Shenyang J-6/F-6
(MiG-19) Farmer C
and A-5C Fantan Decals

Tiger Wings

Reviewed by Dave Williams

With the recent release of the 1/32 scale Trumpeter MiG-19 kits and the 1/48 scale HiPM Mig-19S, some have been wondering what is available in the way of aftermarket markings. Tiger Wings has decal sheets available in both scale for Pakistani and Bangladeshi F/FT-6 aircraft and Chinese J-6 birds. Markings are also included for two A-5C Fantan aircraft, which is only currently kitted in 1/48 scale by AA.

The sheets are essentially the same, with the 1/32 scale sheet being just a scale-up of the 1/48 scale sheet, and the instructions are identical. Because of their larger size, the 1/32 scale decals are spread over two and a half sheets, whereas the 1/48 scale decals can fit on only one and a half sheets. The images in this review are of the 1/32 scale sheets. NOTE: The 1/32 sheet is mislabeled as 1/48 scale on the sheet. The 1/32 scale sheet carries the sheet number 8110 in black, whereas the 1/48 scale sheet has the number 8109 in red, so take care to get the correct sheet.

The sheets basically consist of various national insignia, numbers, and squadron badges which the modeler mixes and matches to make specific aircraft. Special markings are included for a NMF Pakistani F-6 from No. 23 Squadron with a large sharkmouth and another F-6 from No. 15 Cobra Squadron with red and white checkerboards on the nose, rudder, and wingtips. Initial impression is that the decals are quite thin. Some of the squadron badges are made up of overlays that the user applies in stages, which helps avoid registration problems. My experience is that decals this thin usually tend to stick to the model immediately and this could be a problem when moving the decals around to exactly position them for the overlays.

Unfortunately, the decals are rife with problems. Starting with the Pakistani birds, the green and white roundels are undersized. The white center seems close to the correct size, but the green outer ring is noticeably too small. In addition, the squadron badges that go on the tail are also undersized. Photos show that the squadron badges are larger than the tail flag, but on the sheet they are the same size. Pakistani aircraft have serial numbers on both sides of the nose and the rear fuselage, usually in a segmented block style font. The sheets contain four sets of 0-9 numerals in the block font but on the 1/32 scale sheet only three of the sets are segmented and on the 1/48 scale sheet only two sets are segmented. One will have to cut the segments out of the remaining block font sets to make the minimum of four sets on numbers that you need for one aircraft. Even after doing the cutting, you will only have enough numbers for a serial number without repeating digits. Unfortunately, most of the aircraft shown on the instructions have at least one repeating digit which means that none of them can be done with only one sheet. There are also four sets of black digits in a different font on the sheet, but again you’ll have the repeating digits problem.

Besides the general problems with the national insignia, squadron badges, and numbers, the special aircraft from Nos. 15 and 23 Squadron have other problems. The sharkmouth is much too long for the 23 Squadron bird. Photos show that the rear end of the mouth ended about halfway between the nose and the wing root, roughly in line with the muzzle brake of the wing root cannon. The mouth on the 1/48 scale sheet goes from the front edge of the nose all the way to the wing root itself on my HiPM kit. The rudder checkerboard for the 15 Squadron aircraft is sized to fit the 1/48 scale AA kit, which has some serious size and shape problems. Consequently, the checkerboard is too short to fit the 1/48 scale HiPM kit, and the scaled-up version is too small for the Trumpeter rudder.

The problems with the undersized roundels and insufficient numbers carries over to the Bangladeshi aircraft as many of them are ex-Pakistani birds and retain the serial numbers and camouflage of the previous owners. The center of the roundel is red instead of white, but the roundels remain the same size.

The Chinese markings look basically OK and you get four sets of red numbers, which allows one to use duplicate digits as Chinese J-6s only carried a nose number. The sheets also include sets of white numbers and white Chinese national insignia, but their purpose is not clear. They can’t be an underlay to provide a white border around the red numbers or national insignia as they are the exact same size as the colored decals.

The A-5C Fantans on the sheet have their own nose numbers and rear fuselage serials, so you don’t have to piece together the numbers from a series of digits. However, the markings include a triangle warning ground crew of the danger of getting sucked into the “INTANE”.

The instructions are pretty poor, consisting of a series of sheets showing black and white profile drawings of various aircraft. There are no letters or numbers associated with the decals on the sheet, which can lead to confusion in the order of applying the overlays which make up some of the squadron badges unless one has access to color pictures of the badges. The color callouts are all in Gunze paint numbers, so you’ll have to find a color chart on your own. The camouflage information for the aircraft in light grey/ medium grey uppers over light grey undersides is incorrect. The instruction sheet states that the vertical tail is in the light gray underside color. Photos of real aircraft, including one of the FT-6s on the sheet, show that the tail is in the upper surface medium gray color.

These sheets are just plain bad, folks.

To be fair, these sheets are probably a few years old and were put out for the 1/48 scale AA kits, long before the Trumpeter and HiPM kits existed, so the things like the checkerboard not fitting is not really surprising. However, the sizing errors in the roundels and squadron badges are unforgivable and make the sheet essentially useless for doing Pakistani or Bangladeshi aircraft. Save your money and hope something better comes around.

Sample courtesy of my ever dwindling bank account.

Dave Williams
IPMS/USA 19050

Review Copyright © 2002 by Dave Williams
Page Created 03 February, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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