Victory Productions 1:48 RA-5C Decals

Anyone who contends the Vigilante was a boring bird might have his mind set straight by Victory's new sheet on the RA-5C in 1:48 scale. The sheet presents nine different schemes, all of which are colorful and/or historically significant, covering the type's service in Vietnam.

The subjects on the sheet start with BuNo 151615 of RVAH-1, the "Smokin' Tigers," as it appeared on Oct. 16, 1965, flying from the U.S.S. Independence. On this day, the aircraft became the first RA-5C to fall to enemy air defenses, notable in that the Vigilante suffered the highest proportional loss rate of a Navy aircraft in the war. This aircraft wears the gull gray-over-white scheme with the wavy demarcation line between the gray and white over the wing control surfaces. The markings comprise subdued Navy, RVAH-1 and modex numbers, a large "Smokin' Tigers" logo on each intake side, and a red and black flash on the tail.

Next is BuNo 149297 of RVAH-6, the "Fleurs," aboard U.S.S. Ranger in early 1968. This is the aircraft that photographed the location of the "Hanoi Hilton" and opened the door for the later bombing of Hanoi. The unit also deployed in response to the Peublo crisis. This aircraft wears standard camouflage with the blue fluer-de-lis-bedecked blue tail stripes worn by the squadron.

BuNo 149313 of RVAH-6 in late 1966 aboard U.S.S. Constellation is next, but this example wears an experimental green camouflage, approximated at FS 34079 green and "between FS 36081 and 36118 gray." One of the sheet's few failings is its failure to provide more than a port-side profile view of the camouflaged planes; the starboard side and upper sides are left to the modeler's imagination.

BuNo. 150831 of RVAH-7, the "Peacemakers of the Fleet," is next. This version, depicted as it flew from U.S.S. Kitty Hawk in 1972, has a black tail with a white star as opposed to the white tail with black star used later by the squadron. The instructions suggest that these markings may have changed partway through the 1972 cruise.

BuNo. 156621 of RVAH-9, the "Hoot Owls," is a departure from the Vietnam subjects. The plane is shown as it appeared aboard U.S.S. Nimitz in 1976/1977, the unit's final cruise. These markings include the bold Air Wing 8 tail marking of a three green stripes with the AJ wing code on the tail, and the Hoot Owls emblem adorns the intake sides.

BuNo. 156614 of RVAH-11, the "Checkertails," is portrayed during its 1971/1972 cruise to Vietnam aboard U.S.S. Constellation, a tour which saw the squadron win the Presidential Unit Citation, the only such award captured by a Vigilante unit during the war. This aircraft is notable in having shark-mouths and eyes painted on the intakes, the sole example of such adornment on an RA-5C. It's also got the Checkertails logo on the intakes and the familiar black-and-white checkerboard marking on the vertical tail.

BuNo.147858 or 145157, also from RVAH-11, wears another experimental camouflage scheme, this time the USAF Southeast Asia colors. A slightly different Checkertails logo on the intake sides and a reduced white and black checkerboard on the tail gives this camouflaged bird some color, and the wavy demarcation line between the camouflage colors and the white undersides is visually interesting. Some mystery remains about which plane this is; it was a replacement aircraft that came from RVAH-13 during U.S.S. Kitty Hawk's 1967 Vietnam deployment, and the identity has been narrowed to these two aircraft.

BuNo. 156640, from RVAH-12, the "Speartips," aboard U.S.S. Enterprise in 1975, covered the fall of Saigon. This is the most colorful scheme on the sheet, because the plane had been decorated in preparation for the bicentennial with a blue radome with a red stripe and white stars and a red and blue flash on the vertical tail. The crew names on the canopy are contained within red, white and blue stripes.

The final scheme is for BuNo. 151627 of RVAH-13, the "Bats," which was lost on a mission from the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk on March 9, 1967. The rear-seater of this aircraft, LT (jg) Frank Prendergast, made a remarkable escape from the enemy in the surf near Long Chau. The details of the escape are unclear, as the decal sheet explains, but Prendergast was awarded the Navy Cross for his efforts to evade capture. This plane has the Bats' logo on the intake and a rather plain stylized "NH" modex on the tail.

The sheet does an excellent job of specifying which style of intake each subject has, whether the long or short J-79 nozzles are used, and the ECM, sensor and chaff/flare outfits each plane uses. There are five different styles of intake warning markings, and basic data for one plane. The decals are beautifully printed by Cartograf and the colors are outstanding.

This is another outstanding effort by Victory, and it ought to make any Vigilante enthusiast quite happy. Thanks to Victory Productions (www.victorymodels.com) for our review sample.