Monday we had a look at some gorgeous decal sets from Starfighter Decals. Then on Wednesday, we looked at some of the resin upgrade sets from Starfighter Decals. Today we will finish the week with some photoetch- and more decals!
Many folks know of Starfighter Decals for the products they produce for Monogram’s classic 1930’s biplanes- the P-6E, F112-C, and F4B-4. If you’re like me though, as soon as you hear the word “biplane” you think “rigging”, and say “no thanks!”
Mark Tutton, the man behind Starfighter Decals, has taken those orries away with photoetch rigging sets designed especially for the classic Monogram kits.
Starfighter makes E-Z Rigging sets for for the three kits mentioned above, plus the P-26 Peashooter from Revell. We’ll look at the set for the P-6E and F112-C.
Each set consists of a small photoetch fret with all the rigging included, as some additional goodies such as air intake screens and antenna wiring in the case of the P-6E sample. Each part is clearly marked, and a rigging diagram shows how to install the various parts. Simply set the parts in place with a few drops of CA, and you’ll have a fully rigged model- no drilling of holes, no stretching lines, no cutting off excess. Everything is pre-measured, pre-cut and ready to go.
And we still have some decals to look at!
Yesterday I covered the resin conversion set to make the F4B-4 in to an Army P-12. Of course, once you have the kit converted to a P-12, you’ll need markings for it. Once again, Mark and Starfighter come to the rescue!
The P-12 decal set provides four very colorful marking options for various aircraft, including a blue P-12 flown by the “Skylarks” a three-man airshow team out of Maxwell Field, Alabama in the 1930’s. The decal set, like all of the other sets I’ve reviewed for Starfighter, are in perfect register, with bright colors and very precise printing. (They are printed by Cartograph, so you know you’ll be getting high quality decal sheets!)
Finally, just to show that Starfighter Decals has products for more than 1/72nd scale, Mark sent along a set of decals for a 1/32nd F4F-4 Wildcat. The set includes enough decals to produce two aircraft, and of course making use of kit decals can stretch them out across four builds. One of the options includes Lt Cdr. Jimmy Thatch’s White 23 from Midway. The set even includes decals for the red/yellow/blue prop tips, to make that part of your build simple.
This week, we’ve covered quite a few products from Starfighter Decals, but you’ll want to visit the website to see everything Mark has for the modeler in every scale. Mark’s products fill a very unique niche, providing options for kits you won’t find anywhere else.
I’d like to say special thanks to Mark Tutton, the man behind the curtain at Starfighter Decals, for the great products he’s graciously provided for review. I had the pleasure of first getting to know Mark on the Agape Models forum, and then we met in person at a show in Columbia, SC, earlier this year. Mark is a gifted modeler and vendor of parts, but more importantly, he’s a great guy, and a dear brother in Christ.
