Afterburner Decals

1/48 Pax River F/A-18 Bug Testers

Sheet Number: AD48-025

Reviewed by  Steven Brooks, IPMS# 45582

MSRP: $20.00 www.afterburnerdecals.com Naval Air Station Patuxent River also known as Pax River, located on the Chesapeake Bay, near the mouth of the Patuxent River in Maryland. It is home to the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School and the center for Naval Aviation testing and evaluation. Now Afterburner Decals has released a large decal set covering 6 F/A-18 aircraft of every variant from the Pax River test facility, from 1986 to 2005 this includes the following Aircraft. F-18A Bureau number 161925 from 1986 D'Skunk. F/A-18B Bureau number 161947 from 2003 lo-viz markings. F/A-18C Bureau number 163476 from 2003 lo-viz markings. F/A-18D Bureau number 163986 from 2003 lo-viz markings. F/A-18E Bureau number 165537 from 2005. F/A-18F Bureau number 165929 from 2005 The first and most unusual is the F-18A "D'Skunk", this aircraft is quadra-sected, black on white on the right side and white on black on the left, with D'Skunk painted on both sides just aft of the canopy. The second, third, and forth aircraft are low-viz aircraft from 2003 with black squadron marking on the tail and the words "Strike Test" painted just aft of the canopy. The third aircraft, an F/A-18C is covered in photo reference markings. The fourth is an F/A-18D, and is the only two-seater in the group. The fifth and sixth aircraft, an F/A-18E and F/A-18F also have the words "Strike Test" painted aft of the canopy but are hi-viz paint schemes with bright red and blue markings. The first thing that grabbed my attention when I opened the package of decals is the incredible amount of reference material provided by Afterburner Decals, it would be very easy to complete any of the six aircraft without obtaining any other reference material. There are 5 sheets of material with three and four views of each F/A-18 along with stencil guides for each. The most important part is the two sheets of decals, which are beautiful. They are very clearly printed and well registered. The smallest details can be clearly made out and the colors are bright and clear. I have started with the "D'Skunk" and plan to build two of the other test bugs. I would like to thank Afterburner Decals and IPMS for providing me with this review sample.

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