IPMS USA NATIONALS 2018
Phoenix Commemorative decal sheet
A
t the US Nationals it has
become a tradition to
release a special decal
sheet for those attending the
event and normally these can be
found for sale at Sprue Brothers
as well as on auction sites.
This year the Craig Hewitt
chapter were responsible for
organising the event and they
had joined forces with Two
Bob to produce a sheet that
had a local theme featuring
both an aircraft and a tank.
The main subject is the SPAD
13.C1 of Frank Luke Jnr the first
airman to receive the United States
highest award for bravery the
Medal of Honor. He has two links
with Phoenix Arizona, he was born
in Phoenix in 1897 and Luke Air
Force base on the outskirts of thecity is named in his honour.
This new sheet supplies
marking for his SPAD 13.C1
in its attractive three colour
camouflage with a diagonal
white checked band across
the port wing upper and
lower wings. The decals are
supplied in both 1/72 and 1/48
scale and are well printed
with the rear of the red, white
and blue rudder markings
are printed slightly oversized
to fit the kit of your choice.
The second subject will not
be of interest to many aircraft
modellers being an M551 Sheridan
tank named “Arizona” and was
used in Vietnam during the last
two years of the conflict.BUT THAT’S NOT ALL?
Another item specially produced for
the US Nationals may be familiar
to UK modellers as it is the Seam
Scrapping Tool that was launched
by IPMS UK at Telford. In my
view, this is one of those essential
items for the workbench and thisnew version is identical to the UK
version with the UK Logo replaced
by the Phoenix emblem of the Craig
Hewitt Chapter of IPMS USA and
is nice to see this tool becoming
available around the world.Fundekals
A
t the US Nationals in
Phoenix we caught up
with Fundekals who
have a unique approach to decal
production. Their latest sheet
is their third for the Vought
F4U Corsair and like the rest
of the range, you purchase the
decal sheet from their website
and then download the very
comprehensive and colourful
instructions, also from their
website. These instructions
are available to download
by anyone and are a superb
reference on the type and also
contain new information that I
have not seen any where else.
The first subject on this sheet is
an F4U-1A from VMF-321 at Guamthis is followed by
two FG-1As, one from
VMF-114 at Peleliu
with a very interesting
early tricolour paint
scheme and an overall
Glossy Sea Blue
Corsair from VMF-223.
The rest of the sheet
is dedicated to -1Ds
from 1945. We start
with carrier-based
Corsairs from VBF-83
on the USS Essex,
VMF-216/217 on the
USS Wasp, VF-85 on
the USS Shangri La, and VMF-511
on the USS Block Island. The sheet
also includes some land based
F4U-1Ds from VMF-223 on Leyte
and VMF-312 on Okinawa.1/72 SCALE
VOUGHT F4U CORSAIR “
WHISTLING DEATH”
F4U-1A, BuNo30012, Maj Overend,
VMF-321, Guam, 1944
FG-1A, BuNo13143, “Blue Baron”
VMF-114, Peleliu, Oct 1944
FG-1A, BuNo 14426, “Chief
Montana” VMF-223.
F4U-1D,94, VBF-83, USS Essex,
March 1945
F4U-1D,94, CVG-4, VMF124 and 213,
USS Essex, December 1944-March
1945.
F4U-1D,161, VBF-83, USS Essex,
April 1945.F4U-1D,174, VBF-83, USS Essex, 11th May
1945.
F4U-1D,Bu No 88043, “Killers Hash
Wagon”, 195, VBF-83, USS Essex, May-
June 1945.
F4U-1D, BuNo 57522, 552A, VMF-211,
Leyete, Philippines, Jan- March 1945.
F4U-1D, 125, VMF-216 & 217, USS Wasp,
10th February-19th March 1945
F4U-1D, 559, BuNo57559, VMF-312, Okinawa,
12th April 1945. Checkered nose and tail
F4U-1D, 670, BuNo57670, VMF-312,
Okinawa, April – May 1945. Checkered
nose and tail
F4U-1D, 584, BuNo57584, VMF-312,
Okinawa, May 1945. Checkered nose
and tail
FG-1D, 51, BuNo88042, VF-85, USS
Shangri-La, May 1945
F4U-1D, 79, “My Nel III” VMF-511, USS
Block Island, May-August 1945.
F4U-1D, 76, “Maze and Hayes” VMF-511,
USS Block Island, May-August 1945.1/48 AND 1/32 SCALE
This sheet is also available as listed above
in both 1/48 and 1/32 scaleCONCLUSION
Every sheet from Fundekals that
I have seen has really impressed
me and having spent a couple of
nights out on the town I can also
say they have some interesting
new sheets planned over the next
12 months I am sure that if you visit
their website at http://www.fundekals.
com you will find something of
interest as they have an ever
expanding range from fighters in all
the major scales to 1/144 airliners
Our thanks to Fundekals
for supplying us with the
review samples,DECALS
WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2018 • 53
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