Dutch Profile Publications

Brewster B-339 Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Forces

Sheet Number: DDS87248 - 1/72 & 1/48 scale

Reviewed by  John Ratzenberger, IPMS# 40196

MSRP: approx. 12 Euro Sheet provided by Kits at War: www.kitsatwar.nl Dutch Profile: www.dutchprofile.nl Dutch Profile produces books focused on Dutch aviation, and corresponding decal sheets. Dutch Profile and Kits At War are related companies. I was a bit surprised to get this sheet as I thought I was getting one of the Kits at War sheets to review. They also sent their book on the Dutch Buffaloes, but that went to Brian Baker for review [Read a review of the book on this website.]. I subsequently borrowed the book from Brian, trading him the 1/72 part of the decal sheet. So here I am with a decal sheet on a subject of which I know little -- the Brewster Buffalo used in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Forces (RNEIAAF or ML-KNIL). I was aware of the orange triangle and the red/white/blue segmented circle with an orange center as Dutch national insignia, but not the red/white/blue flag. After some research, it appears it was applied sometime in February 1942 and would have been in service about a month until the surrender in March 1942. The sheet is dual scale -- 1/72 and 1/48. You get markings for 13 aircraft but because of limited quantities of national insignia, you can only do 5 complete aircraft -- one in US markings, one in RAAF markings, one (captured) in Japanese markings, and one each with the orange triangle and the R/W/B flag. You'll note from the list that "Dutch Buffaloes" is a broad term. It encompasses Dutch-purchased Buffaloes in any markings (thus the US, RAAF, and Japanese markings) or Buffaloes used by the Dutch (one an ex- 21 Sqdn RAAF machine). The instruction sheet contains gray-scale profiles and captions describing the colors -- these are in Dutch and English. The profiles match the color profiles in their book; the book really provides no other useful camouflage or markings info -- it is primarily historical info. Color matches for several paint lines are given. Also note that some of these machines were in "US equivalent" colors and these are pointed out. Because of the dearth of photos some of the marking details are speculative and the instructions indicate this. I'll point out two possible accuracy issues, while saying I have no evidence either way. I have seen one photo of a Japanese Buffalo carrying the "bird" on the tail and what appears to be an "I" on the fuselage near the tail plane just like the decal sheet, but it has the narrow white ring around the "meatball" which the decal sheet does not -- I don't know if these are 2 different aircraft or the same aircraft at two different times. I also think the Red/White/Blue flag insignia would have been in the same place under wing as the orange triangle it replaced, but the profiles show it well inboard -- I have seen no photos of the flag on the underside to know either way. The instructions recommend Mr Mark Setter/Softer and that the decals be applied on a gloss surface. It also states the decals are very thin and should be placed upside down in lukewarm water for only a few seconds. Inspection of the sheet shows it to be in perfect register and the colors appear correct. I had some reservations about the "thin" -- see the image which is about the best I can do photo-wise.

I was going to knock out a Matchbox Buffalo to put them on, but just used some 1/48 decals on an old Swordfish wing after I decided to send the sheet to Brian -- I have a CA Buffalo but no desire to build it right now. To prep the wing, I sprayed a fresh coat of Tamiya something then a good coat of Testor's Gloss-coat. I put a coat of Future on the top center of the wing (yellow box), but not the rest of it. I used Micro-Sol/Set on the left side of the wing (red line) but not on the right side.

The decals came off nicely in about 10 seconds, not a "few". They slid on the wing nicely and could be moved easily without distortion or tearing. I allowed them to dry and inspected them. They conform very well to panel lines and raised lines -- see the star on the right and the small serials at the top -- and are very thin on the model. But, the large serial in the center appeared to have air bubbles, or at least wasn't laying flat. I poked the left side with a pin in a few places and reapplied MicroSol -- the problem went away. More importantly I could clearly see the film around the star-insignia and inside the serials. I then hosed them down with Testor's Dullcoat -- several times. This cleaned up some but not all the problem.

From what I can see, the decals go on very well by themselves (release, moving around, strength, surface conforming), but need an undercoat of Future and a setting solution to minimize problems. Like their stable mate, Kits At War, Dutch Profile decals offer some unique markings. While Matchbox and others have featured Dutch markings on their Buffalo kits, the Dutch Profile decals offer more variety and pretty high quality. If you have an interest in the subject, I think these are worth investigating. I would like to thank Dutch Profile for the review sample, IPMS/USA for allowing me to review them, and fellow reviewer Brian Baker for lending me the book.

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