Syh@rt Decals 1/48 Last Flight BA103 Cambrai-Epinoy 2012 Part 1 Decal First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Syh@art Decals is an interesting aftermarket decal producer from France that specializes in those special paint schemes worn by NATO aircraft for Tiger Meet, Anniversary, or special Airshow duties. Most of their decal line is produced in 1/48 and 1/72 scale with selected subjects in 1/32 scale also covered.

In this release, we have three French Air Force aircraft in special colors signifying the final flight operations from BA103 Cambrai-Epinoy as that airbase is scheduled to be shut down next year. The three aircraft presented in this first part include:

• Rafale C, 104, 113-HH, SPA162
• Mirage 2000C, 88, 103-KV, SPA162
• Mirage 2000C, 85, 103-LK, ESTA 2E.012

This set is comprised of two sheets with sufficient markings to replicate all three examples. You can see in the images that three complete sets of airframe stencils and national markings are provided in addition to the distictive tail artwork. There is also a set of masks provided to replicate the non-skid walkways over the sides of the nose of the Rafale. To make this set even better, Syh@rt also provides color matching with paint numbers from Humbrol, Revell, Tamiya, Gunze, and Testors Model Master. Where there are no exact matches, they also provide mixing recommendations using each brand to get you the right results.

Note that none of the decals need to be stacked atop one another to replicate a given piece of artwork as done by some other decal makers, even the roundels have their center dots in place in this sheet. Nice work Syh@rt!

For more information about this set and the other releases from Syh@rt Decals, visit their website at http://syhartdecal.fr.

My sincere thanks to Syh@rt Decals for this review sample!