Gekko Graphics 1/48 Asiatic MiG-19s Decal First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Gekko Graphics is a name many will recognize as producing high quality decals of interesting and overlooked subjects. Many will also know that Gekko Graphics shut down their business, but good news folks, they're back. Richard Chafer, owner of Gekko recently advised that he had restarted the decal line and was kind enough to share three of his releases.

This release also provides four distinctive schemes for the MiG-19/J-6/F-6 series. For those of you not familiar with the type, the MiG-19 was the Soviets first operational supersonic fighter, but it had some serious engine and safety issues that led to it being exported to Soviet 'allies' as soon as the MiG-21s could enter service. The Chinese engineers developed their skills not only copying Soviet hardware for local production, but improving on the designs in the process. The J-6 was produced by Shenyang and they had worked out the serious bugs in the MiG-19 design making the aircraft safe for People's Liberation Airmy Air Force (PLAAF) service, as well its export version, the F-6 for Pakistani Air Force (PAF) service.

The four aircraft included in this set are:

1. F-6, 7224, 23 Sqn, Samungli AB, PAF, Pakistan, 2002
2. J-6, 20708, PLAAF, China, 1970s
3. J-6II, 40404, PLAAF Air Museum, Datangshan, China
4. F-6, 5548, 15 Sqn, Peshawar AB, PAF, Pakistan, 1970s

These decals are beautifully printed and in perfect register. The decal instructions walk you through the steps needed to render each of the above variants using the parts provided in the Trumpeter 1/48 MiG-19 kit. Detailed color instructions are also provided using FS 595 colors as well as mix ratios for Tamiya acrylic colors. Nice!

If you're wanting to build one of the Trumpeter MiG-19s but are not thrilled about bare metal finishes, here are four distinctive alternatives.

My sincere thanks to Gekko Graphics for this review sample!