MAW-Decals

1/48th Battle Phrogs 100 & CH-46 Field Green/Land Scheme Stencils

Sheet Number: 48-MAW-019 (stencils sheet: MAW-020)

Reviewed by  Floyd S. Werner, Jr., IPMS# 26266

MSRP: $18.99 Website: www.mawdecals.com The CH-46 has been in Marine aviation since the Vietnam War. The twin rotor is a smaller version of the US Army CH-47. With Academy’s release of the 1/48th scale kit last year modelers were limited in marking options. Helicopters, in general, are really under-represented when it comes to decal manufacturers. Well, thanks to MAW-Decals at least, the CH-46 is covered. The Battle Phrogs 100 sheets cover TEN CH-46s. So why do these decal sheets cost $18.99? How about a CD with the instructions? But, more importantly, walk-around photos of the actual helicopters. The CD gives you more information on the CH-46 than any other single source that I know of. Great stuff here. You literally don’t have to buy another piece of references as the walk-around photos are very clear and of excellent clarity. Super-detailers can drool here. Still not enough for the money? How about videos of the helicopter in action? Sobering is the inclusion of a CH-46 crash sequence. The instructions explain why it is included and that the set is dedicated to those who lost their lives that day. The six Marines and one sailor are mentioned so that you can feel the personal attention to detail these sheets convey. You can model that particular helicopter with these sheets. Remember, freedom isn’t free. Okay, off my political soapbox and back to your normally scheduled review. So the CD is really nice, but what about the decals? The decals are impressive, to say the least. The decals are thin and in perfect register. Printed by Cartograf, you are treated to a sheet that contains the markings for TEN aircraft. This sheet is literally chock-full of decals. Especially impressive is the full color door art on five of the aircraft. Yes, there are photos of the real thing on the CD. These are photo-quality renderings of the real thing. The rest of the sheet contains various greys and black aircraft markings. One nice feature is that, if the camouflage changes color, the decals do as well. The level of detail is impeccable. There is an additional small sheet for aircraft 3969.

Is that it? Hardly. You also get the two sheets of MAW-020 as well. This sheet contains the markings and stencils that are common place on military helicopters. These sheets are enough to do a single aircraft. There are certainly a lot of stencils. They are clear enough for you to read the markings. The second sheet is a smaller one with some additional stencils. All in all, you can do any of the aircraft. MAW-020 is a nice sheet in its own right and will be a nice addition if you want to just add to the kit decals. Still not enough for you? How about the inclusion of the various flare and chaff dispensers? There is a small sheet included that has the multiple options for the dispensers -- a very nice touch. So to recap, you get a photo CD with the instructions, walk-around photos, detail photos of the actual aircraft, and videos of CH-46s in action. You get decals for ten CH-46s in various colorations. Also included are five full-color renderings of the door art. On top of that you get one and a half sheets of stencils plus flare and chaff dispenser decals. Reference photos, exceptionally good decals, and plenty of them, what more could you ask for? Overall, this decal set is a great value for the money. For those that want to use the kit markings you can buy 48-020 separately for markedly better decals than the kit offerings. I wish all helicopter models were treated so well. This is the standard by which modern decals should be judged. Thanks to MAW-Decals for the review copy.