666nimrod

Xtradecal X48190 is indeed 1:48 scale and has been produced to try to satisfy the numerous customers who have requested markings for RAF Phantoms. They are all in the late grey camo scheme because with the smaller roundels more squadrons can be got on the sheet. I hope you like it. And where does it say it is 1:72 scale please so I can get it changed. David Hannant

I do not know if they are but it would be good if someone did. David Hannant

In response to many requests Xtradecal are adding another new 1:48 Phantom decal sheet, X48190. This is now illustrated on Hannants web site and is due early in June 2018. It includes ten aircraft all in the low vis grey camo scheme. This scheme was chosen because with only small roundels it is possible to get a lot more squadrons on it. David Hannant

Xtradecal X48186 is now available and has gone to the top of our Top Ten. David Haannant

In my first reply I took Vlad's figures as correct and did not do a check but now I have I think I can say that our prices are very near the average. For instance I have found one on e bay which with postage converts to £33.70 which with VAT added comes to £40.00 or £14.00 more than our price. I can't find any Chinese prices to compare but for many outlets I am happy that the UK importers prices are in the ball park with the rest of the world. Even one claiming to be giving a 33% discount works out at virtually the same before adding VAT. We are currently listing over 120 kits of which about 10% are out of stock at this moment. David Hannant.

We are not the importers of Trumpeter kits and only charge the price that we are charged by the importers, Pocketbond. I will check with them that their prices are correct. Don't forget that our price includes UK VAT which would probably be added to any imported parcels by HMRC and freight, so the difference would probably not be as big as you are thinking. David Hannant

Mirageiv's suggestions illustrate I am afraid why so few suggestions actually don't get done. 1. 1:32 scale decals rarely sell in big enough quantities to warrant doing them. We have to print a minimum quantity which is generally far more than the sale of the kits warrant. And since we also sell the kits we have a big advantage over most of our competitors who don't have this knowledge. And whatever we do some one will say they wish we had done a different scheme so picking the right subjects is very difficult, made harder by the fact that it is rarely possible to get more than two on a sheet. 2. Why would we want to do 6+ sheets of decals for 1:48 Hasegawa kits? Again we have a good idea of how well the kit sells. There would have to be a very large numbers in stashes around the world. But we have dipped a toe into this pool and there is a sheet that should be with us very soon X48186. Sorry, but we have to live in the real world which is populated by such as the Airfix 1:72 Phantom. There are not many No Brainers! David Hannant Xtradecals

I was also going to ask if anyone had actually built one yet. And if you have and used Xtradecals on it I would love to see pictures and with your permission use some on our web site. It's been a truly inspiring thread and I would thank everyone who has spotted any errors. I think with one exception they have all be silly errors to the instructions which with one exception have all been corrected before the instructions are printed. We are still waiting for six more sheets to be printed, they are on our web site, and when this is done we will have covered at least one aircraft from every Phantom squadron. I don't think it has affected parcel packing, but we had a tree blown down in the gale yesterday the roots of which managed to get round the gas supply and it's been cut off so our packers are having to work twice as hard to keep warm! David Hannant

Although we still have several Modeldecal Phantom sheets available, they are all listed on our web site, I am afraid that there is no chance of any reprints of ones that are out of print. All the artwork was produced pre the use of a computer and the current decal printers will not use it. The couple of corrections to the new Xtradecals have already been done, Black Mike is an FG.1 and 30 Sqn was 29 Sqn. Not sure about the colour of XT863, the nose wheel door looks the sane colour as the uppersuraces David Hannant

That would be very interesting if it wasn't for the fact that about 10% has a grain of truth and the rest is nonsense. Have a look at Hannants web site now. Buy One Get One Free on the Xtrakit Meteor F 8. That's nearly £1 less than Airfix.