Print Scale 1/72 Boeing P-26 Peashooter Decals
By Matt Bittner
There have been three P-26s that I know of in 1/72, and they all have issues of one sort or another. The first from Revell, which is re-released from time to time. The second came from Pavla, which featured better detailing than the Revell kit, and the third came from AZ Model, which was the Pavla kit with extra enhancements. If the kit schemes weren't good enough you have plenty of decals to choose from, including this sheet from Print Scale. There are seven aircraft catered for, and unfortunately most of the schemes have errors (and thanks to Mark for helping me out with these):
- P-26A (Model 266), 55th PS, 20th PG, USAAC, No. 129 (33-129) 1936 year
- Missing the 129 for the wing top
- P-26A (Model 266) part of the 34th AS, 17th AG, USAAC No. 2
- Colors of the flashes should be black and not blue
- P-26A, part of the Escuadron de Caza, Cuerpo de Aeronautica Militar No. 43 Kempo de la Aurora, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1944.
- Army P-26A in colorful markings of 94th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group based at Selfridge Field, Michigan
- This is based entirely on the reproduction P-26 based at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Because of this there are a lot of things "historically" wrong with the scheme, such as the Indian Head having the wrong shape, colors and lacks details. If you don't mind finishing your kit as a museum-piece reproduction, then use these markings as-is
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P-26A (Model 266), 95th PS "Kicking Mule", 17th PG, USAAC No. 62, March Field, California, 1934-1935, Standard for mid-1930 blue-yellow color
- Plenty of errors on this one, such as period photos show the aircraft should be Olive Drab and Yellow and the flash colors being wrong
- A well worn P-26A of the 67th Pursuit Squadron, Philippine Army Air Corps at Nichols Field in The Philippines on 9 December 1941
- "Actual" camouflage doesn't appear to match the drawings within the instruction sheet plus some insignia are missing
- P-26A, 19th Pursuit Squadron was painted in the overall Silver paint scheme specified for tactical aircraft at Wheeler Field, Hawaii in 1940
- As with #1, the aircraft numbers are missing for the wings
While the decals appear to be in register, there are a lot of markings missing across the options. If you don't mind sourcing the missing components from other decals, you could build one or two from this sheet with minimal trouble. For the others, there are just too many errors to easily correct, and it would probably be easier to mask and paint than try to fix these decals.
My thanks to Print Scale for sending this in to review.