PT-Decals

1/72 - French AF/l'Armee del'air (various subjects)

Sheet Number: 7201

Reviewed by  Chris Durden, IPMS# 29474

MSRP: $15.00 PT Decals is a new line that focuses on French subjects and, according to the promotional letter, is based on the artwork of Pierre Tilley, who does profiles for the French magazine Aero Journal. This is their first foray into 1/72 subjects and they are off to an impressive start. It looks like PT decals are associated with the Dutch Decal group of products, which is a known quantity in the modeling world. The subject matter is very interesting, with the center piece being a colorful (bare metal w/ glossy black undersides) C-47A that flew propaganda missions over Vietnam in 1954. Remaining subjects are four B-26 Marauders (either bare metal, bare metal / OD or OD/NG), four different Ju-88 A-4s (including two with the thin white/black striping) used for postwar training and General DeGaulle's C-60 personal transport at Algiers in 1944 (OD/NG). The sheet is packed with decals that are in register and are very crisp. The decal film itself is admirably thin and I am impressed with the sharp script for some of the aircraft names that are clear and easy to read. The roundels are all in perfect alignment and the yellow surround does not have that overlap area that you often see on other decal sheets. The French blue also looks to be ‘spot on' to my eye. What truly sets this offering apart is the quality of the instructions and the artwork. The aircraft profiles and instructions are artwork and not simply line drawings. The artwork is quite detailed and several photographs of some of the subjects are included for reference. This includes a picture of the peculiar speaker arrangement mounted on the bottom of GT 2/63 (C-47) should one want to take a crack at scratch building the unit or at the least the mounting tracks. Overall, this is an impressive sheet – so much so that I "had" to buy a Ju-88 to use the decals. My thanks to PT Decals for the review sample and for enabling my plastic habit.