been a beautiful sight on the flightline. During the 1986 season, the team flew the A-4F Skyhawk, which meant that aircraft 7 would be the TA-4J, though in that season, the aircraft retained the trainer base color of white with markings in blue and a nickname of 'Casper'. Looking back further, the post-WWII team added a 'notional' adversary to their performance in the form of an SNJ-5 painted yellow with red Japanese markings on the aircraft. That aircraft was replaced with the F8F-1 Bearcat, also painted overall yellow, but the red markings were replaced with Blue Angel markings in blue. Both aircraft were nicknamed 'Beetle Bomb'. The notional scheme in this decal set is for the F/A-18F to replicate the look of the F8F-1 Bearcat.
The examples presented here include:
- F/A-18E, 165666, Blue Angel 1
- F/A-18E, 165782, Blue Angel 2
- F/A-18E, 165563, Blue Angel 3
- F/A-18E, 165538, Blue Angel 4
- F/A-18E, 165534. Blue Angel 5
- F/A-18E, 165665, Blue Angel 6
- F/A-18F, 165573, Blue Angel 7
- F/A-18F, 165573, Blue Angel 7, 'Casper'
- F/A-18F, 165573, Blue Angel 7, 'Beetle Bomb'
This set provides two sets of markings to replicate two examples - one standard team example and one of the notional aircraft.
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.
Grab your Hasegawa kit, it is time to build one of these!
My sincere thanks to Furball Aero-Design for this review sample!