SPA Modeler

First, I have to say that I am enjoying what some decal companies are doing.

This post is mostly based on one company's two releases in 1/72 scale lately. I had purchased two sets of Furball's first foray into 1/72 scale, their F-4B decal sheet,,,,,,,,,,,,after a few years of Geoff carefully and tactfully explaining why he wouldn't delve into my "small scale", based on low sales volume. I first read his statement, and I agreed with him, if he thought 1/72 scale wouldn't sell enough, it might not be a good business decision for his company.

Then, he released that Phantom F-4B sheet, and to show my support, I ordered 2 of them.

Then, last Friday, I saw Scott's review on Modeling Madness of Furball's new 1/72 scale F-8 Crusader sheet,,,,,,,,26 possible aircraft on that sheet, so, again, I kept my promise and ordered two sets. (I Paypalled him on Friday, and the sheets arrived today via First Class mail)

I was happy to see that 9 of the options were for "small nosed" Crusaders, of which there is no kit. Cool move, because if you are willing to use a resin conversion kit available from Mr Newman, you can build those 9 models. In the notes and the loadout chart included in the instructions,,,,,,,he also included MBRs, Fragmentation bombs, and the Mk 79 Napalm bombs in the charts. Again, we have to scratchbuild our MBRs, and Mk 79s,,,,,,,,,and get the Frags from old Skyraider kits. (not a jproblem, just scratch a "front" configuration MBR, and a "rear" configuration MBR, and cast copies to scatter amongst your jet and Skyraider models)

So, I pulled out the instructions for the Wolfpack decal sheet that includes decals for an RF-8, and another that included early war F-4B with the 2-shot Zuni tubes. The RF-8 is only available as a conversion, and the Dual Zunis are scrounged from the Academy F-8 kit. Again, not a problem in either case.

But, isn't it great that those of us that want to, can scratch or use a conversion for a less modeled variant or loadout, and have High Quality decals to finish the model with? While at the same time, the "non rivet counter" modelers have the option of just building one of the other 17 Crusaders on the decal sheet, satisfying their desire to build "just OOB with Aftermarket decals".

I am enjoying this quiet "behind the scenes" change in the modeling options that we can access as "modeling consumers". I don't have the option of posting very much, or very often,,,,,,,,,but, I thought I needed to mention what some companies are doing.

ps, Xtradecals Tiger Moth sheet(s) with all those options caused me to buy the new tool Airfrix Tiger Moth kit in multiples, to go along with the one old tool kit that I still had,,,,,,,,,,,,the options are so varied that I decided to build multiple "off topic to me" British Trainer Bipes,,,,,,,even though they are so off topic that I actually didn't think I even cared about the new tool kit's release at first.

I want to clarify one of my sentences. While true that some modelers can and will scratchbuild or convert aircraft or loadouts,,,,,,,,,they then have to scrounge around to get the markings right. For me, the cool part is that the decals are already produced,,,,,,,making such conversions so very much easier than before.

Yeah, I do like it when the decal companies include load out charts and offer a wide variety of marking options.

I agree. I saw those two sheets as well and I smiled since I am a BIG 1/72nd scale Groupie. I already have 4 1/72nd Phantoms in my collection or I woulda jumped all over them... I've also noticed that a lot of companies are producing decal sheets for the new Airfix offerings in 1/72nd...

I love the decal sheets you can get these days. I must have most of xtradecal's 1/72 RAF & FAA plus a load of other stuff. It's great to have so many options to build something not out of the box. It's also handy if you build a lot of old kits where the decals are normally past it.

I too love some of the decal companies offerings as of late. Geoff was part of Afterburner decals so I can attest to the quality of them.

Another good one is Caracal Decals. It's a one man operation in Austin, TX and he is on top of new kit releases.