UK & Commonwealth in Korea

AIMS Decals, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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Aims Decals is one of the relatively new and high quality decal producers from the United Kingdom that have appeared over the last couple of years. I believe their product is printed by the Fantasy Printshop so the quality is unquestioned.

This sheet, 72DO15, covers six aircraft from Australia, South Africa and Britain during the early fifties Korean conflict.

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Thumbnail panels:

The aircraft on this sheet are:

• F-51 D, A68-720 of 77 Squadron RAAF in over-all silver finish with a black anti-glare panel and national roundels in six positions plus a red/white/ blue spinner.

• F-51 D, 361(Miss Marunduchi) of 2 Squadron SAAF based at Chinhae (K-10), same colours as above but olive drab anti-glare panel with South African Roundels in six positions and a red spinner. Both of these Mustangs carried rockets under each wing.

• Gloster Meteor Mk 8, A77-862 (The Duke Of Bath) from 77 Squadron after they converted to Meteors in May/June 1951. This aircraft has the rear view restricting metal panel at the rear of the canopy and is in overall High Speed Silver lacquer paint.

• F-86 Sabre, 614 'N' (Glow Worm) of 2 Squadron SAAF, Osan, 1953. It is in over-all silver with yellow recognition panels on fuselage and wings and “Glow Worm” under the gun panel with a squadron badge under the windscreen.

• Short Sunderland Mk. 5, SZ599 'K' of 88 Squadron, one of only two RAF Squadrons to operate in Korea. It is in over-all white with Medium Sea Grey on the top surfaces of fuselage and wings.

• Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 VX730 109 of 805 Squadron RAN operating from HMAS Sydney, Sept' 51/ Feb' 52. It is in standard Fleet Air Arm colours of Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky with black and white theatre bands on fuselage and wings. I am told that all 805 Squadron aircraft had red spinners as a squadron marking and although there are some stencils supplied for this aircraft, not all of their locations are shown in the instructions. Some of the marking look to be slightly oversized and I can't confirm if VX730 carried its serial under the wings.

What an interesting mix of aircraft. It is particularly good to see the two South African fighters as they are not normally covered on this kind of decal sheet.

Apart from a few small glitches that I wouldn't be overly concerned about, this is a nice decal sheet for anyone interested in the Korean War.

Highly Recommended

Thanks to AIMS for the samples

AIMS' decals, kits and accessories are available online from AIMS website

Text and Images Copyright © 2008 by Glen Porter
This Page Created on 16 June, 2008
Last updated 24 June, 2008

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