From the folks at www.platz-hobby.com comes their next new sheet in 1/72 and they have picked a very nice subject. This is the first special scheme I have seen on the new F-2A. Fortunately for us, there is an excellent kit from Hasegawa that will be perfect for this one. It may not be all that simple to find in the US, but they are available.

The sheet commemorates 50 years of operations at Tsuiki AB, starting with F-86s and T-33s and moving through the F-1 and finally on to the new F-21A. This aircraft is painted in the standard 2 blues of sea strike units (FS 35042 Sea Blue and FS 35164 Intermediate Blue). However, the tail is much more distinctly marked. One side is the camouflage scheme used by the F-1s while the other side is the aluminum scheme used by the F-86s. Each side has the appropriate badges used at that time. These fin markings come already to apply or the modeler can paint their own backgrounds.

Other markings on the ventral strakes are the types flown by the unit and on the other side, the original fin markings carried by the Sabres. The decals themselves are superbly printed in Italy and carry a full line of stencils. There are also instrument decals which I find a nice touch. As a note on stencils, many of these are all tied together, which very much speeds up application. Since most of the stencils are in white, they really do not show up well on the scan.

It is a great sheet and since commemorative aircraft seem to have a considerable following, you can add something a bit more esoteric to your collection.

My thanks to Platz Hobby for the review set. You can get this on-line at www.platz-hobby.com once it has been entered into their database. Ask your local shop to start carrying the line as they have a number of other sheets in their catalogue.

September 2011

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.