Battle Phrogs 100

MAW-Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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Creighton Henthorn Jr. of MAW – Decals must surely be the man for fans of U.S. military rotary wing aviation given his comprehensive helo releases of late.

This sheet will add to their joy as it covers the Boeing CH-46E Sea Knight or "Phrog" as it is known in service with the United States Marine Corps.  The aircraft has been used as a medium-lift assault helicopter by the USMC since 1964 and as such has worn a variety of markings through the years.

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The markings provided on this sheet are all for USMC aircraft and span the period 1987 through 2007.  They also represent a small sample of the variety of the camouflage finishes worn by the Phrog.  Markings are provided for ten machines in all:

• Bureau Number 153975, modex 601 from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron -166 (HMM-166) embarked aboard the USS Tripoli, circa 1987.  This option is finished in an overall FS34095 field green scheme, pretty plain marking wise but a cinch to paint!  Note that this is an early version of the –E and as such is fitted with the smaller stub wings seen on –A, -D, and – F models of the CH-46.  In order to correctly model this option you will need to rob the stub wings from the Academy CH-46D kit or alternatively, by using the recently released
  MAW CH-46F/Early E Conversion (48-R009).

• Bureau Number 154825, modex 605.  Another HMM-166 machine embarked aboard the USS Tripoli, circa 1987.  In the same overall FS34095 field green scheme as the previous option.  Same comments apply for this option with regard to the stub wing modifications.

• Bureau Number 156445, modex 07 from HMM-161.  Camouflage scheme is overall FS36375 medium (or ghost) grey with disruptive patterns of FS35237 blue-grey to the top of the fuselage and nose.

• Bureau Number 154634 modex 01 of HMM-162 embarked aboard the USS Wasp, circa 1991.  This option sports a tri-colour camouflage scheme of overall FS34095 field green with disruptive patterns of FS35237 blue-grey and FS37038 black.  A hint of colour is also provided with cheesecake art work on the starboard forward fuselage armour plating.  The stub wing conversion is required for this option too.

• “The Deuce”, Bureau Number 157703 modex 02 of HMM-165, based at Al Asad Airfield, Iraq circa 2007 (Al Asad is the second largest airbase in Iraq.  It is located in northern Iraq approximately 180 kilometres west of Baghdad and 12 kilometres southwest of the Euphrates River.)  Camouflage scheme is overall FS36375 medium grey with disruptive patterns of FS35237 blue-grey.  Art work is also carried on this option’s starboard forward armour plating.

• “Lady Ace” Bureau Number 154027, modex 03 of HMM-165, at Al Asad Airfield circa 2007.  The machine sports the same camouflage scheme as the previous option with differing artwork on the starboard forward armour plating.

• “Lady Ace 07” Bureau Number, 153969, modex 07.  Another HMM-165 machine at Al Asad Airfield circa 2007.  She is in the same camouflage scheme as her other two squadron sisters and also bears artwork on the starboard forward armour plating.

• “Lady Ace 12” Bureau Number 156457, modex 12 the final HMM-165 option.  This one too is in overall FS36375 medium grey with disruptive patterns of FS35237 blue-grey and its markings depict it from the time it was based at Al Asad Airfield in 2007.  She too wears artwork on her starboard forward armour plating.

• Bureau Number 157693, modex 01 from HMM-163.  In overall FS36375 medium grey with disruptive patterns of FS35237 blue-grey apart from that, she wears two “eyes” on her nose which must have look pretty intimidating as it approached you if you were sitting on the ground waiting for a pick up!

• The final option is Bureau Number 154790, modex 604, “Rockey 604” from HMM-166, 15th MEU embarked aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard.  This is the machine that features in the you-tube video depicting its demise on 9 December 1999 during a training assault against USNS Pecos killing six Marines and one sailor.  In overall FS36375 medium grey with disruptive patterns of FS35237 blue-grey.  Ironically, this is the only option on the sheet that is fitted with the HEFS (helo emergency flotation system, the inflatable bags carried on the side – parts C-3 and C-4 in the Academy CH-46E “Bull Frog” kit)

You get two full-sized decal sheets as well as four smaller ones.  The smaller ones are two sheets of holding eight sets of chaff/flare bucket decals in yellow silver and blue to simulate loaded buckets, an errata sheet that holds the large fuselage bureau number 3969 for the “Lady Ace 07” option whilst the final one carries national insignia and stencil data in black and green.  The issue actually includes the MAW-Decals 48-MAW020 CH-46 Green/Land Camo Stencils sheet as well so in essence, you are getting two sheets in the one package.  This is great if you want to model a field green or tricolour machine but you are on your own if you want to model a grey/blue-grey option.  The decal themselves have been printed by Cartograf, one of the leading decal manufacturers in the world.  Everything is in perfect register with the white “eyes” of the HMM-163 option appearing to be opaque enough to survive application over the dark blue-grey of the nose.  The printing of the “art work” for the forward armour plating is excellent too with everything sharp clear and true to the original.

Rather than printed paper, the placement guides come courtesy of PDF documents (in full colour) on the CD that accompanies the decals.  There are ten of these in all and each option gets both left and right hand side profiles.  A separate sheet carries illustrations of each options nose whilst the two remaining sheets carry generic upper and lower surface views of the overall field green options and the tri-colour and grey/blue grey camouflaged options.  One sheet carries the story of the crash of “Rockey 604” and lists those who perished whilst another lists recommended kits (all from the Academy CH-46 “family” of kits, accessories and decals as well as the modifications to depict each option correctly.  A benefit of the placement guides being in PDF format is that you can blow them up very large – great for reading the tiny stencil data!

The previously mentioned CD (225MB) also carries nice, sharp, clear and very large walk-around type images as well as the placement guides.  Also included are two short videos one depicting the machine in action whilst the other features the crash of “Rockey 604”. Nice sharp digital images of the featured HMM-161 and HMM-165 machines are included including close-ups of the artwork on the starboard fuselage armour plating.

The decal sheets, and the CD come packed in the ubiquitous clear plastic zip-loc bag.

So there you have it.  This is an excellent product from MAW-Decals as far as I am concerned.  It provides you with markings for ten USMC –E model CH-46s in a variety of schemes as well as first rate reference material on the accompanying CD.

Footnote

I can’t stress how good the images on the CD are in assisting you with building one of the Academy kits.  Not normally a fan of rotary winged aviation I was tempted into building one of these machines following a visit to the USS Bonhomme Richard.  The initial enthusiasm soon waned when I realised that there are many detail differences between the CH-46Es operated by the USMC and I did not have any reference to assist me.  When I received this sheet for review I was delighted to find that the references images were all I needed to help me finish the kit accurately.

Both HM-163 and HM-165 have visited Perth, Western Australia and I have been fortunate enough to go aboard both their homes, the USS Bon Homme Richard and the USS Boxer to photograph the aircraft and I have included a few images to go along with this review, including some of the artwork on the HM-165 machines not featured on this sheet.

Click here to visit the Reference Gallery.

Text and Images Copyright © 2009 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 8 March, 2009
Last updated 8 March, 2009

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