Unfortunately, I will have to still work to get the correct markings on the aircraft I am most interested in.

The Decals

As I mentioned earlier, this sheet was a "must have" for me, especially to get the blue and gray VF-126 A-4M. But this sheet proved to have some disappointments for me. The biggest issue is the color of gray TwoBobs chose to use on some of the data markings.

From this picture and a second one I found in another book, the camouflage pattern in the instructions seems to be right on. TwoBobs instructions claim it is L.Ghost Gray (F.S.36375) and European Green (F.S.34092). These are reasonable guesses for the colors used in this time period. Although, I would probably go with D.Green (F.S.34079) as the images I have look more olive than blue-green, but with weathering, either green color would likely due.

The data markings on the aircraft are positive/negative. As the two color chip comparisons above show, the data markings on the decal sheet are close to L.Ghost Gray, so this aircraft looks like a good deal. Note that the camouflage lines look to be masked on the real aircraft, so this will help with using the decals which provide hard edges between the colors on the two-tone markings.

Moving on to the second aircraft...

This is an image I harvested and reduced from Airliners.net. This is the aircraft on this decal sheet which deeply disappointed me. TwoBobs instructions claim the top-side camouflage is D.Blue (F.S.35109), Graish Blue (F.S.35237), and L.Gray (F.S.36495). I concur with these top-side colors. TwoBobs goes on to say the bottom is L.Ghost Gray (F.S.36375), but images I have show the bottom to be more blue than that. I am guessing it is Air Superiority Blue (F.S.35450). Whether blue of gray, this bottom color is not any real problem, though.

The real issue on this aircraft is with the intake warning and rescue markings color. In the pictures, they appear to be the same color as the L.Gray camouflage areas. TwoBobs decals are way, way too dark for this, though. There is no easy fix for this without resorting to some other decal sheet. I found a potential fix for this by pulling out the totally un-usable A-4M low-vis USMC decals from TwoBobs (48-092 & 48-093). The decals on those sheets are entirely too light for building any low-vis USMC A-4Ms, but they look to be close enough that they may work to salvage this sheet by using the intake and rescue markings on this VF-126 aggressor.

This shot of one of the other VF-126 A-4Ms has some nice clear color to show the data markings quite nicely, too.

Take note, also, to the unit badge on the tails of these two aircraft. TwoBobs provides a full-color badge with a red star. I can not find any images of blue and gray VF-126 A-4 aircraft using the full color star badge. I can let this detail slide, though, since these aircraft changed details frequently, and it is fixable by using the low-vis badge provided for the A-4F (the next aircraft on the sheet).

For case in point about the changing details on these aircraft, note that my image above of the #32 aircraft it has gray national insignia. I found another image of the #32 aircraft after it went to AMARC where it has black national insignia as provided in the TwoBobs decals. Thus, somewhere along the way the national insignia changed colors from gray to black.

Moving on to the third aircraft...

This is an A-4F from VF-126 during the same period as when the above A-4Ms were in VF-126. The camouflage is generally the same as the A-4Ms. Note, however that the center fuselage has a Graish Blue area that the A-4M #32 did not. TwoBobs got their painting instruction wrong on this aircraft by not showing this Graish Blue area (on the side views). This was probably a cut/paste error. Interestingly, TwoBobs got the topside diagrams wrong in the other direction with both the A-4M and the A-4F showing the Graish Blue area. No doubt this was another cut/paste error.

The decals for this aircraft suffer from the same color error on the data markings as found on the A-4M, being too dark. Also, TwoBobs missed the "NJ627" decals that would go on at the top of the rudder on both sides. Below is another A-4F showing the placement of where the "NJ627" would go on the aircraft.

Moving to the last aircraft on the decal sheet...

This is the same BuNo as the blue and gray A-4F on this decal sheet, 155018. TwoBobs seem to have gotten the markings just about the right color on this aircraft. The decals might be a bit too dark of a gray, but they are very close to looking right. There is, again, like on the other A-4F, missing decals for the "NJ624" at the top of the rudder on each side.

TwoBobs instructions claim the top-side camouflage is Tan (F.S.30219), Armor Sand (F.S.302577), and M.Green (F.S.34102). These are plausible color choices. Given the way colors shift in photography (note the image below), these colors could be right or they may be completely different. My feeling is that the colors are the "standard" Flogger colors of Brown Special (F.S.30140), Tan Special (F.S.30400), and D.Green (F.S.44079). The Flogger colors were used extensively in the adversary community. TwoBobs goes on to say the bottom is L.Gray (F.S.36495). This seems as good of a choice as any. "Standard" Flogger would use Camouflage Gray (F.S.36622), but it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between L.Gray and Camouflage Gray from photographs.

This last image is the same aircraft, later, after the nose number changed to "27". It then retained the "27" after being painted in the blue and gray camouflage seen above. Note the off color patch where the "4" was painted out. Note also the faded colors in the camouflage. Some of the "fade" is also due to the photograph being taken at a later time in the day with different sun and weather.

This is the last of five A-4 Skyhawk decal sheets TwoBobs has released over the past few years. Each has disappointed me in one way or another, and I even helped research a couple of the sheets. TwoBobs do get some of the aircraft right as two of the ones on this sheet are workable, but they always seem to make hard to fix errors on the exact aircraft that I am most interested in building.

Recommended (with reservations)