Afterburner Decals 1/48 F-15C/D 65th Aggressors Decal First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Afterburner Decals is back with a comprehensive set of markings for the variety of camouflage schemes used by the 65th Aggressor Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. This is the first US aggressor unit to use the F-15 as an adversary aircraft (the 64th flies the F-16) and unfortunately is also the last such unit in the US as the 65th is scheduled to be deactivated (again). The 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadrons previously flew the F-5E in Red Flag/Green Flag exercises and in Weapons School classes (simulating the MiG-21) prior to receiving the F-16 and F-15 (respectively) to simulate more modern threats.

The examples presented here include:

1. F-15C, 78-0515, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 15, Blue Flanker, 65th CC's aircraft, 2012 **
2. F-15C, 78-0515, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 15, Blue Flanker, 65th CC's aircraft, 2010
3. F-15C, 80-0010, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 10, Blue Flanker, 65th CC's aircraft, 2009 **
4. F-15C, 80-0010, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 10, Blue Flanker, 65th CC's aircraft, 2008
5. F-15C, 80-0010, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 10, Blue Flanker, 65th CC's aircraft, 2007
6. F-15C, 80-0010, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 10, Blue Flanker, 65th CC's aircraft, 2006
7. F-15C, 78-0470, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 70, Blue Flanker, 2012
8. F-15C, 78-0489, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 89, Blue Flanker, 2012
9. F-15C, 78-0504, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 04, Blue Flanker, 2012
10. F-15C, 78-0518, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 18, Blue Flanker, 2012
11. F-15C, 78-0532, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 32, Blue Flanker, 2012
12. F-15C, 80-0018, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 18, Blue Flanker, 2007
13. F-15C, 80-0054, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 54, Blue Flanker, 2012
14. F-15D, 80-0058, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 58, Blue Flanker, 2008
15. F-15C, 82-0028, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 28, Desert Flanker, ATG CC's aircraft, 2009 **
16. F-15C, 78-0480, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 80, Desert Flanker, 2012
17. F-15C, 78-0503, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 03, Desert Flanker, 2012
18. F-15C, 78-0511, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 11, Desert Flanker, 2012
19. F-15C, 78-0517, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 17, Desert Flanker, 2012
20. F-15C, 78-0538, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 38, Desert Flanker, 2009
21. F-15C, 78-0538, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 38, Desert Flanker, 2012
22. F-15C, 80-0024, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 24, Desert Flanker, 2006
23. F-15C, 80-0024, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 24, Desert Flanker, 2007
24. F-15C, 80-0024, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 24, Desert Flanker, 2009
25. F-15C, 80-0028, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 28, Desert Flanker, 2006
26. F-15C, 80-0028, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 28, Desert Flanker, 2007
27. F-15C, 80-0028, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 28, Desert Flanker, 2008
28. F-15D, 78-0567, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 67, Desert Flanker, 2012
29. F-15D, 79-0012, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 12, Desert Flanker, 2012
30. F-15D, 85-0129, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 29, Desert Flanker, 2007
31. F-15D, 85-0129, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 29, Desert Flanker, 2009
32. F-15D, 85-0131, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 31, Desert Flanker, 2006
33. F-15D, 85-0131, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 31, Desert Flanker, 2007
34. F-15D, 85-0131, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 31, Desert Flanker, 2008
35. F-15C, 78-0509, 65 AGRS/57 W, Blue 09, Digital Flanker, 2012 **

You'll note that on the cover sheet, Afterburner Decals indicates that they provide markings for 22 examples, yet you see 35 listed above. There are 22 different tail numbers covered, but Afterburner Decals goes the extra mile by providing accurate crew names for each aircraft and you'll see the same tail number listed with different years and that is to provide the different crew names for each of those years. As a bonus, Afterburner Decals also provides several of these aircraft in 1/32 scale and those are marked with double asterisks (**) in the list above.

The sheets are printed by Cartograf and the printing is very well done. What's more, none of these decals require the modeler to stack multiple layers of markings atop one another to recreate artwork. This trend by some other decal companies of producing multiple-layer decals is unfortunate as it puts the burden on you to do the work of what should have been done by the decal maker.

This set provides several complete sets of maintenance stencils and markings to replicate at least two kits in 1/48 scale (and if you use some of the stencils from the kits, you can do more!). One set of stencils is also included for the 1/32 markings. This set is designed to work with either the Hasegawa or Academy 1/48 kits and the Tamiya 1/32 kit.

My sincere thanks to Afterburner Decals for this review sample!