Knights & Dragons

Afterburner Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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An older release from the guys at Afterburner Decals, this sheet provides markings for five F-16CG Block 40s and a single F-16DG Block 40 belonging to 56^th Fighter Wing flying from Ramstein Air Base, Germany in 1994.

Each of the aircraft on the sheet wear the standard F-16 Tactical Paint Scheme (TPS) of overall Federal Standard (FS)36270, with FS36118 upper surfaces and FS36375 sides and missile rails.

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Thumbnail panels:

The individual machines are:

• F-16CG Block 40, serial number 89-2050, of the 512^th Fighter Squadron.  The squadron commanders aircraft and it wears a two part “shadowed” 512^th FS title on the base of its vertical stabiliser along with a green band with the word DRAGONS on it.  Also sharing the vertical stabiliser is a large green fire breathing dragon.  Apart form the previously mentioned items it also wears the “standard” markings comprising a lo-viz squadron shield on its left intake and a lo-viz wing shield on its port intake.  Missing are the “RS” designator codes from the vertical stabiliser which no doubt were displaced in favour of the dragon!

• F-16CG Block 40, serial number 88-0526, of the 526th Fighter Squadron.  Another Squadron Commander’s bird, she is similarly marked as the previous option and wears a large Knight riding a white charger on her vertical stabiliser along with a large “shadowed” 526^th Fighter Squadron titles that have been incorporated as a part of the aircraft’s serial number presentation.  A red find band is also worn with the word “Knights” emblazoned upon it.  She also wears a lo-viz squadron shield on her left intake but lacks the wing shield on right one.

• F-16CG Block 40, serial number 89-2137 of the 526^th Fighter Squadron.  A “line bird”, this machine took part in Operation DENY FLIGHT (the NATO enforcement of the UN established no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the period 12 April 1993 to 20 December 1995) during which it shot down three Serbian Soko J-21 Jastreb aircraft (a single-seat attack/reconnaissance aircraft designed in Yugoslavia).  The bird is in standard markings with a red Knights band and “RS” designators across her vertical stabiliser, and squadron/wing shields on her intakes.

• F-16CG Block 40, serial number 89-2137, of the 512th Fighter Squadron.  Another line bird and participant in Operation DENY FLIGHT she is in standard markings with a green Knights band across her vertical, RS designators and a squadron badge on her left intake.

• F-16CG Block 40, serial number 89-2009 of the 526th Fighter Squadron.  Another Operation DENY FLIGHT participant and the victor of a single J-21 kill she is in standard finish with a red Knights band and RS designator on her vertical stabiliser and squadron and wing shields to her left and right hand sides of her intakes.

• F-16DG Block 40, serial number 90-0800 of the 526^th Fighter Squadron.  In standard finish with a red Knights band and RS designators on her vertical stabiliser and squadron and wing shields on her intakes.

You get a single normal sized decal sheet in the pack and there is no indication as to the printer but they are thin, in perfect register and have with minimal carrier film.  Apart from the aforementioned markings, the sheet also carries two sets of reasonably comprehensive stencil data.

The supporting information/placement guide sheets that the Afterburner Decals team provides are what make their product stand out from the others and the sheets in this set are right up there.  You get three A-4 sized sheets in all printed on glossy paper.  The front of the first one forms the wrapper and shows small full colour profiles of three machines whilst the left back carries a generic upper and lower plan profiles to show the camouflage pattern.  The second sheet carries large left and right hand side profiles of each option whilst the final sheet carries four view line drawings to show the placement of stencil data on the front with notes on the 86^th Fighter Wing, Operation DENY FLIGHT and modelling information on both the Tamiya and Hasegawa F-16 kits including the modifications you need to make to accurately portray the birds flown by the 86^th Fighter Wing.  The final information on this page is a weapons load out diagram showing what stores and weapons were carried during the flights on 28 Feb 1994 when the J-21 kills were made.  If all this is not enough, further reference in the form of sharp, clear images of the aircraft featured on the sheet are in the reference section of the Afterburner Decals website at http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/AfterburnerDecals/Deny%20Flight/

The decals have been sized to fit the Tamiya kit.

The decal sheet and the information sheets/placement guides come packed in a clear plastic zip loc bag.

A well researched and presented sheet from Afterburner Decals!

Recommended.

Review Copyright © 2008 by Rodger Kelly
Reference Photos Copyright © 2008 by Brett Green
This Page Created on 23 May, 2008
Last updated 25 May, 2008

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