 Zotz
Decals
Roundels Of The World
sheets # ZTZSP1 & ZTZSP2
Look at all those African decals! Lovers of obscure air forces must
be dancing in the street – Zotz
has released two sheets that provide insignia decals for the entire vast
continent. It took ten sheets packed in two sets and the total bill will
come to $40, but just think of the possibilities – Djiboutian Mi-8s,
Eritrean MB 339s, Zimbabwean Hawks, Oh, My! The sheets meet the current
standards for aftermarket decals – crisply printed, well saturated
and properly registered.
ZTZSP1 - Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape
Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia,
Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Somalia, Sudan, Togo, and Tunisia.
 ZTZSP2
- Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Congo, Congo Zaire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,
Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South
Africa, Swaziland,Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Whew!
Zotz offers one insignia per country. There are some inherent problems
with this generic insignia approach. Size matters. Zotz claims the decals
are applicable to 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scales; each country’s insignia
are offered in three sizes. Perhaps you’ll get the size you need
for your subject, perhaps not. Just eyeballing the available sizes, it
looks to this reviewer that 1/72 modelers of small and mid-size planes
will do OK. Some countries’ insignia are just flags, and Zotz hasn’t
bothered to “hand” the decals.
Presumably the insignia included is the current one. But insignia may
change as often as regimes, which is a lot in some places. Check your
references. Which begs the question. “Just where does one find references
on African aviation?”
References
 There’s
not much in print. The most exciting book available is probably African
Migs. Many nice profiles here, with lots of history to underpin a
modeling project. Occasionally publishers throw together a lot of material
to produce titles like Encyclopedia of World Air Forces. Such titles will
have info on African subjects, though the photos may be no bigger than
a postage stamp. Aviation magazines sometimes have features or news items
with photos of planes recently sold to African nations – Air International
springs to mind. The problem with these sources is that the planes are
often photographed on pre-delivery flights, so operational markings remain
a mystery.
For modelers with patience and a computer, the Internet is the Mother
Lode –
ACIG Journal
is a huge website with hundreds of high quality profiles and history.
Most of the planes in the African Migs book can be found here plus many
more exotic aircraft from around the globe. The website’s navigation
is a bit challenging, but you can research geographically by heading for
the databases over on the left, such as the Western
and Northern Africa Database. The extensive text that accompanies
each article is often as fascinating as the exotic profiles.
Airliners.net has nearly a million
airplane photos! Despite the site’s name, there are a huge number
of military aircraft images here – searching the Photo
Index by aircraft type is the right tool here. You can also search
by country where the photo was snapped. For a tasty sample, do a search
for photos taken in Burkina Faso – plenty of spicy meatballs here.
African Aviation Slide Service
is a place to buy high quality slides of African subjects. The thumbnails
posted on the website are large enough to serve as reference to aspiring
African modelers.
Much of the joy and value of the Internet comes from its powerful sharing
capabilities. And that includes photos and info on African airplanes.
Some rich sites include –
Some caveats with the sharing sites – not all contributors are
respectful of copyright laws. And Internet info comes and goes - the forum
sites, in particular, may have server space for only a few weeks worth
of material.
Google
Image Search can be a treasure map to find rare African aircraft images.
Just type in some combination of exotic country and airplane and see what
the search turns up. Try this combo – “Angola Mig”.
This trick can keep one out of the pool room for many nights. Google’s
regular web search engine can also be a most useful tool.
A general problem with all African references is that the vast majority
of photos are ramp shots, and the markings on the wings are seldom visible.
Small air force modelers are familiar with artistic license, and it will
get used here again.
The sad news is saved for last – Zotz didn’t include Bophuthatswana
on these sheets. They have a good excuse – South Africa reabsorbed
“Bop” a dozen years ago, but it still seems a shame to omit
one of the most colorful and tongue-twistingest of African air forces.
Despite this omission, small air forces enthusiasts will welcome these
sheets and hope that the series will grow. This reviewer can’t wait
for “Roundels of the Former Soviet Union.”
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