Hello,

Does anyone know if there are 1/32 Se5a decals available for McCuddens Se5a.

Thanks,

Steve

The Encore kit from Squadron has these.

Text from Tom Sollers, "I just received the latest Squadron catalog and on the cover is the Encore 1/32 RAF SE5a in McCudden's markings. The kit includes a resin figure of McCudden and resin detail parts to modify the kit (bulged cockpit sides, etc.) I have not seen sprue pictures, or seen the kit "in the flesh" — but my guess would be that this is the Roden kit with upgrade parts — same as Squadron did with the Albatros D.I release."

If you already have the kit and just need McCudden's decals then Pheon Models have a very nice 1/32 set titled 'SE5a Aces in France' #32004. Price is £13.50 plus post & packing: £1.57 to UK & Europe and £2.09 to the rest of the world. The set contains markings for eight aircraft, including two for McCudden:
1. B189, Capt JH Tudhope (10 victories), 40 Sqn,
2. B891, Capt G McElroy (46 victories), 24 Sqn,
3. D5969, Lt C Lagesse (20 victories), 29 Sqn,
4. F5910, Capt W Claxton (Canadian, 37 victories incl 2 balloons), 41 Sqn
5. C1752, Lt F Taylor (Canadian, 10 victories), 41 Sqn
6. B4863, Capt J McCudden, 56 Sqn,
7. B525, Lt A Rhys Davids (25 victories), 56 Sqn. Note although this is the aircraft in which Rhys-Davids shot down Werner Voss, the markings are for a later period. At the time of the Voss dogfight 56 Squadron markings featured a dumbbell on the rear fuselage, which was officially changed to the white band two days later.
8. B4891, Capt J McCudden (57 victories), 56 Sqn, modified cockpit sides, exhaust and LVG spinner.

Note that all the decals are for Hispano Suiza engined SE5as not the Viper engined type (Roden do seperate kits for both versions, whereas the Wingnut kit is only for the Hispano-Suiza engined version).

In his build article in Windsock Worldwide Vol 25 No 2 Ray Rimell noted that the Wingnut SE5a cockades are oversized. These decals will fix that. There are eight cockades included, allowing two aircraft to be completed - one with white-outlined cockades and the other with no outlining.

It should be pointed out that the Palmer Aero markings for the tyres (which were intended to replace the Wingnut versions that have the wrong tyre size numbers) have the wrong shaped arc to fit the Wingnut wheels. As noted in the instructions this can be fixed by using the numbers with the Wingnut words.

Also, as noted in the instructions, the lower wing cockades do not feature separated aileron portions as provided for the upper wing cockades. Simple enough to fix by using the kit parts as a cutting template.

Until Pheon’s website is finished, you can check out their products here:
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showforum=227

The decals were sent to me for review purposes. I haven't used them yet, so can't comment on how well they go on in practice, but given that they are manufactured by Fantasy Printshop in the UK (who have an excellent reputation) I would expect no problems at all.

The decals are only available directly by email: [email protected]. Payment is by Paypal.