Review - Kagero - miniTopColors no.27 Polish Spitfires Decal and Book set

Any fans of the movie “Battle of Britain” ( I bet a few who come here) will be big fans of what the RAF and Foreign pilots did to protect  the Allies from being defeated by the Nazi Luftwaffe in World War II

 

Chief amongst these were the sixteen squadrons of Polish pilots who fought from their own territory through the Battle of Britain to the invasion of Europe by the Allies and War’s end in that theatre in 1945. Kagero have released a book and decal special to show some of these pilot’s aircraft and hopefully have you making some of these aircraft up with their schemes on your latest spitfire kit - let’s look at the Book/Decal combo in action.

Kagero - miniTopColors no.27 Polish Spitfires Decal and Book set

Written by: Stanisław Jabłoński, Jacek Pasieczny, Arkadiusz Wróbel

Pages: 1

Decal schemes: 8

Decal scales: 1/72, 1/48 & 1/32

ISBN: 978-83-62878-06-2

RRP: 16.80 Euro

Available from: The Kagero Bookshop online

This is a publication celebrating the some 16 Polish fighter squadrons of the RAF and highlighting eight of those aircraft from seven different squadrons (two of the aircraft are from 302 Sq.) the Spitfires which are the centrepiece of this book are shown in order from the earliest Spitfire II.a of August 1941 through till the Spitfire LF.XVI of October 1945

This book is eighteen pages with each machine featured as a double page spread for the most with all aspects of the aircraft featured and the profiles seem to have had a lot of work done on them. The art work here is impressive and a credit to Kagero. The text is in Polish and English and is easy to follow (especially if you can read Polish or English) – Additionally the text and the aircraft it is describing are on the same page so unlike other books which you have to hunt down the text to the picture from further on in the book it’s all there as an easy reference to leave open while doing your modelling from this reference

Really I see this book as a set of decals with a great two profile and above and below view reference – this is where it shines as a painting reference the profiles are very nicely illustrated right down to the weathering shown on the actual aircraft. Exhaust stains and slight variations in the paint job are shown rather than described – the only thing this set needs is maybe a picture of the actual aircraft to show you without doubt the aircraft. Sometimes it’s good to make up your own mind on a scheme rather than have someone else to do it.

 

Nice top down and plan views are one of the best features of this combo

The decals are on one A4 page and are printed by industry leaders Cartograf of Italy, which straight away says quality –  their decals are thick and shiny – and sit proud of the decals paper they are printed on but usually melt down into the creases of the aircraft they’re applied to.  The whites are not opaque and the colours are strong. The decals are in register and all of the artwork is replicated very well.

Anyone can speculate on how decals are going to go on – but we will have a look of how they adhere to a plastic kit –

The decals held against the light to show you thickness of the decals

I thought I would test some of the 1/72 decals to show you how they look. Being very think they took a lot of manipulation and I applied them and I even wetted them down and move them to see how they would cope. They adhered quite well and lost none of their colour. They sunk into the crevasses and sat nicely on top of the raised rivets and I was 90% happy with them.

1/72

1/48

1/32

The only thing I wasn’t sure about was the slight line on the carrier film between the tactical numbers as you can see here. The slight raise in the line may have disappeared under more coats of future so I am not that concerned.

You only really see the carrier film between these numbers  when held at the exact correct angle to the light so no big deal here

The spitfires appear in the accompanying book in this order – neatly through the progression of the Spitfire…

Spitfire II.a (P8387), “PK-H” of 315 Sq. “Dębliński”, Northolt, Aug 1941.

Spitfire I (X4828), “RF-K” of 303 Sq. “Kościuszkowski”, Speke, Sept 1941.

Spitfire Vb (AA853), “WX-C” of 302 Sq. “Poznański”, Croydon, Jul 1942.

Spitfire F.IX (BS456), “UZ-Ż” of 306 Sq. “Toruński”, Northolt, Oct 1942.

Spitfire F.IX (EN179), “SZ-J” of 316 Squadron “Warszawski”, Northolt, Mar 1943.

Spitfire F.IX (MH353), “WX-K” of 302 Squadron “Poznański”, Northolt, Aug 1943.

Spitfire LF.IX (TA864), “LW-L” of 318 Squadron “Gdański”, Risano near Udine, Jun1945.

Spitfire LF.XVI (TB898), “JH-L” of 317 Squadron “Wileński”, Alhorn, Oct 1945.

A close up of ll the decals

All in all a great tribute to all of the Polish pilots who flew in Spitfires in the war – a chronological progression of the types throughout the war as well which i thought was a good idea. Great just for the profiles the decals add a practical use to this book which otherwise would be a short read – this one doubles up as a modelling tour as well.

Thanks to Kagero for supplying us with this decal and book combo