CH-53D/E Heavy Haulers

This sheet 48-MAW010 CH-53D/E Heavy Haulers was released by MAW Decals in May 2008 and contains alternative USMC markings for Revell's CH-53D and the Academy CH-53E, both in 1/48th scale.  The decals are currently available for $11,95. Here is a view on what you get.

Decals

The set contains three decal sheets and has markings and stencils for the Revell CH-53D and markings for the Academy CH-53E.

The featured CH-53D Sea Stallion is part of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463). The squadron, also known as "Pegasus", is based at Marine Corps Air Facility Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii.

The CH-53E Super Stallion is from Marine Helicopter Training Squadron 302 (HMT-302), a USMC helicopter training squadron stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina. Known as the "Phoenix", HMT-302 trains future crew members of the CH-53E Super Stallion.

The sheets are printed by Microscale and meet the expected high quality as seen on previous MAW Sheets. The individual decals themselves look very thin, crisp and appear to be in perfect register on my three sheets.

The first sheet contains stencils and walkways for the D Version, the smallest letters of the stencils are still readable. The stencils for the E version are provided in the Academy kit which are complete and accurate.

Both the second and third sheet are for the Super Stallion. They contain a very interesting "digital cammo" pattern and walkways. The walkways in the kit are not bad but some parts for the external fuel tanks are missing. The digital cammo must be applied on the tail and the stabiliser.

Those of you just interested in the CH-53E walkways, they are also available seperatly: #48-MAW009

Markings

Markings are provided for following 2 Stallions:

• CH-53D Sea Stallion, HMH-463 "Pegasus", MCAF Kaneohe Bay, Hawai March 2003
• CH-53E Super Stallion, HMT-302 "Phoenix", MCAS New River, NC October 2006

Instruction sheets

The instructions are printed in full color and provide information for the placement of the decals. What I do miss are the small numbers next to the decals. But this is not a real problem as the instructions are clear and the different decals can be clearly identified. As you can see below the instructions include 2 side views, a top and a bottom view of each helicopter.

Conclusion

Based on the quality of the printing, the interesting markings and the correct price I can only recommend these decals.

Thx to Albert Moore for the pictures