IAR 81 C Decals

RB Productions, 1/48 scale
(also available in 1/32 and 1/72)

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

Iliad Decals' 1/48 scale ANG Mustangs is available online from Squadron.com

Romania’s IAR 80/81 has, until recently, been sadly under-represented in kit form.  In 1/48 scale, I’m aware of the LTD (limited run injection moulded) and Wings 48 (vacform plastic/white metal) IAR 80 kits, and there may be others.  However in 2013 Icaerodesign lifted the bar significantly higher with its excellent multi-media kit, which reflects great passion for its subject and contains almost everything you need to create an accurate and detailed 1/48 IAR 81 C model. 

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Amongst the collaborators on this kit was RB Production’s Radu Brinzan, who contributed the decal artwork for the three marking options.  These are all colourful IAR 81 Cs that operated against Soviet forces in 1944 and carried the King Michael Cross insignia and yellow Eastern Front identification markings.  But with the type remaining in service until the early 1950s, there are interesting late and postwar Romanian schemes that are not featured on the Icaerodesign decal sheet.  Radu has now produced a dedicated IAR 81 C decal sheet that features some of these schemes, as well as numerous wartime machines, for a grand total of 14 different aircraft.  The sheet is available in all three major scales, with the 1/48 example reviewed here.   

 The featured aircraft are as follows:

1. No.320, flown by Lt.Av. Mircea Dumitrescu, Comandant of Esc.61/Vt./Gr.6Vt, Popesti-Leordeni, Spring 1944.  This aircraft is one of the Icaerodesign marking options.  Like all of the following IAR 81s, No.320 was finished in olive green over light blue, with a white spinner, yellow theatre identification markings, blue/yellow/red rudder, King Michael Cross in six positions, red and white triangles on both sides of the fuselage, and a small yellow ‘Bambi’ insignia on the port fuselage beneath the cockpit.

2. No.321 of Esc.61/Vt./Gr.6Vt, Popesti-Leordeni, late Spring 1944.  No.321 was finished almost identically to option A, except for the absence of nose art and slightly different triangle markings.

3. No.322 of Exc.43Vt./Gr.7Vt, Rosiorii de Vede, 1944 – very similar to option A except for the yellow spinner and white circular formation markings on both sides of the fuselage beneath the cockpit.

4. No.323/'Bambi' of Esc.61/Vt./Gr.6Vt, Popesti-Leordeni, January 1944.  Another Icaerodesign option, ‘Bambi’ was similar to option A apart from the white and black-green spinner, the absence of formation markings and its titular nose art on the port side of the engine cowling.

5. No.329, flown by Adj.Av. Victor Petric of Esc.61/Vt./Gr.6Vt, Popesti-Leordeni, May 1944.  Almost identical to option A, down to the formation markings and ‘Bambi’ nose art.

6. No.345, flown by Slt.Av. Anatolie Grunju, Scoala Militara Aviatie, Turda,
   October 1947.  The first of the postwar machines, No.345 wore red, yellow and blue roundels in six positions, a blue/yellow/red rudder, faded white fuselage band and wingtips, a black-green spinner and vestiges of its red wartime formation markings.  However, it is the absence of yellow theatre identification markings that really makes this aircraft stand out.

7. No.369 of Esc.62/Vt./Gr.6Vt, Popesti-Leordeni, 10 June 1944.  Another wartime aircraft, No.369 was very close in appearance to option A.

8. No.372, flown by Slt.Av. Constantin Balta of Esc.44Vt./Gr3.Vt,
   Ghimbav-Brasov, May-June 1944 – to me at least this machine stands out from the crowd of wartime IAR 81 Cs with its yellow and black-green spinner and absence of formation markings.

9. No.381, flown by Roman Spurcaciu of Reg.4Av, Zilistea, Summer 1950.  This well-worn aircraft is very similar to option F, although there is no white fuselage band.

10. No.397, flown by Slt.Av. Pavel Busca, Esc.57Vt./Gr.7Vt, Pipera, April 1944 – this and the following aircraft are very similar to option H, apart from white formation circles on their fuselage sides.

11. No.399, flown by Slt.Av. Gheorghe Lupsa and Slt.Av. Mircea Teodorescu of
    Esc.58Vt./Gr.7Vt, Targsor, March and June 1944.

12. No.429/‘Lenuta’, flown by Adj.Av. Gheorghe Grecu and Adj.Av. Radu Costache, Esc.67Vt./Gr.2Vt, Gheraesti/Bacau, Summer 1944.  ‘Lenuta’, which according to the instruction sheet means ‘Little Helen’, was similar to most of the other wartime aircraft apart from its spinner, which was black-green with a white spiral, and its engine cowling, which was olive green on top and yellow underneath.

13. No.446, flown by Adj.Av. Gheorghe Grecu, Esc.67Vt./Gr.2Vt, Gheraesti/Bacau, Summer 1944 – almost identical to option L, although the white spinner spiral is much tighter.  This aircraft also featured on the Icaerodesign decal sheet.

14. No.448 of Escadrila 67 Vanatoare, Grupul 2 Vanatoare, Miskolc, April 1945.  Effectively the last IAR 81 ever manufactured, No.448 carries the post-September 1944 roundels, freshly painted white fuselage band and wingtips, black spinner and natural metal (or possibly yellow) ring around the forward cowling.

The instruction sheet is in RB Productions’ usual compact but comprehensive style.  It has been printed in full colour on a double-sided A4 sheet, which has then been folded in half to produce a booklet.  There is a port or starboard profile and brief description of each machine, and on the back page are upper and lower views of aircraft wearing the pre- and post-September 1944 national markings.  Radu has also provide a very helpful description of generic IAR 81 C paint schemes and colours, along with olive green, light blue, yellow and white colour swatches and their RLM and/or Federal Standard identification numbers.

The decals have been produced by Fantasy Printshop and look flawless on the sheet.  Printing quality is excellent, with crisp demarcations, rich colour density and some finely detailed nose-art; the ‘Bambi’ art for No.323 is especially well done.  The blue dots in the centre of the crosses and the roundels have been printed separately to avoid registration problems.  The only thing I would watch out for on this sheet are the large areas of carrier film around the red and white formation markings; to avoid silvering you will need to apply these to a very glossy surface, trim away some of the film, or both.

There are enough national insignia on the sheet to finish one model in pre-September 1944 markings, and one in later markings.  If you want to complete more than one model in each type of insignia, additional sets of both are available from RB Productions.  Individual numbers are provided for all machines, and there is a good supply of identification markings. 

Missing from the sheet are the red, yellow and blue rudder stripes, which you will need to paint yourself unless you have the Icaerodesign kit, where the stripes are included as decals.  By way of comparison, the RB Productions decals are more crisply printed and have richer colours than the Icaerodesign sheet, with the ‘Bambi’ nose art particularly superior.

The RB Productions sheet also lacks spinner spirals for options L and M.  While there are plenty of spirals available on Luftwaffe decal sheets, it would have been good to see these included here.

RB Productions 1/48 IAR 81 C decal sheet is another great release from RB Productions, offering thoroughly researched and well produced markings for this under-modeled World War 2 fighter.  I can particularly recommend it for anyone with the Icaerodesign IAR 81 C who wants to look beyond the kit-supplied decals, which while good don’t compete with what’s offered here in terms of quality and variety.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to RB Productions for the review sample.

Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 25 June, 2014
Last updated 25 June, 2014

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