Tigerhead Decals 72015: Texans of Hot Climate, previewed by Scott Van Aken

Tigerhead Decals 72015: Texans of Hot Climate

Units:	See review
Price	$12.00
Reviewer:	Scott Van Aken

After recently building an Academy 1/72 T-6G, I liked the kit so much I got a couple more and started looking for aftermarket decals. At one time, I had a very nice Microscale sheet, but used all the options on Heller and Hawk kits. So I went looking again. Apparently the subject/scale is not a hot one so I had difficulty locating anything that wasn't a repeat. These popped up in a search so I picked them up.

The decal sheet itself is quite small measuring 4 x 4 inches. It also contains no stencils, only the unique markings and insignia. What's more, there is no placement guide included. For that, you need to go on-line to obtain that information. The header card for the decals mentions nothing of this requirement nor did the item description from the place from whence this was purchased. Apparently this sheet is also available in 1/48 as the .pdf file one downloads is for that sheet.

There are six options on the sheet. All the drawings show them to be later T-6Gs, but it is quite possible that some may be Harvards so it would behoove the wise modeler to find some photos just to be sure, unless you don't care.

In no particular order we have Pakistani Air Force plane in overall yellow with a nice green forward cowling and spinner from 1948.

Another overall yellow plane is from the Royal Jordanian Air Force in 1957.

Third is one either in unpainted metal or overall aluminum lacquer (and I'd go for the first) from the Hellenic Air Force in 1962.

Also in unpainted metal is one from the Yemeni Air Force in 1957.

A brown and tan camouflaged plane of the Egyptian Air Force from 1949 is listed as a Harvard IIb so one would need the Airfix kit for this one.

Finally, a Noorduyn Mk. IIb for the Turkish Air Force in 1958. This one is quite colorful with a dark blue fuselage and yellow wings and tailplanes. Tigerhead showed me the photo on which this option is based and it looks like it has a earlier canopy so one should use the Airfix Harvard for this one.

I have not used these decals before so don't know how opaque they might be, but they certainly look thin enough.

The sheet is nicely printed with no registration errors. While it doesn't seem like a very good value for the money, especially with the requirement to go on line to get instructions, it will provide some more interesting subjects for those who like to model other air forces. I'd recommend a bit of research on some of these.

February 2017

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