Eduard 1/72 MiG-15 Stencil Decals
By Matt Bittner
Now that Eduard has become the standard for 1/72 MiG-15 kits doesn't mean they have stopped producing items for their excellent kit. The latest aftermarket set from them is a set of stencils for their Fagot. While if you stick with one nationality (Russian) you'll need a set of decals per model, if you plan on building both a Russian and a Czech version then one set will suffice. One set of stencil decals come with both Russian and Czech stencils so all is not wasted.
Be prepared for a long modeling session when applying these decals – there are a lot of them. I do like the text provided on the instruction sheet, though:
"The instruction sheet shows an optimal situation with the number of stencils on one aircraft after it was manufactured. Remember that the fighters were manufactured by many different aircraft factories and there was some deviation between them in the way they placed stencils. The aircraft usually served the first few years of their active life with full stencil markings. During unit level maintenance, overhaul, repair and painting not all stencils were replaced so please consult your references and apply stencils accordingly. Also take into account that on top surface the red markings faded much faster so one would have more stencils on the undersurface in good condition."
The above are points well taken not only on building MiG-15s but most aircraft in general especially when dealing with more than one factory building these aircraft.
So if you want to add more interest to your Eduard 1/72 MiG-15 (or any 1/72 MiG-15, for that matter) then definitely pick up these sets of stencils.
I definitely thank Eduard for supplying this set for review.