"Early Bones"
B-1B Lancers

Fox One Decals

Reviewed by John Kerr

Fox One Decals' 1/72 scale "Early Bones" sheet is available online from Squadron.com

At the IPMS USA 2001 National Convention held in Chicago (early July 2001),  I had the pleasure of meeting many people involved in the after-market and decal business.  Among these people was Ben Backes (the ideas man & chief researcher of Fox One Decals / FOD) and Jack Morris (the artist who produces the artwork for this and previous FOD decal sets). 
 
To date, FOD has released only a handful of decal sets (repeated in 1;72, 1:48 and 1:32 scales) so the name "Fox One Decals" may not be familar to all reading this review.  Fans of US jets from the Vietnam War will be familar with FOD as all FOD releases so far, except one set, have covered F-4 Phantoms flown by the US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
 
Ben has asked me to provide an impartial review of his new 1:72 scale decal set "EARLY BONES" B-1B LANCERS.  FOD 72-007 is FOD's second release to cover B-1Bs.  All previous FOD sets have featured highly accurate profiles and decals, and this new B-1B set looks just as good as the other FOD sets.

This new decal set covers six schemes for five Rockwell B-1B Lancers.  All but one of these were assigned to operational units of Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Air Combat Command (ACC) in the early 1990s. 

All six schemes are depicted in the original SAC camouflage scheme of FS36081 Dark Gunship Grey, FS36118 Gunship Grey and FS34086 Green Drab.

This decal set supplies one example from every B-1B wing ever assigned to SAC.  Nose art is carried on all aircraft, except aircraft 5 #28 of B-1B Combined Test Force. 

Much more detail about the aircraft and the SAC paint scheme can be gleaned from the excellent profiles and modeller notes.  In brief, the six B-1B scheme are:

• 85-0077 "Bones" of the 337th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 96th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Dyess AFB, Texas in 1990.

• 86-0110 "Sunrise Surprise" of the 46th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 319th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Grand Forks AFB, North Nevada in 1990.

• 86-0134 "Wild Ass Ride" of the 28th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 384th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), McConnell AFB, Kansas (note: this aircraft is the only one on this set where the radome is a darker shade of Grey than the surrounding FS36081 Dark Gunship Grey, however the instructions state "Flat Black radome").

• 86-0103 "Huntress" of the 37th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 28th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota in 1990.

• 85-0068 # 28 of the B-1B Combined Test Force, Edwards AFB, California (note: aircraft was assigned to the 6510th Test Wing, AF Flight Test Center, AF Systems Command, for Cruise Missile Tests during 1987-1988 and has the Edwards AFB distinctive "ED" aircraft codes on the tailfin).

• 86-0134 "Wild Ass Ride" of the 28th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 384th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), McConnell AFB (note: this aircraft is the same aircraft 2 but is depicted after transfer to ACC and has "OZ" aircraft codes on the tailfin.

A single decal sheet provide all markings unique to each aircraft plus national insignia and stencil data. 

The two double-sided A4 sized instruction sheets supporting the decal sheet are quite impressive and leave very little doubt about painting and decal placement.  Also included in the instructions is a section with notes on building the 1:72 scale Monogram B-1B Lancer  - there are 15 bullet points covering conversion requirements.
 
 
 

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The previous B-1B set from FOD was very popular with modellers, indeed it was a best-seller !  FOD has similar hopes for this new set. 

The decals are very crisp in register and colour.   In assessing decals, I always look at registration and colour density and the Medium Blue and Orange colours on this decal sheet look very nice!

The supporting instructions are very good in all aspects; camo painting scheme, decal placement and modeller notes.  Without wanting to spawn a debate over coloured versus non-coloured instructions, I know most modellers these days prefer coloured instructions.  However, given the dark colours of the camo scheme on these B-1Bs, the choice of outline profiles to show decal placements provides precise guidelines as to where the decals are to go.  Perhaps this would have not been as clear if they were colour profiles.

For those modellers looking forward to a 1/48 scale version of this set, FOD advises this set WILL be released in 1/48 scale. The expected RRP is USD$14.

Highly Recommended.
 

Review decal set and supporting visual image files kindly supplied by Ben Backes of Fox One Decals (FOD).  Please note the colour profiles shown here are in Grey tones on the instruction sheet.

Text Copyright © 2002 by John Kerr
Page Created 21 April 2002
Last updated 22 July 2003

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