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FlightDecs is an Internet
retailer well known for their huge selection of decals from various
manufacturers around the world and great
service. This is FlightDecs
second
decal sheet and they will have more decal sheet releases
in the future.
This particular decal sheet
features 3 different Hurricanes with nose art. Two of these Hurricanes are
Canadian and one is an RAF machine flown by a Canadian.
At right is a scan of the
decal sheet. The printing quality is as good as I've seen....thin
decals that will conform well to the details on the model.....but the
decals appear thick enough to give good coverage and not have any bleed
through of the paint colours under the decals. The colours of the
decals look very accurate and solid. The tiny delicate details of
the smaller decals is flawless. A good example of this is the art
work on the RAF machine which features a "hornet" in
flight......the delicate printing of the wings on the hornet and other
details is flawless and very crisp and clear. There are also some
stencils included on this decal sheet and they are clear and quite
readable. To avoid any register problems with the more complicated
multi-layer
decals, these decals were printed up as two separate decals that can be
layered on top of each other to get everything perfectly lined up.
The
first plane on this decal sheet is an RCAF Hurricane Mk.XII (Mk.IIB) of
135 Bulldog Squadron
(Home Defence Establishment). This was one of the units
responsible for the defence of the West Coast of Canada from October 1942
until May of 1944 when the Hurricanes were replaced by Kittyhawk Mk.IV's.
Note the 'bright' colour roundels as well as the Hamilton Standard
10'8" propeller
with
no spinner. Artwork of the plane is a bulldog wearing boxing
gloves.
The
second plane is a Hurricane Mk.IIC of 213 Squadron with the RAF.
This is one of the Hurricanes
flown by P/O Houle (RCAF) serving with 213 Squadron in the spring of
1942. 213 Squadron operated out of Edku, Egypt in the defence of the
harbour at Alexandria. They painted their squadron hornet on the
fuselage roundels of several of their machines.
The
third plane on this decal sheet is an RCAF Hurricane Mk.XII (Mk.IIB) of
#13 Photo Squadron. #13 Photo Squadron RCAF (Home Defence
Establishment) was formed from #1 Photo Flight (RCAF), an experiment photo
reconaissance unit sponsored by the RAF.
Along with a
varied collection of aircraft that included Ansons, Norseman, B-25's and
Spitfires, the Hurricane was involved in the photo mapping of Canada in
1944. The nose art was worn on the port side only of all aircraft of
the unit. Note exhaust glare shields on cowling and
non-standard fuselage
roundels. Note this aircraft carried non-standard camouflage scheme
which was unique to this unit's Hurricanes and Spitfires. The
camouflage pattern shown is based on surviving photographs. Hamilton
Standard 10'8" propeller with no spinner.
The colour instructions are quite
complete and provide all the info you'll need for painting and decaling your
Hurricane.
I highly recommend
this sheet to anyone with an interest in RCAF and RAF Hurricanes or anyone
interested in building a Hurricane with interesting artwork. You can buy
this decal sheet direct from the good folks FlightDecs.
I'd like to thank
the folks at FlightDecs
for sending me this review sample.....contact them if you are looking for
decals....they have a huge stock of decals from many manufacturers around the
world.
Steve Bamford
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