WWII Luftwaffe Instrument Dial Decals

Airscale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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I wish airscale products had been available when I was building my 1/24 Airfix Bf 109 E in the mid-1980s.  The kit’s cockpit was highly detailed for the time – but the instrument faces were blank, and with no aftermarket alternatives the only solution was to leave them this way or use my less-than-steady hand to paint the details myself. 

30 years on, this is no longer a problem.  UK aftermarket company airscale manufactures a wide range of generic and kit specific placards, bezels, and instrument dials, including a number in the somewhat neglected scale of 1/24.  Most impressively, airscale produces dedicated replacement instruments for all of Airfix’s 1/24 World War 2 aircraft kits, including the just-released Hawker Typhoon. 

Less dramatic but equally useful is this sheet of generic World War 2 Luftwaffe instrument dial decals.  Printed on the small (7 x 3.5 cm or 2 ¾ x 1 ½ inch) sheet are 51 decals representing all of the major instrument dials installed on Luftwaffe fighters.  These include boost pressure, dive altimeter, airspeed, compass, RPM, and direction and turn and bank indicators to name only a few.  Several variations and sizes of each instrument are included to accommodate different makes of aircraft – check your references for the specific machine you are modelling.  Each decal is individually numbered, with the number matched to a list on the instruction leaflet to help with identification.

The decals have been printed by Fantasy Printshop and look good on the sheet, with crisp registration and legible numbers.  A quick test confirmed that the decals are printed on individual carrier film, which makes using them easier than some other instrument decals that are printed on continuous film and need to be carefully trimmed.

Rounding out the package is a sheet of clear acetate that modellers can use to simulate glazing should they wish.

This is a useful little sheet that I recommend highly to anyone who models 1/24 Luftwaffe aircraft.  I’d also recommend browsing through the other 1/24, 1/32 and 1/48 cockpit accessories on airscale’s website, all of which offer considerable enhancements over original kit parts.

Thanks to Airscale for the review sample.

Airscale Products are available online from their website

Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 20 August, 2014
Last updated 20 August, 2014

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