History

During the early 1950s, the RCAF replaced its Maritime Patrol Lancasters with Lockheed's P2V-7 Neptune. Neptunes were operated on both coasts by 404, 405, and 407 Squadrons. Originally finished in overall USN dark sea blue, the fleet was later painted in light grey with white on the upper fuselage and the RCAF's red/white/red “lightning flash” dividing the white and grey. The RCAF's Neptunes were retired in 1968, and many went on to serve as fire bombing aircraft into the 21st Century.

First impressions

In 1/72, this decal comes printed on two sheets. The printing is very crisp and in register. The sheet covers all variants of the Neptune's marking schemes while in RCAF service. One aircraft may be completed from this sheet, but with careful selection of serial numbers numbers and stripes from the kit decal, the modeller could stretch it to make all 3 versions. The only available kit is Hasegawa's, which dates from the early 1970s. The most recent boxing contained barely adequate RCAF markings for the late white/grey scheme.

Sheet 1

This sheet contains much of the markings for the early overall blue scheme; two styles of roundel, white serial numbers and code letters plus a few of the necessary warning stripes and black serials for the white/grey scheme

Sheet 2

This sheet contains the the lightning flashes, flags, numbers and serials for the white/grey scheme, squadron crests and the remainder of the miscellaneous markings needed to finish the model.

final thoughts

The instruction sheet mentions that the decals may be harmed by strong setting solutions. I did a test using portions of set #48007and my poor old knocked-about Revell 1/72 Voodoo which shows that used carefully, Solvaset did not damage the decal, and that used without any setting solution at all, the decal still conforms to the moulded detail.

All Canuck Models decal sheets and accessories are available for purchase directly from the manufacturer at the Canuck Model Products website.

The real thing:
Neptune 101 in the earliest, “AB-123” scheme shortly after delivery.

Neptune 123 in the “RCAF-123” scheme.

Neptune 102 wearing its final RCAF uniform.

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