This is Wolfpak Decals' second 1/144 scale sheet and it is a nice one, including markings for eight different aircraft. Several of them are black or have black undersides, hence the sheet title. Some of these have also been on earlier 1/72 sheets, so it is nice to have these offered in this scale. 1/144 is pretty well ignored by most of the decal makers, probably because they think there is no market for them, but there is.

The first option is for an HU-16B of the 135th Air Commando Group, Maryland ANG back in 1963. This one is all black and you use the Roden kit for it.

Next there are two KC-135R/T aircraft for which one uses the Minicraft offering. These are both in overall AMC Grey. The first one is with the 909 ARS from 2012. It has ZZ tail codes and a tiger stripe on the fin. The other is from 1995 and is from the 92nd ARW based at Fairchild AFB.

A KC-10 is next and this one is from the 4th Wing based at Seymour Johnson AFB back in 1993. It is also in overall AMC grey and wears tail codes that were in vogue for some tanker units at the time. The only kit around is the Revell offering which will be quite difficult to locate and if you do, it will probably be offered at stupid prices. Perhaps it will be reissued as the last time was by RoG back around 2010.

Next we have two P-3s. First up is an EP-3E from VQ-1 that was rammed by the Chinese back in 2001. For both kits, the LS/Arii versions are all that is around. Fox One does a conversion and it can be purchased from Hobby Link Japan. I have the ancient 12 Squared offering, but it does not provide all the antennas of the Aires II set. The other is a standard P-3C AIP (which is the most recent upgrade) from VP-46 in 2006. Note that the PR tail code should be on the VQ-1 plane, the VP 46 one having no codes. Here is the revised artwork:

An AC-119K is next and we have Roden to thank for a kit. This is the famous 'Fly United' plane from the 18th SOS at Nha Trang in South Vietnam.

Finally a C-130A 'Blind Bat' plane from the 347th TAS based at Ubon during the Vietnam war. Mincraft is the 'go to' kit for his one. The instruction sheet for this set is the best in the business when it comes to background information and what may be needed to accurately depict the aircraft being modeled. In addition to the actual placement profiles, there are several additional pages of information that include a history of the type,  kits and update bits for these schemes,  as well as load-out information, and any changes needed to properly model the aircraft in question, assuring you of the most accurate model you can have. A listing of kits and conversion sets is also included. A visit to their web site will get you much larger images of the markings options. Note that the artifacts on the image are from my scanner.

As with the previous sheets, these are superbly printed by Fantasy Printshop and without any registration problems. If you have not yet treated yourself to some of the best researched decals around, you should.

Thanks to WolfPak Decals for the review sample.

January 2015

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