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1/32 scale P-47 Thunderbolt Decals
Big Dogs - Leading Aces of the 56th FG

 

LSP Decal Range

 

S u m m a r y
Catalogue Number: 32004 - Big Dogs - Leading Aces of the 56th FG
Scale: 1/32
Price: USD$15.00 available online from Large Scale Planes website
Contents and Media: Markings for four aircraft on two decal sheet (one screen printed and one ALPS)
Review Type: FirstLook
Advantages: Excellent and interesting subjects selected; background for each aircraft included; decals printed nicely and in register; good colour; appropriate inclusion of both screen printed and ALPS
Disadvantages: No national markings supplied
Recommendation: Highly Recommended

 

Reviewed by Brett Green


HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

 

FirstLook

 

Large Scale Planes is a well-known, high quality website that is devoted to, not surprisingly, large scale aircraft models. You can visit the site by following this link.

Large Scale Planes' (LSP) has now taken matters into their own hands with the release of a new range of decals. Included in their first batch of decals are 1/32 scale markings for P-47 Thunderbolts of the 56th FG.

 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

This release covers the following subjects:

  • P-47D-21 42-25512 "Penrod and Sam" Capt. Robert S. Johnson finished in overall natural metal with yellow rudder and red cowl.

  • P-47D-25 42-26418 Lt. Col. Francis S. Gabreski finished in RAF Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey with invasion stripes and red rudder and cowl.

  • P-47D-25 42-26641 "Hairless Joe" Col. David Schilling finished in RAF Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey with invasion stripes and yellow rudder and red cowl.

  • P-47D-25 42-26628 "Miss Fire/Rozzie Geth II" Capt. Fred Christensen finished in overall natural metal with invasion stripes and yellow rudder and red cowl.

The set supplies a brief history of each aircraft and some nicely presented, full colour placement diagrams.

The decals themselves are beautifully printed, in register, and the colours look good. Unlike the Mosquito set offered by LSP, this is entirely new artwork.

The large sheet is conventionally printed, and includes codes, serials, kill marks and some specific aircraft markings.

The smaller sheet is ALPS printed (so you'll have to cut out the markings) with two pieces of very nicely printed nose art. The inclusion of the ALPS sheet for the nose art is especially welcome in this scale as the half tones and transitions are much more convincing than the screen "dots" on conventionally printed sheets. However, ALPS decals can sometimes be translucent so it might be sensible to create a mask of the outline of the artwork, then spray the area white before applying these markings.

The notable omission is national markings. For their P-47 release, LSP has decided to include more markings options at the expense of national markings. I think that this was a good choice. Also, some specific stencils are included, but general stencil markings will have to be sourced elsewhere.

 

 

Conclusion

 

With the current escalation in 1/32 and 1/24 scale aircraft kit announcements and releases, it is great to see Large Scale Models moving into this exciting area with their new decal range.

The old Revell 1/32 scale P-47 kit is readily available, and the Rutman replacement fuselage and other enhancements really do improve the kit. As an alternative, Rutman's full kits of the Bubbletop and Razorback are the best, if most expensive, options for Jug aficionados today.

Regardless of which option is chosen for the kit, these decals will be a must!

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Large Scale Planes for the review sample

Large Scale Planes products are available at LSP Website

Text and Images Copyright © 2004 by Brett Green
Page Created 27 October, 2004
Last updated 27 October, 2004

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