Balad ANG / AFRES
Vipers at War

Afterburner Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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This sheet could also just as well be titled ANG/AFRES - An F-16 Opus, such is the size and completeness of the coverage of the United States Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves F-16s that operated out of Joint Base Balad, a former Iraqi Air Force Base near Balad in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

This is a big sheet indeed and it supplies markings for 17 aircraft in all. 

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Thumbnail panels:

The individual options are:

• F-16C-25, serial number 83-1165 'Lethal Lady', 134th Fighter Squadron, 158th Fighter Wing, Vermont Air National Guard The Green Mountain Boys, circa 2007.

• F-16C-25, 84-1383, 119th Fighter Squadron, 177th Fighter Wing, New Jersey Air National Guard, 2006.

• F-16C-25, 84-1215, 179th Fighter Squadron, Bulldogs, 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, 2008.

• F-16C-25, 84-1290, 179th Fighter Squadron, Bulldogs, 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, 2005.

• F-16C-25, 84-1223, El Polo Loco, 111th Fighter Squadron 147th Fighter Wing, Texas Air National Guard, 2007.

• F-16C-25, 84-1254, 111th Fighter Squadron, 147th Fighter Wing, Texas Air National Guard, 2005.

• F-16C-30, 85-1432, 138th Fighter Squadron, 174th Fighter Wing, New York Air National Guard, 2008.

• F-16C-30, 85-1448, 175th Fighter Squadron, Lobos, 114th Fighter Wing, South Dakota Air National Guard, 2008.

• F-16C-30, 86-0209, 121st Fighter Squadron, 113th Fighter Wing, District of Columbia Air National Guard, 2006.

• F-16C-30, 86-0222, 457th Fighter Squadron, 301st Fighter Wing, Air Force Reserve, 2007.

• F-16C-30, 86-0294, 124th Fighter Squadron, 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, 2008.

• F-16C-30, 86-0309, 186th Fighter Squadron, 120th Fighter Wing, Montana Air National Guard, 2008.

• F-16C-30, 86-0346, City of Greenville, 100th Fighter Squadron, 187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, 2006.

• F-16C-30, 88-0402, 93rd Fighter Squadron, 482 Fighter Wing, Air Force Reserve, 2007.

• F-16C-32, 86-0218, City of Booneville, 184th Fighter Squadron, 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard, 2005.

• F-16C-40, 88-0466, 466th Fighter Squadron, 419th Fighter Wing, Air Force Reserve, 2008.

• F-16C-42, 90-0702, 112th Fighter Squadron, 180th Fighter Wing,  Ohio Air National Guard, 2008.

All 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 with minor variations that are noted on each of the placement guide sheets as appropriate.

The decals themselves have been silk screen printed by Cartograf.   They are thin and have an absolute minimum of carrier film surrounding each design.  The colours are vivid and appear to be opaque enough to survive application with out bleed-through over the dark FS 36118 worn by the F-16.  Everything on my sample is in perfect register too.  You get four sheets with this release.  The larger one (and it is large at 10¼ inches by 8 inches) carries the vast majority of the markings as well as two comprehensive sets of stencil data and two others carrying grey serials and unit designators. The final sheet is a tiny errata one carrying a squadron shield.

You are guided in decal placement by nine A-4 sized sheets that accompany the decals.  Each option gets full colour left and right hand side profiles and there is a single generic upper and lower surface plan view to serve all options.  You also get a load out diagram to assist you in correctly arming your 1/48th scale F-16.  A nice touch is the inclusion of five “fact sheets” that illustrate and describe each of the different blocks on the sheet.  As always with Afterburner Decals you are provided with plenty of supporting information to give you the whole story of the involvement of the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve in the various operations in Iraq too.  The placement guides/information sheets have been printed on a thinner type of non-glossy paper than Afterburner Decals have used in their other releases  Having said that though the illustrations are still of the same high quality type that typify their other sheets.

The decals are sized for the new Tamiya kit, but notes are also provided on how to adapt them to be used on the various Hasegawa F-16 kits.

The decals and the supporting information/placement guide sheets come parked in a suitably large clear plastic zip-lock bag.

So there you have it, a work of F-16 art from the guys at Afterburner Decals!

Thanks to Afterburner Decals for the sample

Review Copyright © 2009 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 4 August, 2009
Last updated 4 August, 2009

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