Plane Decals 1/48 MiG-29 '5918' Czech Air Force Last Flight Decal First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Plane Decals is a new company from Slovakia that is producing interesting subjects that are printed by Microscale in the USA. In this first release, we have a special MiG-29A, bort 5918, of the Czech Air Force as it appeared for its last flight as well as the the last official flight operations for the 11th Fighter Regiment at Zatec AB on 20 Aug 1993. The flight ended at Plana airport where 5918 was to be used for spare parts for other MiG-29s still in operations elsewhere in the Czech Republic. The story doesn't end there as the aircraft was restored to flight condition and ferried to Poland along with other MiG-29s phased out of Czech AF service in trade for W3A Sokol helicopters. Bort 5918 is now bort 59 in the Polish AF at Minsk Mazowiecki AB which is slated to operate the MiG-29 through 2029.

This decal set provides all of the markings for this last flight event, including all of the 'zaps' that were painted or chalked onto the aircraft. Plane Decals has nicely replicated all of that artwork. You'll notice all of the bort numbers on the sheet when only two are required. Plane Decals provides you with the option of bort numbers with the white backgrounds and graffiti as a single layer decal, bort numbers with the white backgrounds printed separately, and extra white backgrounds should you find that the white is not white enough when applied to the dark camouflage background on the aircraft.

The decals are all nicely done and the attention to detail, quality printing, and interesting subject will make this a nice MiG-29A to add to your scale flightline. These decals are available directly from the manufacturer on their website at http://www.planedecals.com.

My sincere thanks to Plane Decalsfor this review sample!