Superscale International,
once the industry leader in decals and decal-related products, has now cut back
its production dramatically to only a few decal sheets each year. Under
the name of Microscale and later Superscale, this company used to release dozens
of decal sheets per year, albeit of various quality. This sheet is their
latest covering as it does three of the Luftwaffe's best known and highest
scoring aces. The decal sheet itself is well printed with all decals
appearing to be in register. Swastikas are present so that the modeler
does not have to scrounge around in the spares box.The first aircraft shown is Marseille's Yellow 14, a Bf-109F-4/Z Trop, one of three such numbered aircraft that he flew in Africa. This aircraft is shown while stationed at Ain El Gazala, Libya in June of 1942. The aircraft is in RLM 79 Sand Gelb over RLM 78 Light Blue (misidentified in the instructions as RLM 78 Yellow!).
Next is Maj. Barkhorn's Bf-109G-6 as it appeared over the Russian Front in 1942. The colors are RLM 74/75 over RLM 76. Oddly, the under cowl, fuselage band, and wingtip yellow color are again called out as RLM 78! I've searched all through Merrick and Hitchcock's The Official Monogram Guide to German Aircraft, 1935-1945 and have not found a yellow color identified as RLM 78. I found RLM 04 and RLM 27 as the only other yellows besides RLM 79. Am I missing something? I know that new information is found frequently about the "true" shades of various RLM numbers. If anyone can confirm an RLM 78 Yellow please let me know.
Finally, is the greatest ace
of all time, Erich Hartmann. His G-6 is Black "<<" on the
Hungarian Front in 1945. The famous tulip nose flower petals are given as
are the yellow "V"'s for the underwing, which showed that this
aircraft was flying on the Hungarian Front. Again, colors are 74/75/76
although this late in the war some of the later schemes might be more
appropriate. Superscale says that Hartmann ended the war with 356 kills
but, if memory serves, the last report I read showed him with 352 kills.
Has he recently been given an extra 4 kills or am I mistaken in my original
thinking?The instruction sheet is ultimately then the weakest point in an otherwise outstanding decal. You need to be on your toes when using any decal sheet as a reference source, anyway, particularly regarding Luftwaffe color and markings. I can recommend this sheet due to the quality of the decals and its low price, but only with the reservations as noted above