FCM 48020: P-47D - Tarquinia 1944

Units: See review

Price

$

Reviewer:

Scott Van Aken

From late October 1944 the airfield at Tarquinia, Italy hosted the Brazilian 1°GAvCA (1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron, callsign 'Jambock') under the umbrella of 350FG.
The group commander, operations officer and squadron commanders had their planes in unpainted aluminum with the rest of the unit being in OD over Neutral Grey. Late in the war, replacement aircraft were unpainted.
The aircraft carried a large squadron badge just after the engine cowling, with their aircraft code in white on the cowling itself. The group commanders plane had the #1 while the ops officer was #2. On the natural metal planes, this marking was in black.

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1°GAvCA consisted of over 300 highly motivated men who as a result of their motivation had a high rate of serviceability.
Although the Brazilian pilots were trained in the US for fighter operations there were virtually no German aircraft left in Italy.
As a result the unit began its fighting career as a fighter bomber unit in support of the US 5th Army (to which the Brazilian Expeditionary Force was attached).
The unit served with distinction at Tarquinia and later at Pisa, and thus formed the basis of today's Brazilian Air Force.

 So this new sheet from FCM contains markings for 18 different aircraft from this unit during their stay in Italy. Even during the relatively few months they were operational, there were changes in markings and this sheet covers them all. Note that the green and yellow rudder stirpes will need to be painted, but this is a simple task and frankly will look better than any decal. The unit operated several different dash number of Thunderbolt so you need to use the correct prop for the plane you are modeling. The instructions cover all of this. Note also the some have the dorsal fin filet and some do not so ensure that your kit has this option if required. Most will go for the Tamiya kit, but Hasegawa and even Monogram's kit will make into a very nice replica. I'd stay clear of the Hobby Boss easy build kit as it has no wing pylons, something needed for a fighter-bomber.

The instruction sheet is superbly done and provides FS 595 color information as well as a complete data marking guide. The decals themselves are superbly printed by Microscale so you can use the more benign Microsol on these for a setting solution. I would not use Solvaset as it will damage the decal if put on too strong. 

Visit their website at this link and page down to the bottom to see all 18 markings options.

January 2017

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Thanks to FCM for providing the review decals.

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