Review by: Geoff Coughlin (December 2011)
Our thanks to Airscale for supplying our review sample.
I recently completed the very impressive Alley Cat 1:48 scale Shorts Tucano and good as that kit is, there are no instrument decals. Enter Airscale.
This company was fantastic at supplying this set, along with one or two others you’ll soon read about in Here Now and it’s fair to say I couldn’t have completed this project without these instrument dial decals.
This review will look particularly at the generic instrument dials set for WWII Luftwaffe aircraft in 1:32 scale.
A number of recent releases make the acquisition of at least one of these sets a must – aircraft like the Revell: Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 88 and Arado Ar 196 to mention just three and all in 1:32 scale – who’d have thought it a few years back!
An age old problem…
The fact is when you are faced with a situation like I was with the Tucano you have very few options that will look satisfying when the project is complete. Raid other decal sheets? Possibly, but probably expensive and a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul I think.
Hand paint them in? I don’t think so, you’d just never get the finesse or fine detailed look I’d want. No, a decal sheet like this one from Airscale is the perfect solution.
The Sheet
Each dial comes as a separate item – fantastic!
The dials are well printed, in perfect register and go on very well, especially onto a glossy surface. In fact that’s all you need to do, gloss up the surface and apply the decals in positions that most closely resemble that of your subject.
Further reference will help you here, and many fine books exist that illustrate the instrument layouts for the main instrument panels, such as German Aircraft Interiors Vol.1 by Ken Merrick and some of the excellent Kagero titles we are featuring in SMN.
The decals went on easily using Micro Set decal wetting solution.
Highly Recommended.
FEATURE STAR RATING (out of five)
Quality of Decals ****
Accuracy *****
Instructions ****
Decal Printing *****
Subject choice *****
Overall ****
Geoff C.