F/A-18E
The Gunslingers of VFA-105

1/48 scale

Afterburner Decals

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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AD 48-12 is the middle sheet in Afterburner Decals current three sheet coverage of F/A-18 Hornets of the U.S. Navy. 

And heck, what a sheet it is!  Large and impressive would be a good description.  The support information sheets are just a tad under A-4 in size and in full colour.  Large is also a good description of the main decal sheet as it too is just a little smaller than an A-4 sheet. 

The sheet provides markings for three F/A-18Es of the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet based VFA-105 Gunslingers, the CAG bird, the Commanding Officer’s aircraft and a “plain Jane” line bird.  Details of the individual machines are as follows: 

• F/A-18E Bureau number 166650, modex 400, VFA-105s CAG bird.  Finish is standard tactical paint scheme (TPS) of Federal Standard 36320 dark ghost grey over Federal Standard 36375 light ghost grey with black vertical stabilisers.  As a CAG bird, all her squadron markings are in full colour (green and yellow) including her national insignia and maintenance stencils and warnings.  The vertical stabiliser stripes are supplied as decals with a “spare” 00 being provided should you opt to paint the stripes yourself.  Much use of two-part decals is made with this option with the yellow and green 400 modex, AC air wing designator, “Mutha” titles, Navy titles and Gunslingers scripts being supplied in this manner to prevent registration problems.

• F/A-18E Bureau number 166651 modex 401 assigned to the Gunslingers’ Commanding Officer Sara Joyner who has the distinction of being the first woman to command an operational U.S. Navy strike fighter squadron.  401 is in the same TPS finish as the previous option and marked up in the same manner as the CAG bird but the colour is gone (bar the unit insignia on the vertical stabilisers) being replaced by shades of grey.  As with the CAG bird, this options’s 01 numerals are also provided separately should you wan to paint the stripes yourself.

• The final option is F/A-18E Bureau number 166655 modex 405, a Gunslingers line jet.  A “plain Jane” line bird, 405 is finished in standard TPS with subdued squadron (minus the VFA-105 “bullet” and vertical stabiliser designs) and maintenance markings.  It is great to see Afterburner Decals including markings for line birds on their sheet as not everyone wants a brightly marked Hornet on their shelves.

The decals themselves are first rate.  Whilst being silk screen printed, they are still thinly printed.  Everything on my sample is in perfect register and has an absolute minimum of carrier film surrounding each design.  The issue comprises four decal sheets in all.  The largest one carries a mixture of squadron markings as well as (comprehensive) stencil data whilst the smaller one carry slime lights, 401 modex numbers and minor stencil data items.  The final two small sheets are errata sheets. 

As with all Afterburner Decals sheets that I have seen, the support material is complete, comprehensive and is really the icing on the cake!  This issue is no different and includes three sheets printed on glossy paper.  The first sheet acts as a “cover” and shows full colour left hand side profiles for each option on the “front” whilst the rear of the sheet show the same profiles only larger and with information call-outs. 

Click the thumbnails below to view images full-sized:

The second sheet shows top and bottom plan views with a colour key to show the TPS finish on the “front” whilst the other side of this sheet shows large left and right hand side profiles as well as upper and lower surface plan views as a guide for stencil data placement. 

The third sheet is a single sided affair and it shows “load out” diagram detailing what stores are carried on each of the F/A-18Es pylons. 

The information sheets advise that the decals have been “sized” for the Hasegawa kit. 

Afterburner Decals are top shelf stuff from as far as I am concerned.  They provide top quality complete and comprehensive markings for the aircraft they are covering and back it up with all-inclusive back-up support material. 

Thoroughly recommended.

Postscript

MUTHA, what’s that?  Take a trip to the While You Were Deployed website at

http://whileyouweredeployed.com/squadron_histories_the_mutha.php and find out!

Thanks to Afterburner Decals for the review sample.

Review Copyright © 2007 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 17 August, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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