1:72 USAF Demo & Heritage Jets (F-16C, A-10C, T-38A)

Three types, one theme

Alongside ordinary service finishes, the US Air Force also keeps machines in a special paint scheme, which appear at air shows and in commemorative formations recalling the history of individual units. This sheet puts together three different designs at once: a single-engine fighter, a twin-engine attack aircraft and a slender supersonic trainer with a tandem cockpit. Each of them has a different shape and a different layout of the areas where the paint scheme comes into play.

Why such machines are rewarding

Special finishes last only a short time, usually a single season, and then disappear. A modeler can therefore build an aircraft in a guise that most photographs never captured, and create a striking contrast in an otherwise gray display case. The trainer type also adds a model small in size, which can be built quickly and completes the pair of larger machines.

Working at a small scale

No kit of your own is counted on in this package, and the contents are print for 1:72 scale only. The color areas come out smaller here than at larger scales, and they are all the more sensitive to precise placement. We recommend cutting the items out with a narrow margin, laying them on a sufficiently glossy surface and holding them with a damp brush rather than with your fingers. With the trainer type watch out for the long slender fuselage, where any crooked field shows up at once.

The difference between a display and a heritage finish tends to be subtle. The first is usually strongly colored and new from the ground up, while the second tries to imitate a historic original, including old national insignia or period camouflage patterns. On a model that shows mainly in the choice of shades, which is worth checking against photographs of the particular machine.