Introduction

During the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) combatants came from many nations. The Nationalist Forces were backed by Germany and Italy while the Republican Forces were backed by the Russians and Mexicans. It should also be said that while most nations refused to get involved people from many locations around the world went to fight on one side or the other. Joseph Stalin just as Adolf Hitler saw this Civil War as a chance to gain experience for their troops when it came to using the latest aircraft. The Russians sent I-16 type 5 and 6 fighters early in the conflict and these had great successes against all of the aircraft on the Nationalist side until the advent of the Bf 109. At the end of the Civil War the Spanish government absorbed the remaining I-16 aircraft into their Air Force; it is these aircraft of the Spanish Air Force that ICM has covered here.

Review

This offering from ICM is packed in a re-sealable plastic bag that contains a decal sheet and an instruction sheet. This is protected by being stabled to a card hanger that provides the information the buyer will need. The decal sheet looks very good to me having good colour with no bleeding. The carrier film is nice and tight to the decal edge with the exception of the aircraft codes.

This offering covers six aircraft and allows the modeller to create some quite colourful aircraft. I rather like the aircraft with the two and three tone sand, brown and green camouflage finish. ICM has provided a painting guide for these aircraft with reference to the colour by name along with Revell and Tamiya paint. The aircraft covered in this release are:
26th Aviation Group, Spanish Air Force, 1944 - 1945
Moron Aviation School, Spanish Air Force, 1940 - 1941
Moron Aviation School, Spanish Air Force, 1952
Spanish Nationalists Air Force, Spring 1939
Gallur Fighter School, Spanish Air Force, 1940
26th Aviation Group, Spanish Air Force, 1944 - 1945

Conclusion

This offering from ICM provides the modeller with some nice colourful options with a move away from the paint it green instruction. The insignia of the Spanish Air Force also adds a quite colourfull aspect to the options list. The scale of 1/32nd fits in well with the models ICM has released and with the most recent release and previous decal sheet release provides the modeller with all the options I can think of as regards combat. I like that the roundels have very close carrier film with only the aircraft ID letters and numbers having excess film; I suggest cropping this as close to the decal as possible and then taking care with the decal placement. The crosses for the tail and wings would have been better as single offerings rather than multi-part affairs, but it does do away with concerns about carrier film in these areas.