I/72-76 AFV Korea and IDF Decals

Reviewed By Howie Belkin #16

#AFV-7207 Korean War M-4 Sherman and variants

and
#AFV-7208 IDF Armor Part 1
Waterslide decals 2.75" x 6.25"

by AFV Decals of Sweden

about $9 ea. retail

While 1/72 aircraft has always been big in the U.S., small scale armor never quite made as big a splash on this side of the pond.  Even so, I have watched more and more Braille scale armor entries show up at East Coast and National IPMS-USA shows I've attended, as well as AMPS shows.  And if you've ever stooped to look at some of these jewels, you'd be amazed at the scale detail some extraordinary modelers achieve.

One niche that has been begging to be filled has been the need for armor decals.  A few short years ago mfrs began to address that in 1/35 scale, though US markings are still lacking in my opinion.  Lately, small scale (1/72-1/76) armor has had big things in stores for them.  AFV Decals of Sweden, run by Johan Lexell, already has several decal sheets for German armor.  These new sheets follow the same basic concept of providing the modeler all the markings necessary, including numbers and codes, to complete lots of vehicles.  Each decal comes with two 8.25" x 11.75" instruction sheets providing a blow up of the decal sheet keyed to multiple-view drawings.  References are mostly readily available Squadron/Signal, Concord and Verlinden publications.

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AFV-7207 "M4 Sherman in Korea" has markings for 17 vehicles including an M7B1 Priest, M32, M40, Canadian Achilles, ROK M36 and Canadian and British Shermans.  Most are U.S. Shermans that you could never have built unless you were an artist or adept with computer graphics.  For example, now you can build one of Rice's Red Devils, one of six awesome Tiger Faced subjects!  As these are more complicated, Johan left some of the work for you.  I built an M4A3-E8 named "Skeeter Hawk" attached to the 3rd Inf. Div.  It had a fierce tiger face over a 3rd ID blue/white stripe rectangle.  Though the smaller Div insignias are provided for the tank sides, you have to create your own for the front.  I found enough white decal and blue stripe from my spares, so no problem.  But when I applied the tiger face it turned out to not be fully opaque, and you can see a ghost of the stripes beneath it.  Had the marking been one complete decal, or a white "mask" provided to fit behind the tiger face, problem solved.  You could make your own from the provided template.  When I mentioned the problem to Johan he said he intended that we use the template to paint the stripes and  "...

to not paint blue where the Tigerhead is to be placed... the finished model will look far more realistic with markings that are handpainted," as the referenced photos look like "...the painting must have been done very hastily, or with some really crude brushes and cold fingers."

The tiger face itself is yellow not orange - you can touch this up with a craft store Marvy brand Extrafine Permanent Marker if it bothers you.  In other instances the tiger mouths and teeth are provided but you have to paint the inside of the mouth, or the yellow sides with "squiggles."  These are limitations to the printing process and I for one would rather keep the price under $10 and use AFV Decals' 1:1 masks.  Another point to be made is that most of these Shermans are E8s and the Hasegawa 1/72 kit was the only one available.  The kit is old and over scale.  Look to U.K. mfrs Cromwell "Combat Ready," Milicast, MMS, SHQ, etc as alternatives, and for dozer Shermans, conversions and detailing sets. 

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AFV-7208 "IDF Armor Part 1 the 1948-73 Wars" contains decals for 22 Israeli AFVs from the War of Palestine to the Yom Kippur War.  Just as the IDF inventory ran the gamut of types of vehicles, so does this decal sheet.  There's an M3 and M9 half-track, a Priest,  M4A2, M4A1s and Ishermans, Centurians, M48s, M60, assorted armored cars, a captured BTR-50PK - and more!  As far as I know, only Almark ever produced Israeli marking decals in 1/72-76 scale, so this (and Part 2 covering post 1973 IDF available by the time you read this) is much needed by modelers of Israeli vehicles. Some vehicles are readily available kits, and other kits and conversions are available from European mfrs (or your own conversion skills like an M9 half-track with 20mm AA gun).  The only markings you may have to add are air-recognition stripes or an orange or sand painted canvas  which most modelers can easily do. 

The decals I used were very thin yet allowed me to position and reposition them.  Serials and names are together - you don't have to position number by number which in this scale is - difficult!  Markings for each vehicle are grouped together.  Registration was dead on.  Each is printed on a clear decal sheet, so you do have to cut out each marking but there is ample space between markings.  I had no problem with the Future Floor Wax decal system.  I highly recommend them considering how many different vehicles are on each sheet, how they enable the average small scale modeler to raise the bar, and I consider them very good value for your money. AFV

Decals are available direct at http://www.angelfire.com/retro/afv_decals,

e-mail afv_decals@hotmail.com, through Squadron and other good hobby shops.

Thanks to AFV Decals and John Noack for the review sheets, and I hope we'll see Korea #2 (Perishing, Amtracs...) soon!

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