Starfighter Decals has provided us with another excellent early Pacific war sheet for the USN builder. This time, the subject is in 1/48 and is for the SBD-3 Dauntless. These markings are all Midway and later so no red dot in the insignia and no red and white rudder stripes. There are a couple of kits for the early bird from Hasegawa and Accurate Miniatures, but these decals are sized for the Accurate miniatures kit. Not to say the won't fit the Hasegawa kit but no promises!

There are markings for eight different aircraft, all in blue-grey over light grey. The sheet contains enough insignia for two planes and any stencil markings will need to come from the kit decals. There are also a nice selection of prop warning stripes.

So let me run through what is provided.

First is VB-6's aircraft B1 of Dick Best who hit the Akagi during Midway.

Next is the plane of CAG 6 piloted by Wade McCuskey during that same battle and coded GC.

Third is VS-5's  #17. This one is a bit different in that the underside color covers the very front of the engine cowling.

Fourth is S-9 with VS-8.

B18 is a plane flown by VB-6's Robert Shaw which may have been the plane jumped by Saburo Sakai on 8 August 1942 over Guadalcanal and injured him so badly.

Plane 0 was flown by the Saratoga's CAG and hit the Ryujo on 24 August 1942.

A plane with three kill markings is aircraft 16 from VS-71 which managed to shoot down two Jakes and an Emily when flown by two different crews on the same day.

Finally, from VB-11 in early 1943 is one of the few planes with a squadron insignia on it. Two different background colors are provided for this insignia as it is impossible to really tell from the photos.

The decals themselves are superbly printed by Canuck Decals.

Thanks to www.starfighter-decals.com for the review sample.

November 2014

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