Here is another great sheet of early IAF aircraft. In this case, these are types of which relatively small numbers were procured. Though many know that there were B-17s in service (most of which were without turrets), few realize that  all carried a variety of interesting camouflage schemes at one time or another during their career in the IAF, and one (which eventually got full defensive armament) was in unpainted metal. In addition, there were at least three Catalinas and four Beaufighters which had the later dorsal fin extension.

This one is déjà vu all over again. Basically a downsized version of the 1/48 sheet. Isradecals provides  markings and insignia for these planes. From the look of things, you can build one Catalina, one Beaufighter and at least two if not more B-17s. All of the info needed is included in the 8 page full color booklet. This includes not only color profiles of the planes in question, but also photographs to help you determine markings location and camouflage schemes. Not surprisingly, there are no upper wing/tailplane camo diagrams as images of the upper surface were minimal at best. This gives the modeler the opportunity for some enlightened guesswork on how these were painted!

As with all their recent sheets, this one is superbly printed in the Czech Republic and totally devoid of registration errors. For kits you have a variety of choices. B-17s by Hasegawa, Academy, Airfix; Catalinas by Academy and Airfix and Revell with Beaufighters by Matchbox, Hasegawa and Airfix just to name those that come readily to mind. Isradecals recommends Academy for the B-17s and PBY with Hasegawa for the Beaufighter. A superlative set of markings that will make some most interesting modeling presentations.  

December 2008.

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