Owl Decal 1/72 US Marine Nightfighters |  | Owl Decals continue their interesting trend of producing decals of night fighters, this time focusing on the US Marines during the Second World War. The sheet provides markings for four night fighters, all different aircraft and all requiring additional modifications from the basic kit. On the back of the instructions there are notes stating that Owl has resin conversion sets for each of these aircraft, so you won't have to do any scratchbuilding here.  The first plane on the sheet is a TBM-3D Avenger, serving with VT(N)-90 off of the USS Enterprise in March of 1945. Planes of this unit shot down five aircraft at night before the end of the war. This Avenger is finished in a three-color camouflage, with the upper surfaces in sea blue, the fuselage sides in intermediate blue, and the undersurfaces in black. The white unit markings and aircraft number have been grayed out.
Second on the sheet is an F6F-3N Hellcat of VMF(N)-534, flying out of Guam in August of 1944. This plane carries the standard camouflage of sea blue, intermediate blue and white. In addition to a large white 10 for the fuselage sides, this plane also carries the unit emblem on the cowling. Next up is an F4U-2 Corsair from VMF(N)-532 out of Saipan in the summer of 1944. This plane was flown by several pilots, including Captain Howard Bollman, who shot down a Betty bomber on April 14, 1944. The camouflage of this plane is the same as the Hellcat, and it also carries the name “'Midnite Cocktail' on the nose. The names of two other pilots are also under the cockpit, and a single kill marking is on the nose. Finally we have a PV-1 Ventura from VMF(N)-531, flying from Banika Island in September of 1943. This plane also had one victory. Named “'Coral Princess' it also features a profile of a nude woman on the nose. Camouflage of this aircraft is also in the standard tri-color scheme of sea blue, intermediate blue and white. All of these options provide a very different look for common aircraft and will fit in nicely in any USMC collection. The decals themselves are nicely printed and the sheet includes all the national markings to do all the options. Hats off to Owl Decal and I hope they keep turning out interesting subjects like these.
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