VMFA-451 Warlords
F-4J Phantoms

Impact Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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As the sheet number suggests, this is the third issue of specialized markings for United States Marine Corps (USMC) aircraft from Impact Hobby Decals.  For those who have not seen Impact Decals before, they are owned and run by Kevin Taylor and Dan Yeiter whose philosophy is to provide decal sheets that are based on units and/or squadrons rather than just by aircraft type.  The company is based in Camby, Indiana in the United States.

Their website http://www.impacthobbydecals.com/index.html tells us that the concept for Impact Decals came about several years ago when Kevin decided to build all the aircraft that his former squadron (VMA-542) flew since they were established back in WWII.   Finding the kits in his preferred scale was hard enough but finding decals for his squadron for eight different aircraft was impossible.  This led to the creation of Impact Hobby Decals which has got to be a big win for those with an interest in modelling aircraft flown by the United States Marine Corps.

This sheet, 48-003, provides markings for three McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantoms flown by VMFA 451, the ‘Warlords’ based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.

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Thumbnail panels:

All of the F-4s on the sheet are finished in the glorious gull grey over white camouflage scheme with high visibility markings.  The individual options are:

• McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom Bureau number 153821 from September 1971.  It features a large blue and white star spangled chevron on its vertical stabiliser and a blue and white star spangled sash over the fuselage spine.  The entire vertical stabiliser on this machine was painted white rather than just the rudder.  Impact Decals have provided this marking in blue so you will simply need to paint the stabiliser white and apply the decal so as the stars appear white.  The fuselage sash is supplied as a two separate decals to ease placement but it is a “complete” marking and no pre-painting is required.

• McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom Bureau number 153840.  The time period for the machine is not known and Impact Decals have provided fictitious crew names for the canopy rails as the correct names were not legible in the photographs used as reference for the sheet.   The machine features the same fuselage sash but the vertical stabiliser wears a large and menacing mace rather than the more traditional star spangled chevron associated with the ‘Warlords’.

• McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom Bureau number 153821 from November of 1979.  The star spangled chevron makes a return to the vertical stabiliser with this option albeit a smaller one.  The fuselage sash is also worn.

There are two sheets in this issue from Impact Hobby Decals.  The larger, normal sized one carries the vast majority of the unit markings whilst the second smaller one carries two sets of fuselage and wing walkways, one in dark grey and one in light grey.  Two complete sets of hi-viz national insignia, Marines titles, fuselage sashes, intake warning stencil data and ejection seat triangles are provided.

The decals have been printed by Cartograf.   They are silk screen printed, thin, with everything in perfect register on my sample.

Support information/placement guide comes via an A-4 sized sheet that shows full colour left hand side profiles of each option in the centre page, generic upper surface plan views and forward nose gear door illustrations on the back page.  Very comprehensive painting instructions that quote the Federal Standard paint colours are also provided.

A list of references rounds out the support material and special thanks are made to Craig Sergeant who has to be “The Guru” when it comes to anything to do with ‘The Warlords’.

The support information/placement guide and decal sheets come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag.

Nice stuff from Impact decals.  The sheet provides good quality decals with comprehensive painting instructions to enable you to model three F-4s from the hi-viz era of USMC aviation.

Thanks to Impact Hobby Decals for the review sample.

Review Copyright © 2009 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 6 January, 2009
Last updated 6 January, 2009

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