Karakorums!
The Nanchang K-8 in International Service

El Presidente Decals, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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The subject of this review, the Nanchang K-8 Karakorum, is a small two seat jet trainer very similar in looks, size and performance to the Hawk, Alpha Jet and L-39 Albatross. Although produced in China, it's the result of co-operation between China and Pakistan and has been sold to many small air forces including some from the Middle East and Africa. A 1/72 scale K-8 has just been released by Trumpeter and although I haven't seen it, I'm told it is quite good.

A new decal manufacturer from Germany, El Presidente Decals, have just released their first two sets ( the second is Mig-21s, Fancy Fishbeds) and have a new web site www.el-presidente-decals.com from which they can be obtained. Their presentation is a little different in that they give you a small booklet instead of the usual instruction sheet. This booklet has one or two pages for each of eight aircraft from eight different countries not including China or Pakistan, the originators of the Nanchang K-8. Those countries are Sri Lanka, Burma, Ghana, Sudan, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Egypt. They are very colourful and in most cases there are left and right profiles of each aircraft but no plan views, just some upper wing art-work. The rest of the page is taken up with notes on the particular subject. For each subject, there are four small squares labeled Camouflage, Demarcation underside, Condition and Surface with a letter below. On the back page these letters are explained and I find this to be another innovative idea.

The decals themselves are printed by Fantasy Printshop so they are of very high quality. The markings for each aircraft are within a border and there are separate sets of stencils at the bottom of the page with enough to build all subjects.

My only criticisms of this very impressive first effort would be to add an upper plan view to show the colour scheme and markings on the upper wings and tailplane. It could be smaller than the profiles provided the relevant details can be seen.

Also, the placement of some of the stencils is a bit vague and could be improved if numbers were added to them or alternatively, increase the size of the profiles to make them clearer. I would also like to see a kit recommendation in the instruction booklet.

It is good to see a company coming up with original ideas instead of just following the leader as so often happens, especially with new products. Add to that the excellent quality of the decals themselves and the obvious amount of research involved plus interesting and colorful subject, I can't see how El Presidente Decals can fail.

In any case, after such a good start, I wish them nothing but success.

Thanks to El Presidente Decals for the samples

El Presidente Decals are available online from their website

Text and Images Copyright © 2008 by Glen Porter
This Page Created on 9 November, 2008
Last updated 9 November, 2008

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