Diego

Hu-131 seems indeed to be a very good choice, taking into consideration the scale effect

Finally some SAKR rockets as high quality elements ! Congratulations to Vespa Models for this release - it is worth noting that these rockets were also used on Egyptian AF Meteors F.8, Vampires, MiG-15s and Yak-11s... Greetings Diego

With the announced release of the Airfix Meteor F.8/FR.9 around June and the recently re-release of the beautiful Airfix Meteor F.Mk 8 kit, we are now preparing a sheet covering some more "exotic" operators of this classic fighter, in both 1/48th and 1/72nd scales: HD48038 & HD72038 Gloster Meteor F.8 / FR.9 (6) -Meteor F.8, Royal Danish Air Force, 1952 - Dark Green / Dark Sea Grey / Medium Sea Grey camo with colorful "Lörn" unit insignia; -Meteor F.8, Royal Danish Air Force, 1954 - Dark Green / Dark Sea Grey / Medium Sea Grey camo with colorful "Lörn" unit insignia; -Meteor F.8, Egyptian Air Force, 1956 - Aluminium scheme; ( armed with 8 Sakr rockets - the same as used a.o. on EAF MiG-17Fs, MiG-15bis, Vampires and Yak-11s - they flew combat missions against Israeli positions in the Sinai during the October 1956 war) -Meteor F.8, Syrian Air Force, 1956 - Dark Green / Mid Stone / PRU Blue camo ( two SyAF Meteors were credited with the downing of a RAF recce Canberra over Syria in October 1956) -Meteor FR.9, Syrian Air Force, 1956 - Dark Green / Mid Stone / PRU Blue camo; ( with overpainted camera windows, used as fighter-bombers) -Meteor FR.9, Ecuadorian Air Force, 1975 - Aluminium scheme with red nose and intakes as well as a blue nose stripe with blue & red stars. ( with overpainted camera windows, used solely as fighter-bombers, armed with HVAR rockets) - the very last Meteor in active operational service worldwide. Although some of the Meteors operated by the a.m. Air Forces were available in decal form in the past ( unfortunately with many errors ), currently available informations allow to correctly recreate these birds in much more detail...and, in fact, we selected interesting very interesting and colorful individual airplanes never previously covered either by kit manufacturers or aftermarket, with gorgeous unit markings etc. The decals are scheduled for release during April, in time for the release of Airfix F.8/FR.9 Meteor kit in 1/72nd scale. More details soon Greetings Diego

Great to hear you got the photo-tank. It is however important to check the dimensions, as far as I remember, this item has been based on Hasegawa tanks...then it was really the only game in town in this scale. In such case the tank will be slimmer than the Platz tank...but you can simply cut off the nose ( be aware that this is a solid resin part and the window is only marked by an outline ) and put it on a Platz tank-copy... I can't wait to see the progress on your RDAF bird 🥰 Greetings Diego

Hi Steve, It's quite simple - RDAF RF-84Gs used two Fletcher tip tank adapted from T-33s - One standard and one with camera nose. Yugoslavia and Holland also used the same configuration, the Yugoslav installed cameras on both tanks of these Thunderjets. The simplest solution would be to use the tanks from Italeri / Platz T-33 kits ( you can make a resin copy, for example ) and modify the nose of one of them following the drawings from the decal sheet. Please note also that one of the birds featured on the sheet wears full camo, the other one being in NMF, but with an entire replacement wing from another, camouflaged machine. Greetings Diego

- HD48012 Su-7 BMK/BKL Fitter A - HD48005 MiG-17F/Lim-5 Fresco C - HD72042 Su-7 BMK/BKL Fitter A were just released and are now available.

As Michael wisely said, the Mars rocked pods were used only on some LSK/NVA ( East German) MiG-17F and on Polish Lim-6 with tail parachutes. Egyptian AF MiG-17Fs were modified with two underfuselage bomb racks as well as two SURA rocket lauchers ( a licence produced Hispano Suiza rockets that were also used on Spanish Buchones ) under each wing, already used on EAF Meteors, Vampires, MiG-15s and Yak-11s. It's strange that AMMO adds a "polish" package in the Egyptian/Syrian boxing, instead of an specific EAF weapons package. Anyway, the markings in this EAF/SyAF boxing are strange: - The roundels for the "Syrian" example should have 3 stars ( till 1972-73 ), or no stars at all. The roundel with two stars was used by the UAR ( United Arab Repubic - a Union between Syria and Egypt) during the 1960s and by the modern Syrian AF since the 1980s. Anyway, the Syrian MiGs were never camouflaged in sand and brown,. Their camo was sand and olive green and, later, reddish sand and dark blue-green. - The EAF "Nile Valley" camo used a black-green color fading to olive green and pale sand, with green-grey "meanders" between them. Sometimes, these colors were reversed with "meanders" being painted in sand color. Several Frescos and MiG-21Fs also used a darker "Nile Delta" camo, with olive green and grey green only ( without sand ) - Re. Angolan examples - they used a tricolor stripes on the tail instead of the flag. - Re. East German MiG-17Fs - the red codes have really strange shapes. Normally these digits were applied using standardized masks with only very few exceptions. Colors were red for combat aircraft and black for trainers, helos, transports, etc. - Re. North Korean Fresco C - North Korea never applied national insignia on the upper surfaces of the wings. It seems that the people preparing the decals used really old references, made obsolete by modern research. Also, regarding the included -beautiful - Russian helmet...AFAIK, most pilots flying the Fresco still wore the older, leather flight helmets due to the little space available under the MiG-17 canopy. Greetings Diego

Hi-Decal just released some alternative marking options for AMMO beautiful MiG-17Fs and Lim-5s: ( correcting several major errors from the kit decals ) Hi-Decal HD48005 MiG-17F/Lim-5 HDL HD48005 MiG-17F/Lim-5 Fresco C

A Tempest TT.Mk.5 including the target towing equipment would be surely welcome...

Hi-Decal will release decals for this beauty covering several colorful overseas users: Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/HD72038?result-token=2CBiK HD72038 Gloster Meteor F Mk.8 / FR Mk.9 F.Mk.9: - Royal Danish Air Force, 1953 - Dark Green / Dark Sea Grey / Medium Sea Grey camo with colorful "Lörn" unit insignia; - Egyptian Air Force, 1956 - Overall High Speed Silver scheme with black /white id. stripes - armed with 8 Sakr rockets, the same as used a.o. on EAF MiG-17Fs, MiG-15bis, Vampires and Yak-11s; - Syrian Air Force, 1956 - Dark Green / Mid Stone / PRU Blue camo, credited with the downing of a RAF Canberra during the Suez crisis; FR Mk.9: - Syrian Air Force, 1956 - Dark Green / Mid Stone / PRU Blue camo - one of only two delivered and used as fighter-bombers; - Ecuadorian Air Force, 1974 - High Speed Silver scheme with red nose, intakes and blue/red starred stripe on the nose - with overpainted camera windows, used as fighter- bombers, armed with HVAR rockets. The very last single seat Meteor in active service.

Here you will find an up to date listing including all currently available sheets as well as some upcoming items: Hi-Decal sheets in 1/48th & 1/72nd scales

...also, our Hawker Hunter sheets are on the final preparation stage and will go to print in the near future. We have made a small change and included an Omani AF Hawker Hunter in the sand and brown wrap around camouflage scheme tested during 1979. Omans' Hunters were received from Jordan in the standard RAF ( dark green/grey/ silver) scheme and were repainted in 1979-80 in a standard grey/dark grey camo. However, in the late 1979 3 aircraft received different experimental schemes for test purposes. One two seater and one FGA.9 were repainted in desert wrap around schemes, another FGA.9 receiving a highly attractive "scalloped" camo scheme in grey tones. During many years, it has been considered that the single seat desert camouflaged bird was an urban legend, but now there are color photos confirming this scheme. It is however worth noting that the illustrations and profiles showing "825" wearing a desert scheme and old, big Omani roundels are a product of phantasy...the real bird having only a small Omani shield on the tail... So now we have: HD48029 & HD72059 : Hawker Hunter F.4 / FGA.9 / T.66 - F.52 (F.4) Peruvian AF in dark green/ocean grey and silver camouflage, with colorful unit insignia, - F.51 (F.4) Royal Danish AF dark green/ocean grey and silver camouflage, with colorful unit insignia, - F.51 (F.4) Royal Danish AF in overall olive green scheme, - FGA.76 (FGA.9) Somali AF in sand & brown desert scheme and Soviet K-13 (AA-2 Atoll) AAMs, - FGA.73 (FGA.9) Omani AF with experimental, assymetrical, scalloped edge grey / dark grey disruptive camouflage, - FGA.73 (FGA.9) Omani AF with experimental sand & brown desert wrap around camouflage. - FGA.71 (FGA.9) Chilean AF in sand & brown camouflage and Shafrir II AAMs, - FGA.71 (FGA.9) Chilean AF in light blue & medium blue camouflage, converted into a strategic recce platform, - T.72 (T.66) Chilean AF in tree tone sand / brown / green camouflage, with a "Mirage-kill" marking,

Around January 15, 2024 we will re-release our popular, sold out sheet HD48005 MiG-17F/Lim-5 Fresco C, with markings for * 2 Polish licence built Lim-5s :1023 in camo scheme and 1717 with "last Lim / Last flight" special farewell scheme * 2 Egyptian MiG-17Fs: 2147 in 3 tone Nile Valley camo scheme and 2728 in the green-grey and olive green "Nile Delta" scheme, both operating during the october 1973 war against Israel, * 02, an ex-Syrian MiG-17F test flown in Israel, * C24, an Angolan AF MiG-17F in olive green and sand, during the Angolan civil war. HD48005 MiG-17F/Lim-5

A funny thing: The An-2 N° 2, "white 802", labelled as Soviet AF, 60-70 years was in fact the very first East German An-2, transferred in 1953 from the Soviet AF in Germany to the "Volkspolizei-Luft" ( "People's police-Air") - a secret forerunner of the East German Air Force, and used in this scheme as liaison and training a/c till the official creation of the LSK/NVA ( East German AF) in 1956. This explains the non standard tree digit codes and the typical East German font. (The VP-Luft also used a Yak-11 and a La-9, both marked with red stars, the last one only as static airframe to train ground personnel ) Greetings Diego

An awesome build of a great bird. Simply jaw-dropping Indeed, the IIAF purchased 24 RHAW sets that arrived to Iran in February1978, but only four Iranian F-4Ds were upgraded before the revolution stopped this program. These aircraft were used early during the 1st Gulf War for a.o. bridge busting missions dropping LGBs, but these very risky missions were quickly discontinued to keep these precious aircraft operational. 68-6914 / 3-6717 was one of these upgraded Phantoms and was also credited with an Iraqi MiG-21 MF, shot down during September 1980. This workhorse later effected hundreds of combat missions during the war against Iraq and was still in service during 2010, wearing the serial 3-6712. Greetings Diego

Colorful Iranian Air Force F-5E/F decals for the upcoming Wolfpack F-5E and F-5F kits from Hi-Decal (HD72052) , with markings for following birds: F-5E 73-00939 / 3-7059, 21. TFS, IRIAF, TFB. 2 Tabriz 1984; F-5E 3-7301, 41. TFS, IRIAF, TFB. 4 Vahdati 2010; F-5F 75-00682 / 3-7155, 43. TFS, IRIAF, TFB. 4 Vahdati 2010; F-5E Azarakhsh 3-7361, 41. TFS, IRIAF, TFB. 4 Vahdati 2010.

More colorful decals for the upcoming 1/48th scale An-2 from Hi-Decal, incl. markings for - Croatia (x2) - with different multi-tone camouflages during the croatian independence war during the early 1990s, - Poland (x2) - white 9868 with two-tone and white 9861 in tree-tone camouflagesm during the early 1990s, - East Germany ( x2) - black 458 in green / light blue and black 845, a former Lufthansa der DDR machine in aluminium overall with blue cheatline during the late 1950s, - North Korea (x1) - red 44, special ops. aircraft in matt black overall, during the early 1980s.

Hi Dennis, Unfortunately I don't have seen any photos of 571 in NMF, but, as this camouflage was an unique, experimental one, applied AFAIK on two recce Thunderjets only - I am pretty sure that 571 previously flew in NMF with standard Yugoslav markings. However, as it's very possible that that this bird received the camo during the recce configuration upgrade, you could do 571 in NMF before the recce modification, i.e. as standard fighter-bomber 😊 Greetings Diego

Hi Giuseppe, your're welcome - it's always a pleasure to help. The ALQ 119 pod is indeed black and white. As for Sidewinders, Turkish and Israeli RF-4Es were wired for them ( and few Spanish RF-4Cs too ) but Iranian RF-4Es were "unarmed and unafraid"- sorry. Greetings Diego

Hello Giuseppe, Thanks for your message. in fact, when working with italeri instructions you should use them with care and always check your references, if possible, as the instructions and decals are, unfortunately full of errors... 2-6502 was painted in a scheme similar tho the IRIAF F-14As, i.e light grey replacing the green and brown areas of the Asia Minor scheme, and light blue replacing the sand areas on the uppersurfaces as well as the pale grey on the undersurfaces, i.e. the undersurfaces are painted completely in light blue... These can be seen a.o. on good photos published on www.airliners.net. Re markings: the TFB 3 code on the tails should have a "3" in "western style" on one side and in farsi on the other side of the tail ( this is missing completely) [Elements 28 & 29 on the HDL decal sheet here below] . You will also need 2 codes "2-6502" in two different sizes in western digits, and 2 in farsi digits, also in two sizes. (Italeri says to apply the 2 farsi codes on the nose, and the westen ones on the tail, but this is incorrect, as the IIAF/IRIAF has always had the codes applied in farsi on one side (left on tail and right side on the nose) [elements 21 & 22 as well as 15 & 16] and western on the opposite side. Also the tail flag [ element 6] has a slightly different shape: Here you can see what I mean: If you would like to add a splash of different color, then paint the underwing tanks in the "standard" Asia Minor colors, i.e. dark green upper and pale grey undersurfaces. as well as the big belly tank in pale grey, like on the photo below, taken in 2020. You can also complete the underwing stores with a luggage pod as well as an AN/ALQ-119 ECM pod... https://media.farsnews.ir/Uploaded/Files/Images/1399/08/12/13990812000389_Test_PhotoN.jpg In case of further questions simply let me know, please. Greetings Diego

Simply terrific 😍😍😍🙀🙀🙀

Upcoming sheet for the beautiful Airfix Sea Fury from Hi-Decal, scheduled for September: HD 48037 Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 / Fury FB.60 - "701" - Egyptian Air Force very first Fury ( Former G-AKRY demonstrator) in sand & brown desert camouflage. Used in combat during the first Palestine War, 701 scored the first ever confirmed aerial REAF victory in June 1948. - "711" - Egyptian Air Force Sea Fury in aluminium overall, used in combat against Israeli forces in the Sinai on 30 and 31 October1956, - "237" - Iraqi Air Force in sand & brown desert camouflage, first detached to Syria and later transferred to the REAF in October 1948, this Baghdad Fury was used in combat during the Palestine War being credited with an aerial victory in December, - "318" - Iraqi Air Force Fury in sand & brown desert camouflage, in 1953, - "4" - Moroccan Air Force Fury ( former Iraqi a/c) in sand & brown desert camouflage, in 1960. -"L900"- First Pakistani Air Force Fury in sand & brown desert camouflage and high-viz black/yellow undersides, used as target tug in 1960, -"L991"- Last Pakistani Air Force Fury in dark green and ocean grey camouflage, in 1957,

A new Hi-Decal sheet covering a.o. Oman is scheduled for release in early autumn: HD48029 & HD72059 - Hawker Hunter F.4 / FGA.9 / FR.10 / T.66 - F.52 (F.4) Peruvian AF in green / grey camo, with colorful unit insignia, - F.51 (F.4) Royal Danish AF in green / grey camo with colorful unit insignia, - F.51 (F.4) Royal Danish AF in overall olive green scheme, - FGA. 71 (FGA.9) Chilean AF in brown / sand desert camouflage, - FGA. 71 (FGA.9) Chilean AF in light blue / mid blue camouflage, - T.72 (T.66) Chilean AF in green / brown / sand desert camouflage, - FGA.76 ( FGA.9) Somali AF in brown / sand desert scheme and Soviet K-13 (AA-2 Atoll) AAMs, - FGA 73 (FGA.9) Omani AF with experimental, assymetrical, scalloped edge grey / dark grey disruptive camouflage, - FR.10 Omani AF with grey / dark grey camouflage and combat mission markings.

...currently on the workbench😀 Now that we know what versions and options can be build from the new release we can do the necessary adaptations. I can spoil a bit saying there will be, among others, an unique recce option with a standard nose, but with a small window installed between the guns ( instead of the ammo ) and housing a camera taken from a RT-33, obviously with the Sabrinas removed, wearing an unique scheme consisting of several shades of light blue, used operationally in 1978 during an international crisis... 😏 Greetings Diego

The Sea Fury decals are scheduled for late autumn, i.e. ca. November🙂 More informations and pictures will be of course posted when available...