Sierra Hotel Alphas

MAW-Decals, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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A new addition to MAW – Decals range of 1/32 scale decals for United States Marine Corps aircraft.  This time they are for the F/A-18A Hornet.

Markings are provided for just two aircraft, the details of which are as follows:

• F/A-18A plus, Bureau Number 162396; the CAG Bird of “The Red Devils”;
  VMFA-232 as it appeared when it was embarked aboard the USS Nimitz in 2007.  Befitting its status as CAG bird, the machine wears high visibility red and white unit markings over its standard tactical paint camouflage scheme.   Certainly striking, its CAG markings comprise red vertical stabilisers with white rudders and red with white “shadowing” unit titles on the spine.   The vertical stabilisers also bear the unit’s “red devil” insignia on a white diamond background, white NH air wing indicators and white CAG titles on the fin caps.  As if that is not enough, the national insignia are also in full colour, albeit in a rather faded blue.   The remainder of her markings are in black.

• F/A-18A, Bureau Number 163154, of VMFA-333, “The Shamrocks” as it appeared in the late ‘80s.  The machine wears the standard F/A-18 tactical paint scheme with all of her unit markings in lo-viz greys.

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Thumbnail panels:

The decals themselves have been printed by Cartograf.  Everything on my sample is in perfect register with the white markings of the VMFA-232 options appearing opaque enough to survive application over the required red background without any bleed through.  Stencil data is provided on the sheets (you get two of them) but it is limited to the larger more visible items and includes data blocks for the ejection seat.  Decals are also provided for the flare/chaff buckets.  These are two-part decals with the black decal that simulates the bucket being applied first and the yellow blue and silver decals simulating the load being applied once the black decal has dried.

Instructions for the placement of the decals is provided for via a single A-4 sized sheet that shows full colour left and right hand sides profiles of each machine as well as generic upper and lower surface plan views.

No recommendation has been made as to what 1/32 Scale F/A-18 kit to use.  My choice would be the superb Academy kit, but be aware that you will need to backdate it to -A-model configuration (not an onerous task really).

The placement guide and the two decal sheets come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag.

A nice sheet from MAW-Decals!

Footnote

MAW – Decals website offers large, clear and sharp reference pics of the VMFA-232 “Red Devils” option.  The page is at http://www.mawdecals.com/Reference/vmfa232.html

Sadly, no reference pics are offered for the VMFA-333 “Shamrocks” option.

Text and Images Copyright © 2009 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 20 May, 2009
Last updated 20 May, 2009

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