Although it is one of the oldest designs on the carrier deck, the EA-6B Prowler is still very much in demand in the role of active jamming of enemy signals.  It has even become the norm for this vital aircraft to be crewed by both Navy & Air Force crewmembers.

     This is the third sheet in the series.  The instruction sheets are in full color, showing a left side profile view of each a/c covered, plus smaller drawings of the wings, nose gear doors, opened wing tip speed brakes, & the back of the tail fin canoe fairing to show decal placement.

    The decals are on two sheets, with the larger sheet having the squadron markings, & the smaller sheet containing some common markings, & a set of walkway decals.

      First up is an a/c from VAQ-135 “Black Ravens” from the USS Carl Vinson during Operation Desert Fox, circa 1998.  The cutouts on the fin flash decal on the tail go around the raised antennae fairings.  Once this decal is applied, an additional decal is applied over this faring to complete the fin flash.  Notice also that the Buno is the same color blue as the blue in the fin flash.  Also, there is a pair of dice within the white star on the black rudder decal.  All other markings are standard.

      The next offering is from VAQ-137 “Rooks”.  This a/c has a variety of markings, some of which are decidedly non-standard, but make this an interesting subject to model. Notice that the “620” nose modex, “NAVY”, & the “AB” tail code are all white with a black border.   The a/c has two checkerboard areas, consisting of the tail band underneath the tail fairing, & the top and bottom surfaces of the wingtip speed brakes.  The tail band decal actually contains black & white squares as part of the decal.  The modeler will have to paint the wingtip brakes white (along with the rudder), as the decal for this area has black & clear squares.  Also, the decals are cut in such away to go around the actuator fairings. A separate decal is then used to cover the fairings. Although its not possible to see them on the image of the decal sheet, there are 2 white “Rook” mascot decals that go on the red inner portion of each upper speed brake panel, but the modeler will have to decide whether to cut the speed brakes from the model to position them in the open position so this decal can be used.  Rounding out the markings are the CVW-1 badge & the “CVW-1” lettering on the tail, along with the radiation warning-like symbol on the nosecone that was commonly seen on the EA-6B when the air wing still included the original 2 seat A-6.  According to the instructions, the walkway decals are to be used on this a/c.

      The last a/c covered is another a/c from VAQ-135.   This a/c is from the late 2000 time frame, & there are a few differences from the other VAQ-135 a/c on this sheet, mainly in the tail area.  The fin flash is of a slightly different design (note the gray area between the green/blue stripes), & the tail code and modex on the rudder are larger than before.  The Buno is the standard black color.  All the other markings are identical to the first.

      Both units continue to be among the active duty roster.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has well over 150,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

Back to the Decal Review Index