Fantasy Printshop 1/32 RAF Code Letters & Numbers
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
Universal code letters and numbers are some of the most useful decals to have, and as such these prove to be highly popular aftermarket decal sheets. Fantasy Printshop has decided to tackle this subject in 1/32 scale, with a whole slew of different sizes and colors for your large-scale WW2 RAF aircraft.
The Decals
These latest releases from Fantasy Printshop come in all sizes of decal sheets, with the codes & letters ranging from 8” to 30” (in 1/32 scale). Different sizes have different color options as well, including black, dull red, red, white, blue, sky, and medium sea grey. The sizes include 8” (dull red and black), 12” (dull red and black), 15” (dull red, black, and medium sea grey), 16” (dull red, black, and medium sea grey), 18” (black and sky), 21” (black), 24” (black, white, blue, sky, red, and dull red), 27” (dull red), and 30” (black). These sizes and color options cover pretty much all the options you might need for just about any RAF aircraft during the Second World War.
For the most part, these would not have much attention in the modeling realm as sets of code letters & numbers are fairly common these days. But Fantasy Printshop has come out with something new: waterslide decals with no carrier film. The main benefit from this is obvious: with no carrier film there will be no chance of silvering. The result is a decal that ends up looking painted on, with no extra effort than applying a normal decal.
There are some downsides, to this concept, though. In this specific application, the decals are noticeably thick, which would leave a raised edge that would be noticeable. This could be countered with a thicker application of a clear coat, but that has the risk of filling in surface details. Speaking of which, the thickness of the decal will also come into issue when it goes over raised or recessed details. From what I have seen of a quick test, they appear to settle into details nicely, but the thickness tends to soften the details.
Finally, the biggest challenge with this concept is that it is only valid for standalone single-element markings. So you cannot have code letters combined with roundels and apply them all as one and ensure alignment is all correct. For large scales and large markings, this isn’t much of an issue, but this method cannot work with something like a stencil.
Conclusion
These are an exciting new concept in decals and Fantasy Printshop chose the perfect subject to experiment with. Having the whole range of sizes and colors also opens up loads of opportunities for custom-marked Spitfires, Hurricanes, and more. While there are some existing challenges, the potential is high and I hope Fantasy Printshop continues to perfect the technique. My thanks to Fantasy Printshop for the sample sheets. Check out their website if you want to give these a try.