PMA P-51 Mustang Egg Plane Decals
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
Hasegawa's Egg Planes have been a popular fun subject for many modelers, and their breadth of subject guarantees that there is something that will fit your genre of aircraft modeling. What has been missing, though, is aftermarket accessories. Recently, several companies have aimed to rectify that. There are now aftermarket resin detail sets for several kits and now PMA has released aftermarket decal sheets for the P-51 Mustang Egg Plane.
The Decals
PMA has released two separate sheets for the Hasegawa Egg P-51: one for WWII US aces and one for Chinese ROCAF F-51s. The US sheet provides markings for three aircraft, while the Chinese sheet provides markings for seven aircraft.
Starting with the US sheet, the three aircraft covered include George E Hardy's "Tall in the Saddle", George F Cueleers' "Constance", and Arthur F Jeffrey's " Boomerang Jr. George Hardy's aircraft is from the 99th FS, 332nd FG and features a red tail and spinner. The fuselage is coded A3-3, and the aircraft name is on both sides of the nose. Cueleers' aircraft is from the 383rd FS and has a scoreboard with nine victories under the canopy. It has a white spinner and a white D in a black circle on the fin. Jeffrey's aircraft is from the 434th FS and has a red rudder and white spinner. Coded O-L2, it has victory markings painted on the canopy railing.
The second sheet is for the ROCAF F-51Ds, which feature slogans painted on the side that denote sponsors in purchasing the aircraft in 1954. The instructions are written in Chinese, but there is an English translation. While there are seven options provided on the sheet, the decal layout only shows five of those. You get several that are already set up with serial numbers and aircraft numbers, as well as a set of generic numbers for those aircraft that aren't depicted. National insignia and stenciling are provided as well.
The decals for both sheets are nicely printed and feel quite thin. There should be no problem in application, and they definitely provide a better level over the kit decals.
Conclusion
For those looking for something a bit different to put on their already different Egg Plane P-51, these decals are definitely worth looking up. My thanks to PMA for the review samples.