Fox One Decals | 8th TFW Wolfpack Phantoms
Reviewed by Mark Proulx
This review is the latest and hopefully not the last decal sheet from Fox One Decals. Ben Backes of Fox One Decals has helped to set the standard in decals that the modeller has come to expect.
The decal sheet provides markings for F-4C Phantoms flown by the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing Wolfpack based at Ubon Royal Thai Air Base. Among others, accurate markings are included for F-4s of Colonel Robin Olds and the famous Pardo's Push incident.
Printed in 1998 by MicroScale, this 1/32nd scale decal gives the builder the choice of constructing five different F-4Cs during a six month time period in 1967. The decals themselves are very thin and printed in perfect register. The larger of the two sheets includes all the markings for each particular Phantom. An additional smaller sheet comes with the common markings for two USAF Phantoms in this time period.
What really helps to set this decal sheet apart from all others is the wealth of additional material that Ben Backes supplies. Enclosed are five pages of instructions that explain the mission summary for each aircraft, their configurations and particular marking notes. The last page further expands upon the details of the Wolfpack's paint schemes, finish and markings. Further notes clarify details about the fuel tanks, stores/suspension, launch rails, armament and the types of ECM pods that were in use at that time. All that information fills up an entire page alone. Now all we need is for someone to supply all the different ECM pods in resin. Are you listening Meteor! Fox One even goes so far as to inform the modeller what is required to make the Tamiya kit into an accurate 8TFW F-4. Fox One has also mentioned all their references and that would be great to see from other decal companies. For this sheet, much of the reference material came directly from the participants themselves. For the Operation Bolo Phantoms, Ben even goes on to explain the reasons for this asymmetric fuel tank arrangement.
Overall, I think that this sheet is a necessity to anyone interested in building the large scale Phantoms if for nothing else than at least for the information that is enclosed. Ben Backes is to be congratulated for supplying us with this decal sheet and I would rate this sheet five out of five stars without hesitation. Let's hope that this isn't their last effort and that we will see more 1/32nd scale decals from Fox One!
© Mark Proulx
This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016