Atlantic Models is a Miami-based company that produces display models both for the airline industry and for sale to the public.  Their range includes many types that have not been produced in kit form in some scales, or types that have been produced in kit form, but not very well!  Likewise, many decals have been produced for their display models that have never been done as decals for the hobby market.   The purpose of this page is to briefly review their decals, so that you can make an informed decision before you spend your money.

Display model decals are produced to a different standard than hobby sheets.  The manufacturer doesn't have time to apply many individual decals to one model, so often stripes, windows, door outlines, and subtitles will make up just one long decal for each side of the fuselage!  Their customers also aren't as fussy as the serious modeler fraternity, so often details are lacking, or, when present, may be to a lesser standard than modelers are used to.  What I will evaluate in my reviews is mainly whether or not the decal can be adapted for use on a scale model; if it can't, it doesn't matter how good the stripe or titles are.   As much as possible, I also try to assess accuracy; my references aren't exhaustive, however, so if I don't know for sure if a livery is accurate, I will say so.

This list of reviews is by no means exhaustive.  Some of the decals I wanted to look at were out of stock at the time of my visit.  Others were of lliveries that are already available as aftermarket products for scale modelers, and thus were not reviewed.  As for the rest, well, let's just say I only had a few hours at Atlantic, and there just wasn't time to get to them all!  Atlantic Models often attends the various airline memorabilia shows and the annual Airliners International convention, and has many of their completed models on view there, so that is one avenue to see the models in person if you can't visit Miami.
 

At present, Atlantic Models will not sell unfinished blanks to modelers.  I did review a few of the sheets for which there are no other kits available, in the hope that they would change their policy eventually.  If you would like to purchase blanks from Atlantic, it may be worthwhile to write the President, Mr. Roger Jarman, at the address given at the end of this page, to express your interest.   I, for one, would like to see the Pan Am flying boats made available.  From my admittedly cursory look at them, their shapes looked good, and with so many aftermarket accessories available, it seemed to me that great great scale models of them would be within reach.
 

The address is:

Atlantic Models
7661 NW 68th St., Bay 117
Miami, FL 33166
tel (305) 883-2012
fax (305) 883-2072

TIP:  If you are visiting Atlantic Models to look for a specific sheet or sheets it is worth calling ahead first to make sure they are in stock.  Visitors are welcome; they reccommend faxing ahead a list of the decals you want to see, so they can pull the sheet(s) for you ahead of time.

Airborne Express
    YS-11: Very good.  Nice titles and details.
American:
    L-188 Electra: Fair at best.  Stripes are tolerable, titles are a bit rough (use the LU DC-6 titles).
    Unfortunately  the all-important Electra subtitles are not that well done.
Braniff:
    C-46: Very nicely done!  Cargo door outlines are printed over the fuselage stripe, and windows are printed
    on the stripe, but these should be easy to deal with.  Braniff titles and logos are well done.   This was one of
    two decals I actually purchased.

    L-049 Connie: Also a very nice decal, with the same comments on overall quality as the C-46 decal.  Good
    luck converting Heller's short Connie to full 049 standards, though!
Chalks:
    Grumman Goose: This is the old blue-stripe livery with small Chalk's titles.  It's a well-done sheet, but $15.00
    for this postcard-sized decal seems usurious!
Delta:
    DC-7: An excellent sheet, probably the best I saw there (along with the TWA MD-80 sheet).  DC-7 logos are
    perfect, registration and stripe edges are right on, and subtitles are very nice.  Replace the sucky US flags
    and you'll have a winner!

    Delta/C & S L-649: Also a very good sheet. Tail titles are a bit soft-looking but are OK.  Note that this sheet
    does not include markings for the belly speedpack carried on most C&S L-649s.

    DC-6:  For some reason the blue is lighter on this sheet than on the other Delta subjects.  Other than that it's
    a good decal, with titles and small lettering printed to the same standard as the Delta DC-7.

    DC-3: A decent decal but not up to the other Delta subjects.  This is the white crown livery with the title just
    above the cheatline (same as the 1/100 Microscale sheet).  I thought the stripes and titles looked a bit rough.
Eastern:
    Martin 404: A bit rough on the stripes, and titles were off-register on mine.

     DC-7: Same problems as the Martin sheet; stripes are too rough.
Lufthansa:
    CV-340:  This is the mid-50s livery.  It's very nice, however, the rudder line is printed over the tail logo.
National:
    L-1049H: Very nice decal.  Stripes should adapt well to the Heller 1049 with some spot painting
    required, especially around the cockpit windows.  Small details very good, especially the
    Lockheed logos.  The real work will be in converting the Heller 1049G to a 1049H!
Pan Am:
    Boeing 307 Stratoliner: Titles seemed a bit rough to my eye, and they are printed in black!
    Registrations numbers are good, and the "Boeing bug" logo is fair.  If the title color is accurate,
    this is a useable decal.
 
     DC-4: Good.  Logos are a tad soft in detail, but titles are very crisp.  There is no Clipper name, just "Clipper"
    printed on stripe.

    Sikorsky S-40: Very good, includes all orange areas.  Nice small logos, but they are printed in black.
 
    Sikorsky small flying boats: OK.  Titles a bit rough.

    Martin China Clipper: Very good, with nice logos.  Wing registrations are printed on the orange parts.

     Boeing 314: U.S. flag is awful, and logos are fair at best.  The sheet does have good reggies and "Boeing
    bug" logo.
Pan Am Express
    DHC-7: Flag sucks (again), but the rest is very nice.
Panagra:
    DC-6B: I don't know if the scheme depicted is accurate or not.  It is a very pretty livery but  the decal is
    marred  by some rough spots, especially around the nose stripes.  Adapting this decal
    to the Heller DC-6B would be extremely difficult, both because of the stripes and becase Atlantic's
    decal windows have NO relation to Heller's window arrangement!  On that basis, I don't reccomend
    this decal.
Piedmont:
    F-27: Very good.  Stripes are a tiny bit rough in places, and the blue seemed a bit light to my eye.  Logos and
    titles very good.
    YS-11: This is the ornate delivery scheme, not the final light-blue stripe livery.  Blue seems too light, and no
    pacemaker name is included, but detail is good, so if you can live with the blue shade, it will make a nice
    YS-11 from the Bandai kit!
Prinair:
    Riley Heron: Very good.  Three stripe colors are available.  You'll have to convert the Airfix kit to Riley
    configuration, but at least now you'll have a reason to do so!
PSA:
    L-188 Electra: This is the last orange/dark orange/red stripe livery.  Titles and registrations are good,
    and stripes are good also.
Southern
    Martin 404: The stripes don't have a full underlay, so the blue looks two-toned.  Reggies are rough, but titles
    and tail logo are OK.
TWA:
     Martin 404: OK sheet.  No ship name is included.
     DC-3: same livery as the Flightline sheet (1946 colors)
United
    DC-6B: This is the same livery (early 1950s) as the now-available Liveries Unlimited sheet.
    377 Stratocruiser: Early 1950s livery.  Yuck.  Off-register titles, soft small titles.  A born loser!
United Express
    EMB-120: This is the current scheme.  Other than the off-register "Worldwide Service" UA logo, and the
    blobby-looking Embraer logo, it's a good decal.
Western
    DC-3: This is the same livery (late 1940s) as in the Testors kit.

    747-100F: The few windows on my sample were off-register, but in general this is a very nice sheet!  Titles
    could be used with the L-1011 stripes for an accurate L-1011.  Side cargo door outlines are included.
Southern Air Transport
    DC-8-73: Nice sheet.  Includes border stripe and corogard for wing/stabilizer tops only.

    747-200F: Nice sheet also.  Includes a small Southern Air logo to put under neath your nose cargo door, and
    outlines for the nose cargo door.  Titles are later "Southern Air" style.