FCM Decals | 32019: Northrop F-5E Tiger II
Reviewed by Rato Marczak
FCM Decals from Brazil brings us a decal sheet for F-5E fans in 1/32 scale. Brazilian Air Force is one of the last air forces in the world still flying the F-5 Tiger II, now in the end of their operational life.
BAF received their F-5Es during the 1970, still wearing the SEA camouflage scheme. Over the years, the squadrons changed their schemes and colors. Sheet 32019 covers essentially all camouflages used by BAF on their F-5. The sheet allows the modeler to cover the painting schemes for up to seven F-5. Three aircraft, all in the SEA camouflage schemes, are from the 1st Aviation Group (Senta a Púa) when stationed at the Santa Cruz Air Base – Rio de Janeiro, from 1987 up to 2002. The other four schemes are for the 1st/14th Av. Group, based on Canoas from 1990 until 1999, covering tropical, all grays and all ADC gray schemes.
FCM decals are printed by Microscale from USA, so you can expect perfect register and saturation, as was my sample. The instructions are six easy to read pages, with nice diagrams and drawings, and includes stencil placing plans. Federal Standard color calls are used. The artwork is signed by FCM’s Felipe Miranda, and he based the research for this product on the best reference about the F-5s in Brazil (‘Northrop F-5 in Brazil’, by L. Casella & R.D. da Cunha).
With the new Kitty Hawk F-5E around, this set provides a nice selection of options to choose from. I’m sure you can use these decals on the old Hasegawa/Revell kit as well.
For the record, Hannants carries most decals from FCM catalogue.
Recommended.
© Rato Marczak 2019
This review was published on Friday, February 22 2019; Last modified on Friday, February 22 2019