Silver Merlins
Limited Edition

Freightdog Decals, 1/32

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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New decal releases from Freightdog Models are always worth investigating, especially if you are interested in late and post-World War 2 Commonwealth aircraft. While most Freightdog decals are 1/48 and 1/72, the company has made several notable 1/32 releases, including this latest set featuring a Mustang Mk.IV and a Spitfire Mk.IXc.

Billed as a limited edition release of 100 sheets only, this set takes two interesting options from Freightdog’s 1/48 “Keeping the Peace Pt.1” and “Post-War RAF Spitfires” sets and upscales them to 1/32. The featured aircraft are:

• Mustang Mk.IV, KH745/BAE, “Marisa” of Group Captain Brian A. Eaton of 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Cervia, Italy, April 1945. This aircraft was finished in a combination of bare metal and aluminium lacquer, and featured Eaton’s initials “BAE” in a staggered pattern on both sides of the fuselage under the cockpit. According to David Muir’s “Southern Cross Mustangs”, these initials and the name “Marisa” should be dark blue, drop shaded in black. This option is provided by Freightdog, but – acknowledging that period black-and-white photos of KH745 aren’t definitive in terms of colour (the only one I could find was of very poor quality) – Freightdog also provides an additional decal sheet offering the codes and name in red and light blue for modelers who believe these might be better choices. The same options are provided for the Desert Air Force emblem which was carried on both sides of the fuselage forward of the cockpit, and which features a cross on a shield overlaid by a bird carrying a bomb. However, in my view the detail on this emblem is a little simplistic for this scale, and on the sheet, at least, you can see the underlying yellow of the cross showing through the blue of the bird. The instruction sheet offers four-view colour drawings, and helpfully identifies the correct type of canopy, propeller, and exhausts that were fitted to KH745

• Spitfire Mk.IXc, ML124/GZ-S of Pilot Officer Harry Shaw of 32 Squadron, RAF, Palestine, January 1947. This Spitfire had black codes and serials and was finished in High Speed Silver – apart from the replacement starboard wingtip, which was from a camouflaged aircraft and painted in the RAF’s temperate day scheme colours of Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey. This adds an interesting dash of colour to an already handsome aircraft; I’ve only been able to find one good photograph of ML124, but Freightdog appears to have accurately nailed its details. Again, the instruction sheet provides useful colour drawings and painting advice.

My complaint about the detail on the Desert Air Force emblem notwithstanding, the overall quality of the decals appears to be excellent, with crisp printing and no sign of misregistration. No airframe stencils are provided, but these are readily available from other sources.

I’ve bought several decal sheets from Freightdog in recent years, and can testify to both the quality of the decals themselves, and the excellent customer service offered by owner Colin Strachan. Earlier this year, a sheet of Freightdog’s Seafire decals I’d ordered went missing en route to Australia; an email to Colin solved the problem, with a replacement sheet arriving quickly and with no questions asked.

I highly recommend this sheet to modelers who want to make their 1/32 Spitfires and Mustangs look just a little bit out of the ordinary. However, given that the sheet is a limited edition, if you’re interested in getting yourself a copy, you’ll need to hurry!

Thanks to Freightdog Models for the sample.

Freightdog Models and Decals are available online fron their website

Review Copyright © 2011 by Brad Fallen
Page Created 7 December, 2011
Last updated 7 December, 2011

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