Model Forum / General / Models / February 2008

I haven't seen any mention of these on this group, so I thought I would make
a few comments, if you will indulge me.

Firstly...  this company responds *quickly* .  Five days from order to
receipt. But... bear in mind that WolfPak Decals are based in the US and I
am in the UK!

http://www.millcreekconsultants.com/WP72-1.html

Anyroads...  I ordered two sheets, 72-001 and 72-004.

These sheets remind me of the late, lamented Fox One range. They are very
well printed (by Fantasy Print Shop, according to the website). Where they
really score is in the instructions. Not only are there decal placement
guides and camouflage schemes, but there are tips on how to modify the
chosen kits, a short history of each subject, suggested weapon loads and
some photographs.

72-001:  Five subjects, a KC-135, MC-130E, T-28D, A-10A and an F-4D.  The
attention to detail shown on this sheet is excellent. WolfPak admit that
they are not certain of the colour demarcation lines on the fin of the
MC-130E, so the serial numbers are provided in both black and white, leaving
the modeller to use his/her best judgement. One aircraft may also have had a
tan serial number and this is provided on a seperate small sheet.

The T-28D looks rather interesting. It has an odd two tone green and grey
camouflage with minimal markings. There there no national markings, only
tail codes and serials. Very subdued, which is in keeping with a special ops
aircraft. I'm very tempted by this one.

The A-10A is an OIF aircraft. Although it has an ordinary colour scheme, the
instructions provide details of some interesting ordnance options including
Litening pods and a FACE communications pod mounted on one of the Sidewinder
rails. The photograph of this aircraft fully loaded makes it look the
business.

Finally, there is the star of the sheet, an F-4D of the 497 TFS, 8TFW based
at Ubon AFB in 1972. At first glance this appears to be a standard Vietnam
era aircraft, but it is somewhat out of the ordinary. It had Pave Phantom
and Pave Sword mods and was used on night-time "Owl FAC" forward air
controller missions over Hanoi. In keeping with the night role, it has black
undersurfaces.  The instructions provide very detailed comments on the
modifications and hints on how to build a Pave Sword pod. This one will look
stunning when built.

The national insignia on this sheet have seperate red bars, which must be
positioned accurately by the modeller.

72-004: Four subjects, three of which are linked. An F-4D from the 555TFS,
two early F-15As from the 555TFTS and a Thailand based F-102A. Again there
is an additional smaller sheet, this time to correct an error on the main
sheet.

The F-4D is one of the few "Combat Tree" equipped aircraft. Combat Tree was
a highly secret system which could read the IFF transmissions from NVAF
Mig-21s enabling them to be identified as hostile and engaged from beyond
visual range which was the ideal envelope for the AIM-7 missile. As Combat
Tree was so secret, it had a self destruct feature that was triggered by
operation of the pilot's ejection seat. The consequences of a seat pull
during maintenance while the self destruct was not disabled were quite
serious and so Combat Tree equipped aircraft had a big red warning sign on
the side of the nose.

This F-4D was flown by Captain John Madden and Captain Chuck DeBellevue on 9
Sept 72. During that mission they killed two Mig-19s. DeBellevue had
previously been Steve Ritchie's WSO in four other Mig kills and so on this
flight DeBellevue became the highest scoring USAF ace during the Vietnam
war. Steve Ritchie's F-4D Mig Killer was also a Combat Tree aircraft.

There is a minor error with this scheme. The decals give the serial number
as 60-267. It should be 66-267. However, this isn't a problem as there are
suitable replacements on the sheet.

The two F-15As are interesting. They are from the first batch delivered to
the 555TFTS in 1974. One is in the short-lived Air Superiority Blue scheme,
the other in the standard Compass Ghost Scheme, but with Korean War style
high visibility bands on the wings and fins. This was a very well-known
aircraft at the time, together with another aircraft that had red and white
stripes on the wings and nose. The instructions give details of the changes
required to represent these very early aircraft: removal of the
countermeasures suite from Bay 5 behind the cockpit, removal of the
undernose antennae, filling in the chaff and flare dispensers and replacing
the ACES II seat with the earlier ESCAPAC.

Finally, there is a camouflaged F-102A used in Project Stove Pipe attacks
along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This is a late production aircraft with Case XX
wings.

In contrast to the first sheet, the national insignia on this sheet have the
red bars already incorporated.  The national insignia for the F-15s are
correctly missing the blue surround.

I'm very impressed with these sheets. I will be starting on the blue F-15A
very shortly.  One thing worries me, however. The chaps at WolfPak seem to
have access to a window into my psyche. These sheets could have been
targetted directly at me. I don't like aircraft with anniversary or
commemorative markings. I much prefer ordinary line jets. But... a line jet
with a little something out of the ordinary is almost irresistible to me.
There's just no *way* I can pass up the Owl FAC F-4D.

As for those two F-15As...   As I kid I can remember F-15s coming into
service. The blue ones were the very epitome of modern jet fighters and
every kid wanted a model of one. The yellow-striped one was even more
special. I can remember admiring a photo of it in Scale Models and promising
myself that one day I would build a model of it.  Now - nearly 35 years
later - this (big) kid is finally going to get his model!

But what about the other two sheets?  72-003 has an A-7D used in the
Mayaguez rescue. 72-002 has a Misty FAC F-100F. What are the chances of me
passing up these sheets?  Zero, that's what!  Okay, so I'm never going to
build any KC-135s, C-130s or B-52s but the other bits on the sheets more
than make up for the big stuff.

Highly recommended.