Midway Class Carrier Decals

Starfighter Decals, 1/540th Scale, for Revell kit

Reviewed by Devin Poore, June 2019
 
Debuting in 1954, the Revell 1/540 USS Franklin D. Roosevelt would eventually be released as the other ships in her class, the Midway and Coral Sea. The model has been re-released several times over the years, as one of the three sisters, and can still be found today if you're willing to do a bit of searching. The kit remains one of the few representations of the Midway class in their initial straight-deck configuration, and despite the box scale, and a purposely flat-bottom hull to make it easier to sit on a flat surface for display and play, it's still a popular subject.

 
DECALS
The Starfighter Decals set contains deck, hull and island markings for all three ships of the Midway class. Included are:
  • Island numbers for all three ships of the class
  • Flight deck numbers for all three ships (Midway's 41 is a one-piece decal, for flight deck numbers 42 and 43, one cuts away the 1 from 41 and adds the individually supplied 2 or 3 number decal).
  • Elevator markings
  • Torpedo and ordinance elevator outlines
  • Various solid and dashed flight deck line markings
The printing of the decals appears solid with no pixilation or dithering. The shaded island numbers look great, with no alignment issues between the white numerals and black shadow. While I did not apply any of the decals, they appear very thinly printed, with the carrier film subdued on the sheet and close to the corresponding decal's edge.

All decals are numbered, numbers which are referenced on the instruction sheet. Placement is show in plan view for all three ships, and the written description calls out time frames for certain markings.
click images
to enlarge
CONCLUSIONS
This looks to be a great addition for those building the classic Revell kit. As most boxings of the Midway class models are decades old at this point, the decals in any kit are likely troublesome at best. This set will give a much better result than those old kit decals.

Thank you to Starfighter Decals for the review sample.


© ModelWarships.com