Fantasy Printshop 1/72 RAF Hawker Hunters
SHEET: FPAF 72-001
UNITS: See review
PRICE: £12.95
REVIEWER: Scott Van Aken
NOTES: Also available in 1/48

I dare say there are few fans of 1950s and 1960s jets who do not like the Hawker Hunter. It is one of those iconic aircraft that seems to just look right. Like the Canberra, the Hunter was used by dozens of units in its hey-day of the mid-late 1950s. Designed as an interceptor, it was also quite capable as a fighter bomber and had substantial overseas sales, many of them ex-RAF planes upgraded for local conditions.

To coincide with their new book, Fantasy Printshop has developed this set of decals that covers no fewer than 32 different single seat Hunters. All of the different variants are covered in this set which includes markings for F.1/4/5/6 and FGA.9 aircraft. There are also a couple of FR.10s added in the mix. It seems to me that pretty much every RAF unit is covered in this sheet.

For those wondering about kits, most of us will gravitate towards the Revell versions as they do both an F.6 and an FGA.9. It would be relatively easy to backdate the F.6 to do the F.5, 4, and 1 variant by removing the dogtooth extension, while the F.1/4/5 versions will need the aft lower tail sanded to a curved profile and the F.1 will have to have the 'sabrinas' removed and shell ejection chutes scribed in place.  

The vast majority of these planes are camouflaged in Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey over painted aluminum (High Speed Silver), though there are exceptions such as the 4 FTS plane in trainer colors, some with PRU blue or light grey undersides and at least one in a wraparound scheme.

The decals themselves are superbly done and include a full range of serial numbers for all 32 planes. Some of these have the under wing serials stacked while most are in long form. There are enough insignia on the sheet for one full color and one low visibility option. Revell's kit markings are also superb and should provide any additional insignia needed. The sheet itself is superbly printed as you'd expect from Fantasy Printshop.

It is a great sheet and one of those 'Must Have' items for any 1/72 Hunter fan.

August 2014

Review sheet courtesy of Fantasy Printshop. They are available direct at this link.

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