Brasil Decals 1/144 JAL 50th Anniversary 747-400

One of the big draws for airliner modeling is the colorful schemes used by the different airlines around the world. Rivaled only by NASCAR, aircraft have been painted in a rainbow of colors and images. Getting a new paint scheme or a unique livery on an airline model is a passion for many airline modelers. I am definitely a sucker for an unique paint job on an aircraft. Coupled with the fact that you can actually see the aircraft or possibly fly in it and the attraction is there! An important requirement for the airline modeler without access to an Alps printer is a decal company ready to produce the sheets for “must have” aircraft. Stepping into the ring is a new decal company that has made a big splash with their airline decals. The company is Brasil Decals, located naturally in Brazil. Their initial decal release was an amazing 20+ sheets. One of the first decal sheets from them that I picked up is for the JAL Dream Express No 1 Friends.

JAL hit on a gold mine when they first started to paint some of their aircraft with cartoon characters or images. I was traveling to Japan on business when they introduced the first aircraft painted in Disney characters. It was successful far beyond their expectations. Families would travel hundreds of miles to get a reservation on one of the Disney jets. JAL has painted a variety of their aircraft in Disney related schemes over the years. This decal sheet, numbered BD144-04, depicts the first 747-400 (JA 8908) to be painted in a Disney scheme, called Friends 1. The decal sheet is appropriately huge! The main sheet is 9 inches by 12 ½ inches. There is a second, smaller sheet containing the multicolor ribbon which trails down the side of the fuselage. At first I thought that the colors used in the decals looked washout out, but careful examination with photos of the aircraft on airliners.net showed the colors to be almost spot on or even a bit more vivid than the photos. The JAL 50^th anniversary tail markings look good on first examination. Comparing the image to the real life aircraft shows that the light to dark transition is more aft on the decals than the actual aircraft.  

As far as I can tell, all of the markings on the real aircraft are on one of the two sheets in this pack. In addition to the unique markings, the decals come with the cockpit and passenger windows and decals for the various passenger and cargo doors. The instruction sheet is a full color line drawing of the aircraft with all decals numbered to help with placement. The decals appear to be on the thick side, but I have read a comment by someone who has tried the Brasil decals that this is not obvious once they are applied to a model.

This decal sheet can be used to create an unusual model that should stick out on any contest table. Is the decal sheet worth picking up? You bet! Even with the small color problems, an unique model can be made using this decal sheet. Now I am waiting to get another Brasil decal sheet with a unique scheme - the Toronto Raptors Airbus A320!