Following the UK release of the new Tamiya 1:48 F-4B Phantom, the inevitable release of accessories and decals are arriving almost every day. This new colourful decal sheet from Furball is one that caught our eye. Furball are very good at ‘catching the wave’ with their decal releases. When Tamiya’s Tomcat kits arrived, Furball issued some excellent sheets to match.
This set carries ten US Marine Corps early Phantoms, all from the colourful days of US Navy and Marine Corps. The basic scheme is the same on each of the planes with Light Gull Gray (FS 36440) upper surfaces and gloss Insignia White (FS 17875) undersides and flying surfaces, also in the case of these Phantoms, satin white radomes. The colourful markings are all printed on one A4- sized sheet and the black lettering on a separate A5 sheet. Stars and bars and a basic set of stencilling are printed on the bottom of the large sheet. Placement instructions come on three colourprinted A4 sheets. There are complications to these schemes as mentioned in our notes below. It is not just a case of slapping on a tail fin sized decal, some careful masking and painting will be required. There is a set of black upper fuselage walkways on the black decal sheet and grey walkways on the colour sheet.