P-40s of
112 Squadron RAF
Part 1

BarracudaCals, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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BarracudaCals is a new entrant into the world of aftermarket decals.

The company is headed up by none other than renowned modeller Mr Roy Sutherland whose reputation for accuracy and quality products is very well known through his resin replacement/detail sets.  Given this fixation for accuracy you know that what you are buying from BarracudaCals will be first rate.

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This sheet – BC32005, provides markings for three aircraft of 112 Squadron Royal Air Force when they flew as a part of the Desert Air Force in the early years of World War Two.  Interestingly, and as an aside, it is reputed that 112 Squadron were the originators of the shark mouth markings applied to P-40s.

The individual options are:

• Curtiss Tomahawk Mk. IIb, AK402 assigned to Pilot Officer Neville Duke Royal Air Force (one of the highest scoring Commonwealth aces World War Two) at Fort Maddelena, Libyia in the November of 1941.  This option (as well as the other two on the sheet) is finished in dark earth and middle stone over azure blue.  The placement guide advises that the machine was delivered in the Curtiss factory scheme of dark green, dark earth and DuPont (the name of the paint company) light grey.   To better suit the desert environment in which the aircraft were to be operated in the dark green was over painted with middle stone which was applied freehand with a spray gun in the field and as such the demarcations between the upper colours are a little wider than normal.   Azure blue replaced the light grey on the undersides. The aircraft’s serial number is painted on a dark green rectangle which was a result of a simple mask over when the middle stone was sprayed over the dark green.  The dark green background of the serial is not supplied as a decal so you will have to paint this yourself.  Other peculiarities with the machine include the lack of the yellow identification stripes on the leading edges of the wings and the azure blue “patch” behind the squadron code letter F.

• Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk. I, AK578.  This option is another of the machines flown by Neville Duke and based at Gambut, Libya in the February of 1942.   Camouflage scheme is dark earth and middle stone upper surfaces over azure blue undersides.  Again, it sports its serial on a dark green rectangle as a result of its repaint from its original factory scheme.   Other peculiarities include the over painted corner of port fuselage roundel and the non-standard yellow wing leading edge stripes.

• Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk. I, AK772 “London Pride”.  This machine was flown by both Pilot Officer Henry George (Tom) Burney Royal Australian Air Force and Squadron Leader Clive Robertson (Killer) Caldwell Royal Australian Air Force (another high scoring Commonwealth ace) from Gambut, Libya in the spring of 1942.  Camouflage scheme is as per the previous option except that the light grey on the undersides is replaced with a very dark blue rather than the normal azure blue.  The notes on placement guide will advise you as to the whys and wherefores of this choice.   The same dark green rectangle around the serial, a lack of the yellow wing leading edge stripes and the partial over spraying of the roundel are the other features of this option.

The decals themselves have been printed by Cartograf.  The whites of the codes and national insignia appear to be dense enough to survive application over a dark background and there is a minimum of carrier film surrounding each subject.  You get a single set of national insignia and two very comprehensive sets of stencil data – the stencil data even extends to the placards that were applied to the cockpit interior!  Three sheets are included in the issue, a normal sized main one; a half sized one and a tiny errata sheet that carries the stencil data in a brighter shade of red for the location of the first aid kit.  This latter decal replaces the one on the main sheet that was printed in the same shade of red as the nation insignia – I told you that Roy was very thorough!

The placement guide is A-4 in size and folded in half to give you four sheets that carry full colour left hand side profiles of each option on one sheet, full colour upper surface views of each option on the next and left and right hand side, and upper and lower surface line drawings to show placement of stencil data.  The fourth page forms the “cover”.  A further half A-4 size sheet is also included and this sheet carries detailed instructions on how to apply the decals.

The placement guide carries detailed notes for each option as well as paint matches and mixing formulas to produce the required shades.  Extracrylics, Polly Scale and Tamiya are the featured paints.

The recommended kits are the Trumpeter P-40 B/C for the first option and the Hasegawa P-40E for the other two options.

The placement guide, application instructions and three decal sheets come packed in the industry standard clear plastic zip-loc bag.

Nitpicks?  Only a couple of minor ones.  Firstly, there are no right hand side profiles to determine the camouflage pattern but I guess that when it comes down to it you can easily enough find this information on the net.  The other is that a visit to the BarracudaCals website http://barracudacals.com/index.php reveals that the sheet is only produced in 1/32 scale.

This is the first BarracudaCals sheet that I have seen and I have to say that I am very impressed with the depth of research that has gone into these decals, the quality of the placement guide and its accompanying notes, the very detailed application notes and finally, the choice of the decal manufacturer all of which are well and truly worth the price of entrance.

Thanks to BarracudaCals for the samples

BarracudaCals decals are available online from their website

Text and Images Copyright © 2009 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 15 June, 2009
Last updated 15 June, 2009

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