Furball Aero-Design/Detail & Scale 1/48 Colorful F2H-2/2P Sea Blue Banshees Decal First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Furball Aero-Design continues its collaboration with Detail & Scale and this release covers the McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee. This set covers the F2H-2 and F2H-2P in service between 1951-55 with examples from both the US Navy and Marine Corps. In all, 16 options are provided - 12 F2H-2 and 4 F2H-2P.

The subjects in this set include:

• F2H-2, 125663, VF-11, T/114, USS Kearsarge, 1952
• F2H-2, 123279, VF-22, F/103, NAS Oakland, 1955
• F2H-2, 123224, VF-34, K/404, 1953
• F2H-2, 123333, VF-31, K/111, USS Midway, 1952
• F2H-2, 123222, VF-62, F/204, USS Lake Champlain, 1953
• F2H-2, 123292, VF-62, P/214, USS Coral Sea, 1954
• F2H-2, 123339, VA-76, O/312, NAS Oceana, 1955
• F2H-2, 125669, VF-101, T/102, USS Midway, 1954
• F2H-2B, 125067, VF-101, T/103, USS Midway, 1954
• F2H-2, 124973, VF-172, R/201, USS Essex, 1952
• F2H-2, 124963, VMF-122, LC/1, MCAS Cherry Point, 1951
• F2H-2, 123259, VMF-224, WK/10, MCAS Cherry Point, 1951
• F2H-2P, 128883, VC-61, PP/28, NAS Miramar, 1953, 'Look'
• F2H-2P, 128884, VC-61, PP/29, NAS Miramar, 1953, 'Life'
• F2H-2P, 126688, VC-62, PL/912, USS Lake Champlain, 1953
• F2H-2P, 125685, VMJ-1, MW/8, Pohang Airfield, 1952

In addition to the extensive marking options in this set, there are sufficient national markings and airframe stencils for at least two kits. The sheets are 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.

My sincere thanks to Furball Aero-Design for this review sample!