This last new sheet from Yellow Wings Decals covers three P-26 Peashooters from 1934/35 time frame. These are all from the 17th Pursuit Group and all have yellow wings and olive drab fuselages. Yellow Wings repeats what many of us have heard in that no P-26s left the factory with blue fuselages so any blue planes had to be repaints later in their life.

Of course, you'll have to do a bit of painting for these as the decals cover the different unit colors, meaning a lot of yellow will have to be included by the builder. For those who have been in a hobby a long time, you'll notice that these schemes have been done before by Aeromaster, I believe, but those sheets are rare as hen's teeth so these are not only newer, but take care of whatever inaccuracies were with the older sheet. As you can see, it is a most involved set that includes full data markings for all planes as well as insignia and rudder markings.

So, using the cover sheet as a guide, we have a 34th Pursuit Squadron plane in black and white  with the 'Thunderbird' unit marking. This unit has managed to survive a myriad of cutbacks and is currently flying B-1B bombers out of Ellsworth AFB.

Next, in yellow and red trim is the 73rd Pursuit Squadron with its 'California Grizzly' marking. These units were all based at March Field. This unit is no longer extant having ended its days in the late 1950s flying B-52s.

Finally, in blue and white is the 95th Pursuit Squadron option. This has the 'Kicking Mule' badge. Though with a different badge, the 95th ended its existence in September of 2010 flying F-15 Eagles as one of the training units based at Tyndall AFB.

The decals themselves are superbly printed by Microscale.  Yellow Wings has to have among the finest instructions and markings placement guides offered with this one being in full color so there are no worries about what goes where. The set includes an outstanding stencil placement guide.

August 2011

Thanks to Yellow Wings for the review samples. If your store cannot get them, you can order direct.

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