Eagle Editions | EC23: Doras of the Galland Circus
Reviewed by Mark Proulx
It was with great enthusiasm that I first purchased Hasegawa's High Grade "Papagei Staffel" Dora. I thought it would be great to finally be able to build a D-9 in 1/32nd scale with that colorful scheme. Of course, subsequent research has now shown that the decals included in the kit are in error so it was back to the drawing table.
Coming to the rescue is EagleCals, who have produced a masterful decal sheet in 1/32nd scale that includes all four of the Dora's from that group made up of a mix of Fw 190D-9s and D-11s. This is Jerry Crandall's first stab at the 1/32nd scale market. For all of us, I hope that we will see more. The conversations that I have had with Jerry have led me to believe that other sheets are on the way, as he does like the large-scale kits.
The decals come in two sheets and are printed by MicroScale. They are in perfect register, very thin and should pose no problem when conforming to the surface of the model. They look to be printed with an absolute minimum of carrier film around each decal. Due to space constrictions, I have only scanned the page that includes markings for each aircraft. Stencils and national markings are included though, on page two.
Included with the decal sheet is four and a half pages of information for the modeler. Tom Tullis has done beautiful side profiles, printed in color, that accurately show the camouflage scheme that is particular to each aircraft. Inexplicably, the topside scheme is shown for Red 1 and Red 13 only. Another nice addition is the inclusion of the majority of RLM color paint chips required to complete each of these four aircraft. Another page shows the distinctive underside schemes applied to these aircraft. Also stated there, is the fact that no known photos exist for the underside of Red 4, so that is deferred to the modeler. The next page has clear line drawings and shows stencil diagram drawings on representational aircraft.
The final page of instructions state how each aircraft is to be painted in magnificent detail. Further information is included as to who flew each aircraft, the W. Nr. if known, stenciling, details about the "Papageienstaffel", and as with all high quality decal sheets, the references used.
I wouldn't hesitate giving this decal sheet a rating of five out of five stars. I can only hope that we will see more from EagleCals in 1/32nd scale!
© Mark Proulx
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This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016