 Icarus
Decals 1/72 Hellenic T/RT-33A Shooting Stars
As the first jet to serve in the Hellenic Air Force, the T-33 holds
a special place in the aviation history of Greece. That place is even
more special when one realizes that the T-33 remained in active service
in the HAF for 49 years (1951-2000) and amassed a stunning 450,000 flight
hours. Toss in the fact that these planes wore many varied schemes over
those years, and you have a great subject for a decal sheet, a fact that
Icarus Decals recognized with this latest sheet.
Just like the originals spanned decades, so does this decal sheet. Starting
with the 1950s, the sheet provides natural metal options, camouflaged
options, and a neat high-visibility option. Starting with the odd ones
first, there are a couple of RT-33A options here, both finished similarly.
These are natural metal overall, with red fins and red outboard wing tip
tanks. In both cases, the aircraft did not have roundels, although one
has a fin flash. Both were based at Larissa AFB in the late 1950s, and
served with the 348th TRS, 110 CW. One is coded TR-644 and the other TR-409.
Unfortunately, I do not know of any conversion out there to make an RT-33,
but it shouldn’t be too difficult to scratch build, should you want
to do one of these aircraft.
 Moving
on to the trainers, the earliest T-33 is from 1957, serving with he 112
CW at Elefsina AFB, and like the RT-33 options, it is overall natural
metal with red outboard tip tanks. That is just the beginning of the colorfulness
of this aircraft, though, as the rear fuselage is painted yellow with
red diagonal stripes. This continues up the vertical fin and out along
the stabilizers as well, with just a strip of natural metal for the serial
on the fin. With olive drab for the anti-glare panel and inboard sections
of the tip tanks, this is one colorful aircraft.
Toning things down, there are three camouflaged examples covered on
this sheet, all of which differ only in the details. The camouflage is
standard SEA colors, consisting of FS 34079 dark green, 34102 medium green,
30219 tan, over 36622 camouflage gray. The option from 1977 (a T-33 from
the 363 Operational Training Squadron, 110 CW, at Larissa AFB) has lighter
colored roundels and a small number on the nose. The other two, from 1991
(371 Training Squadron, 110 CW) and 2000 (222 Training Squadron, 115 CW)
have TR- numbers on the nose and darker colored roundels. An examination
of the handful of photos at airliners.net shows that these planes were
rather weathered, so you could have a lot of fun doing some of these camouflaged
T-33s.
Finally, the high-visibility option has international orange upper surfaces
and camouflage gray undersides, with light blue roundels. This plane,
coded TR-955, was from the 222 Training Squadron, 115 CW at Souda AFB
in 2000, and is currently on display at the Hellenic Air Force Museum
at Dekelia AFB at Athens.
In addition to the individual markings, this sheet includes two complete
sets of stenciling. While the basic markings will be simple to apply,
getting all these stencils on will be quite time consuming. Luckily, the
instructions are very clear, and if you take your time and work in sections,
a couple days worth of decaling should get the job done. The finished
result will definitely be worth it, too.
Icarus Decals continues to come out with some absolutely stunning decal
sheets covering an air force not often seen in the aftermarket. Printed
by Cartograf, the quality is high and alignment is absolutely perfect.
I look forward to seeing what their next releases will hold. My thanks
to Icarus for the review sample. Icarus Decals are available from Meteor
Productions, Hannants, and
other distributors. |
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