Thanks to the recent release of Revell's 1/48 PT-17/N2S kit, we have been blessed with a number of nice aftermarket bits, including some great decal sheets. The Stearman was a plane that was painted in more than just a yellow scheme. There were a number of colorful and interesting schemes applied to this aircraft and Iliad Design has provided us with a new sheet that features five of these schemes.

The first option is in the early war shades of Blue 23 with Yellow 4 flying surfaces. This one has a large BP30 on the fuselage side and carries the pre-war rudder stripes and US ARMY logo on the lower wings.

Next is one based at Kunming, China in 1943 as a hack. This plane carries the barred insignia without a surround and was painted in local colors. This plane has a mostly dark green but has large blotches of dark earth on the rudder and upper surface of the wings.

The first of two Navy planes is #73 in a mixture of aluminum dope and large orange-yellow areas. This plane is from 1944.

The second Navy plane is in USAAF colors from the early war but with the rudder also in blue. A large 241 is on the lower fuselage. This plane has a replacement lower right wing in aluminum dope.

Finally an RCAF version from 1942 in overall yellow with the standard RCAF markings and large serial numbers on the lower wings.

The decal sheet itself is superbly printed and contains all the markings needed to build all five markings options. I should point out that the red on the instruction sheet for the US rudder markings is brighter than what is actually printed on the sheet. The sheet comes with full color instructions and show upper and lower surface markings placement as well.

If you have the Revell kit, you should pick this one up.

April 2016

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Thanks to www.iliad-design.com for the review sheet. You can get yours direct from the link.

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