"The buck stops here!" That was the motto of President Harry
Truman. When it comes to the world of model aircraft carriers the buck stops
when it comes to those final details, the decals. IPMS attendees, as well as
judges, will be stopped in their tracks to examine a carrier model with
intricate carrier and squadron markings. When it comes to intricate detail done
to en exhaustive level of completeness, in the decal world no one does it better
than Starfighter Decals. Here is another one of their incredible
products, set 700-46 Carrier Air Wing 3 2004-2005 for the air wing of the
USS Truman CVN-75. This set contains
three sheets of decals but one is so small that for all practical purposes it
amounts to two sheets.
The largest sheet contains markings for seven squadrons. VF-32
Swordsmen fly the Grumann F-14
Tomcat, characterized by a black sword on the tail fins, and Starfighter
supplies eight sets of decals for this squadron with different aircraft numbers
per set. Jugheads will appreciate the decals for VMFA-115 Silver
Eagles with nine sets provided for the F/A-18 fighter bombers of
the squadron. The chessboard pattern forward edge of the tail fin of S-3 Vikings
of Squadron VS-22 Checkmates proudly
show that they are up to stopping any underwater threat to the Truman. There are
seven sets for the Vikings. You want more superbug Hornets? No problem as there
two more F/A-18 equipped squadrons in this set. VFA-37 Bulls
naturally has a bull symbol in blue or black on the tail fin. VFA-105 Gunslingers
have a green or gray wedge on the fins with the green wedge going to aircraft
400 flown by the squadron commander. There are nine different aircraft markings
for the Bulls and ten for the Gunslingers.
VAQ-130 Zappers get three different
numbered aircraft sets for their Prowlers. Additionally there are four sets of
wing walk panels for the E2C aircraft. You can experience rotor madness with six
sets of markings for the choppers of HS-7 Dusty Dogs.
This sheet contains markings for the Lo-Viz standard squadron aircraft.
The second, smaller set of decals includes the most colorful
decals for CAG or squadron commander aircraft. There are two variants for the
VF-32 with differing mixtures of yellow and black. VFMA-115 also has two
variants, both of which are multi-color but one variant being more gaudy. The
Bulls get two variants, one in blue and one in red. VFA-105 also has two
variants in different compositions of green, yellow and black. VS-22, VAQ-130
and HS-7 all have only one set of commander markings but they are probably the
most colorful of all. The chess board pattern on the leading edge of the fin for
the S-3 is in red and white and there is a green dragon for the tail fin of the
Prowler. The markings of two other squadrons are included. These are for the
Hawk Eyes of VAW-126 Sea Hawks and
the cods of RC-40 Rawhides. Both of
these have more color than other squadrons with four aircraft sets for the
VAW-126 and two for cods.
The small third sheet has two sets of black wing walks for the
two cods of RC-40. Starfighter provides excellent full color profiles and
plans for each squadron and aircraft type to show the modeler where all of the
decals are placed on each aircraft. The Starfighter Decals "Give
em Hell Harry" decal set 700-46 for Carrier Air Wing 3 of
the USS Truman 2004-2005 provides
a-hell-of-a-lot of detail and great value at $15.
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