Well, here is another of the Insignia specials. Is it a book with a decal sheet or a decal sheet with outstanding instructions! Either is as good a reason as any to pick this up.

Undoubtedly the part of the world that has undergone the most change in the last several years has been the Balkans. Where once there was just Jugoslavia, now there are a number of nations: Slovenia,  Bosnia-Hertzogovia and Macedonia, just to name a few. During their bids for independence, these countries had very little if no air power. Independence came mostly from ground forces as help from the UN. All of these now have some sort of an air force from one that is relatively capable and has sophisticated air defense fighters like Slovakia, to other countries whose military capabilities are mostly trainer and liaison aircraft along with a goodly number of helicopters. That pretty well describes Slovenia and Macedonia.

As with other booklets in this series, this one is 52 pages of mostly photographs and profiles of the aircraft of the countries in question. There is a good historical section that covers the acquisition and use of the planes in question. The only color is the cover, and that provides space for three pages of profiles and one of various insignia and unit markings.

The accompanying 1/72 decal sheet covers 14 aircraft, mostly helos and light  planes. Insignia concentrates on 1/72 as the reader is more likely to find some of the less known aircraft as model kits in this scale. I haven't seen a 1/48 Mi-8, Pilatus PC-9, or UTVA-75, though these planes are available in 1/72 with a bit of searching.

The decals themselves are quite reminiscent of Modeldecal sheets in the quality of the printing and the thickness of the decals. However, I have used these decals before and they work quite well. All but three of the markings are for Slovenian planes. The three Macedonian aircraft are an Mi-8, UTVA-75 and Zlin 242. Slovenian markings are given for a number of Bell 412s, and several PC-9s as well as an UTVA-75 and Zlin 242. The Slovenian markings are such that you can model any of the 412s or PC-9s as they went through various markings changes over the last decade.

One always wonders how much interest there really is in such esoteric subjects. There is enough for Insignia to sell out of many of the past issues. It really is great that there is a company that is interested enough in the smaller air forces of the world to publish these booklet/decal sheets. I know that I'll be putting this one to use quite soon.

Review copy courtesy of me and my wallet.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has thousands of  visits a day, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.