Spada Decals LL Lcat01/FR: French Hellcats

Moving to something a bit more modern from WWI, this particular set of sheets covers the French use of the Hellcat in postwar. The Hellcat was a good choice for the time as it was to be used in areas of the world that did not have the most up to date weaponry. By this, I mean Indochina. The Hellcat was plentiful, easily flown and easy to maintain. Yet, despite its age (a decade was a very long time in the early 50s), it was a superb gunnery and rocket platform, just what the French needed.

This set of sheets pretty well covers all the different units that flew the plane; 1 Flottile, 11 Flottile, 12 Flottile, and two A d'lAir units, GC 1/6 Corse and GC 2/9 Auvergne. All of these planes would be in dark sea blue and probably a bit weathered. All are F6F-5s. At this time the Hasegawa kit is one's best bet in this scale, though I'd be surprised if a more modern kit isn't soon released.  All of the Spada's Laser Line sheets are available in all the major scales as they are printed on demand.

This sheet's instructions are mostly in French, though I doubt you'll have trouble figuring out what is what. There are additional bits of information on the back of the instructions, but really, not much more is needed aside from proper wing placement. I've only shown a small bit of a much larger third sheet that has more roundels. You can see more on Spada's web site.

As I mentioned in the first sheet review, it would be wise to recoat these markings prior to use, just to add that little bit of extra protection. Like other Laser Line sheets, these are printed on one carrier, so the outlines around various insignia are guides for when you cut them off the sheet.

June 2008

Review copy courtesy Spada Decals. You can reach them at www.spada-decals.com

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