Blue Rider BR 207: Estonian Air Force

One of the Baltic States, Estonia was free from post WWI until 1940, when it was overrun by the Soviets and became one of the Socialist Repubics, albeit unwillingly. When this sheet was printed (1988), the Iron Curtain was still up and strong, though that was to change in a very short time, allowing the Estonians to again be free to choose their own destiny.

This sheet covers seven aircraft from that original time, all of them biplanes and most of them from WWI or shortly after. The Estonian Air Force, like that of Latvia, was heavily influenced by the British and so much of their military air power was from the UK.

This sheet has three different DH.9 aircraft, two of them in PC 10 over varnished linen while the middle one is kind of a mixture with a natural metal nose and some of the fuselage in grey.

Then there is the most modern plane on the sheet, a Bristol Bulldog.

Next the first of two Avro 504s. The first one is a K model in natural linen with grey bits. The last one on the sheet is a R version in what seems to be aluminum dope with a black front.

The other aircraft is a Sopwith Camel in PC 10 and natural linen with a bare metal cowling.

The instructions recommend Airfix kits for them all with several needing modified (the DH.9s). I am thinking that Pegasus did a DH.9 sometime after this sheet was issued and for the most part, any more modern kit should be substituted if possible.

The decals are fairly well printed with a bit of registration shift on a few of the markings, but nothing that can't be trimmed. It also provides some additional stripe material. As you can see with the white stripe surround, my sheet has just started to yellow after nearly 20 years.

if you can locate this sheet somewhere, it would be well worth considering for your next build project.

Review copy from my decal dungeon

November 2007

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