Zotz Decals

1/48 and 1/72  F-16's Vivacious Vipers #1 decal sheet

Product # ZTZ72006 &  ZTZ48006 for US$17.00 & US$20.00

Product Article by Steve Bamford on June 9 2004

 

 

 

 

Today I review the new 1/48 F-16 decal sheet from Zotz Decals......this sheet is also available in 1/72 scale.

This new decal sheet from Zotz decals (the sister company of Albatros decals) includes markings for 25 different F-16's.  Countries represented on this decal sheet include F-16's from Bahrain, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Pakistan, Portugal and Turkey.  

This decal sheet is a typical offering from Zotz (Albatros).....huge number of aircraft, lots of colourful artwork markings and a wide variety of countries.  The sheer volume of selcetion has left me a bit in awe........I mean....where to start?!?!?

First up.....lets look at the decals.  These are contained on 3 separate decal sheets.  Printing quality is first rate.....very clearly printed and in perfect register.  The first decal sheet contains mostly the 'artwork' and flag or national insignias.   You get enough markings to build one aircraft from each country, so right off the bat you can build 7 different F-16's from this decal set.  With additional stencils you can build many more and such stencils are available from Daco decals.   

The second decal sheet has mostly gold decals on it......metallic decals are very difficult to print well....but these ones look perfect.  

These gold decals are for the special NATO F-16 from Denmark.  

The third decal sheet contains low-viz and black markings and stencil data.  Also contained on this sheet are orange wing tip markings for an Egyptian F-16A.

Click on images below to see larger images of the decal sheets

For some of these F-16's (Portugal, Greece, Turkey).....you will need some update pieces for ADF Tail base (Portugal), F-16C para housing (Greece, Turkey), and the Greek and Turkish updates.  These can be purchased from Plastic World modeling Products.

Lets have a look at the planes offered.

First up is 2 F-16's from Bahrain.  They are F-16C/D Block 40's.  The F-16's from Bahrain did see action during Operation Desert Storm.   Colours are a special 50/50 mix of FS36622 and FS 35237 overall.  These planes do not include artwork.

Next is a F-16C Block 40 from Egypt.  This jet is built in Turkey and is painted FS 36231 and FS36270 on top and FS36375 on the underside.  There are large orange ID panels (supplie as decals) on the wingtip area and over the dorsal area behind the cockpit.  

Next is an F-16A Block 05 from Denmark.  This jet was painted in a special NATO 50th Anniversary scheme for the 1999 airshow season.  The paint scheme on this one is blue and grey with large gold decals.  On the tail is a mythological character Holger Danske (he resembles a wizard).  This jet also has a selection of NATO markings on it.  The instruction sheets mention an ID light on the port side of the nose under the ECM bump.

Next is a selection of 6 F-16C/D block 30/50/52 from Greece.  The first thing that caught my eye about these Greek F-16's is how much they resemble the colourful Aggressor aircraft flown by the US military.  Three of the Greek F-16's are C models and the other 3 featured on this decal sheet are the 2 seater D models.  Some of the D models have conformal fuel tanks on the top side of the fuselage.   One of the Greek F-16C's does carry a grey Falcon in attack mode with talons extended on the tail.....the other 5 have no artwork.  There is variety in the layout of the camo patterns. 

Next we have Pakistan with 3 F-16A block 15's.  These are a standard looking scheme with FS 36118 and FS 36270 wrap around camo schemes.  Artwork on one of them includes an ancient wing animal on the tail.

Portugal is featured with one F-16A on this decal sheet.   This is a standard looking scheme with FS 36118 and FS 36270 on the top and FS 36375 on the underside.  The jet has artwork of a Falcon in full attack mode with Talons extended and of course it does have those cool looking red and while Portuguese crosses for national insignia....I love the look of those.

Finally we come to the 11 Turkish F-16C/D block 30/40/50's (2 are D models).  Each of these comes with artwork on the tail and some with various stripes across the top of the tail.  The variety of the artwork on these Turkish F-16's can be seen in the scan at the top of this review.  Paint scheme consists of Grey FS 36118 and FS 36270 on the top and FS 36375 on the underside.

Click on images below to see larger images of the instruction sheets

I would like to thank Eli Raphael at Zotz Decals for providing me with this review sample.

Steve

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford