The Little World

You cannot escape decals on model aircraft – they are needed to complete everything. But they can completely ruin the job.

Or your day, if you let them. I’m thinking of the friable, misprinted, graphic horrors that flow out of eastern Europe. You can tame them somewhat, but you are never really satisfied with the detail.

On the other hand, there are the detailed stencil sheets that are included with late-model US and NATO aircraft. Every surface of every plane seems to carry warning stickers and symbols. It’s like you were building nothing but Revell Germany instruction sheets…

I am forced to them when I build a USN plane with white surfaces that show the little black signs. You know they are supposed to be there and you just give in grudgingly.

Here there are just as many, but the RAF day fighter or PRU scheme is darker colours and little black signs are going to disappear. I made a compromise and stuck anything that would show a colour on the dark portions, but ditched the tiniest of the black dots.

And no ” No Step ” signs on the underside of the wing, either…