Scale 1/72
Manufacturer Draw Decal
Decal Sheet ID 72s-F102-2
Decal Sheet Title Northwestern ANG F-102's
Types Featured F-102A

Draw Decal mainly produce airliner decals but they have also produced a number of sheets for USAF subjects, including a range for the F-102 Delta Dagger. This second sheet, 72s-F102-2 covers four Air National Guard units from the North-Western USA and features the following airframes:-

  • F-102A 56-1502 '0-61502' from the 178th FIS, North Dakota ANG. This airframe had red wing fences and a red tail flash, outlined in black, containing 'The Happy Hooligans' in white, together . with an ANG crest on the fin and  ‘NORTH DAKOTA’ lettering;
  • F-102A 57-788 '70788' from the 116th FIS, Washington ANG. This aircraft had a red fin flash containing the ANG crest, 'WASHINGTON' lettering and three red diagonal stripes on the fuselage togehter with red wing fences;
  • F-102A 54-1406 '0-41406' from the 190th FIS, Idaho ANG. This carried chartreuse wing fences and fin flash, outlined in black and containing 4 stars and the ANG crest, 'IDAHO' lettering on the fin, chartreuse panels on the intake trunking and splitter and a yellow oval outlined in black containing '124th IDAHO' in black on the underwing fuel tanks;
  • F-102A 55-3420 '0-53420' from the 186th FIS, Montana ANG. This carried a blue fin flash containing 7 white starts and 'MONTANA' lettering, '12 C' on the fin either side of an ANG crest, three diagonal blue stripes outlined in white on the rear fuselage and blue wing fences and wingtips.

Draw Decal are unusual in using Silk Screening for the decals. This makes them thicker than normal transfers but they are beautifully detailed and in perfect register. The artwork for this sheet was designed by Norm Filer, a well-known figure in modelling circles, and this shows.

A single set of National Insignia are provided, together with black anti-glare panels for the nose and intakes - as this type of decal is not as flexible as normal water-slide, it is recommended to use the kit decals or even resort to masking and spraying.

Instructions comprise side views of the above airframes and top and bottom views, but Draw Decal go one stage further by listing all known aircraft which flew with the above units.

Note that airframes up to 56-1317 had the Case X wing, with 'upturned' wingtips, whilst those from 56-1318 onwards had the Case XX wing with 'downturned' wingtips. Not all of the aircraft on this sheet have the earlier Case X wing so choosing carefully is a must!

Review by Chris St Clair