Vickers Wellington Mk.IC

Spada Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Steven "Modeldad" Eisenman

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When it comes to aircraft modeling, it is always nice to welcome a new kid to the block.  Spada Decals of Belgium is the new kid and brings to the “hood” an interesting array of decals in 1/48, 1/32 and 1/24 scale. 

Spada’s first foray into 1/48 decals is for the Trumpeter Wellington Mk. IC.  But be warned, if the decals get separated from the instruction you might get confused.  The instructions clearly indicate “Wellington IC”, but the decal sheet itself has Wellington MK. III” written across the top.  After checking, all the aircraft are Mk. IC’s. 

As for the three aircraft, all have Night undersides and Type B roundels on the wing top.  The first two are in Dark Green and Dark Earth, and the third is in Dark Earth and Mid-Stone. 

The first set of markings is for Mk. IC R1378 / KX*K of No. 311 (Czech) Squadron, late 1940.  This aircraft is quite distinctive with its large A1 roundels on the fuselage with the white ring painted out.  The codes are in Medium Sea Grey.  This aircraft seems to have had mustard-yellow colored anti-icing application made to the leading edges of the main wings, tail-planes and fin. 

The second set is for a Mk. IC  Z1065 / JS*T1 of 16 Operational Training Unit (OTU).  This aircraft had Type C1 roundels on the fuselage and the codes are in red.  The cowling was natural metal. 

The final set is for a Wellington IC in Dark Earth and Middle Stone, X9684 / Y of No. 37 Squadron in Egypt, 1942.  There is nose art of a grey braying donkey’s head on a yellow disc. The code is in Medium Sea Grey. 

The decals themselves are printed by AVIPRINT, but I believe there are some issues.  The first is that the C1 roundel appears slightly out of register, with the red center ever so slightly to the South East.  Even so, I’m not sure I could do much better, if the red was printed separately. 

The other issue is the blue used in the roundels; it appears nearly black to me.  This made the over painted A1 roundel appear a little odd.  When I first looked at it I was a bit confused, as it seemed to be an odd, small Type B roundel with outer rings added. 

I consulted the references cited in the instructions and one additional source.  According to the references, the white ring was over painted in either blue or black.  There is a picture of KX*K in the Warpaint book and a different one in the November 2006 issue of Scale Aircraft Modeling.  In both pictures, the over painted white ring is darker than the outer blue ring.  But in the decals it is the opposite. I realize all the issues of B&W picture interpretation, but I believe it is due to what I perceive as too dark of a blue in the roundel. 

I tried the decals to see how they performed.  I had an outer wing portion of a Hase B5N Kate, which, on the aileron, has a deep hinge line, fabric framing and protruding hinges. The plastic was painted and coated with Future. 

When I used water at room temperature and applied the decal, with an application of Micro Set (Blue Label) on the wing surface, I found it the decal to be a bit brittle; it cracked as I tried to nudge it into the hinge line.  When I used Micro Sol (Red Label) on the decal right when I applied it, the decal was not as brittle and was able to be nudged into the hinge line. 

Finally, I used warm water.  The decal was not as brittle and seemed to settle in and conformed to the surface. 

After the decals had dried, in both the second and third situations they revealed all the detail underneath.  In all three situations the protruding hinge broke through.

I’m not sure if the issues I found are a result of a one-off problem, or merely my perception, which I am sure others may disagree with.  Also, the modeler may want to substitute other roundel decals for those included in the set. As such, and given the interesting subject matter, I recommend these decals, but with the stated reservations. 

Thanks to Spada Decals for the review sample.

Review Copyright © 2007 by Steven "Modeldad" Eisenman
This Page Created on 11 March, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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