Skyline Decals

SKY144-47
Avro RJ100 75 Years Sabena Anniversary Scheme
For the Revell Kit

Skyline decals puts out some beautiful decals, and this is no exception. It's for the Revell kit, but the Revell kit is an RJ85. The decal instructions show you what to do to make an RJ100, though, which is very nice. It involves two RJ85 kits, though, which here in the States can get to be pricey. A quick price check at my local hobby shop shows me that I'd have to spend $40 just to get the models! But on the positive side, the leftover parts from the RJ100 conversion will make an RJ70, so not all is lost.

The decals will be an absolute nightmare to put on, too. Not because they are poorly done or anything like that, but merely because Sabena decided to make things as difficult as possible for us modelers. There are nearly 100 individual decals for the colored swirls on this plane, all of which need to be applied individually. The instructions are very clear and very well done, showing the exact placement of each decal and its orientation. As long as you take your time and do frequent breaks this shouldn't be too much of a problem, and once it's done you'll have one interesting RJ100 on your desk!

SKY144-50
Boeing 767-300 CityBird
For the Revell Kit

The CityBird planes are painted in a very striking scheme of dark green and gray with a white and orange logo on the tail. One of the nice things about living next to Paine Field in Everett is that I get to see many of these schemes first-hand before delivery and I remember seeing this particular livery fresh out of the paint hanger. The big challenge will be matching the green color, and the Skyline instructions even mention that there is no mainstream out of the bottle match for it. Luckily, DACO, the parent company of Skyline, puts out a limited range of paints, one of which is "CityBird Green", so if you build this plane (or any CityBird one) you'll definitely want to grab some of that paint.

The decals are very well printed and include lots of stencilling in addition to the CityBird markings. A full set of window decals are incldued as well. One interesting addition is a decal for the insides of the engine nacelles. It will be interesting to see how those fit when that time comes. The white for the logo and names on the side look to be opaque and should be no problem in going down over the dark green. The only problem I found with these decals is that the plane isn't a Boeing 767, but rather a "Doeing" 767. Most likely this is due to Boeing's licensing department requiring huge fees or some such nonsense. For those of you with an Alps printer doing up a corrected Boeing shouldn't be any problem. for those who don't, you might want to find someone who has one.

SKY144-55
Boeing 757-200 Air Holland
For the Minicraft Kit

Lots of large color on this decal sheet! Air Holland adorns their fleet with large orange and blue stripes, making for a very interesting decal sheet (and a big one, too!). The Minicraft kit is nicely done but there is one small thing wrong with it. That is the doors are the wrong size. Skyline has included two sets of cargo door decals, one the correct dimensions and one to fit the kit's scribed door. The instructions advise you to fill in the kit doors and use the correct sized ones, but it is a nice touch that they included both.

Unlike the two sheets above, this sheet gives you a choice of Air Holland 757s. There are a total of three different names to go on the noses of different 757s, and there is a fourth that had different colored door surrounds. PH-AHE, F, and I all have names on the nose, while PH-AHK had plain gray frames. In addition to those four Skyline provides letters to do L, N, O, and P, although no mention of those are made on the instruction sheet. Three different styles of Rolls Royce emblems are provided for the engines as well as a full set of windows (including a set that has partially fully closed shades). A complete set of stencilling round out this sheet and guarantee to make your 757 into a nice looking model.

SKY144-56
L-749A/C-121A MATS Constellation
48-0609/N494TW
For the Minicraft Kit

This is an interesting decal sheet in that it is not of an actual MATS Connie but rather that of the restored Constellation flying around the US. The restoration was a faithful one, though, and closely resembles that of an original MATS Connie. The instructions do make this very clear so hopefully there won't be any confusion anywhere.

The decal sheet is nicely printed and includes just about everything you could possibly want. The standard MATS markings are provided, along with stars-n-bars. Window decals are also provided, and the main cabin windows are included twice: once as a full decal of dark gray windows outlined in silver and once as just the silver outline, giving you the option to use the clear parts provided in the Minicraft kit. In addition to this the decal sheet includes the de-icer boots for the wings and tail, and include both a set for an L-749A tail and an L-1049 tail. The final interesting addition are decals for the red/white/blue prop tips. Those will be a load of fun to apply, but at least that's going to be a bit easier than trying to hand paint them all and keep them equal. All in all this is a nice sheet and with it being a restored Connie it wouldn't look out of place in amongst modern airliners.