1:48 P-47C Razorback Decal Sheet

An Eagle squadron changes over to the Thunderbolt

The 4th Fighter Group of the American Eighth Air Force grew out of three squadrons of volunteers who flew with the Royal Air Force even before the United States entered the war. When in 1942 they changed into American uniforms, they exchanged elegant Spitfires for mighty Thunderbolts and many of them took it badly. The new machine climbed more slowly and behaved differently in a turn, but in a dive it had no rival and its armored cockpit saved many lives.

The printing captures two machines of the 334th Squadron in the early guise with the so-called razorback, that is, with the glazing passing smoothly into the fuselage. The first carries the fuselage letter G and an inscription with which the crew sighed for California, the second the letter B and a Hawaiian greeting in the nose inscription. Both aircraft have serial numbers from 1941 and correspond to the winter and spring of 1943, when the group operated from an airfield in southern England.

Soaking and time

• two sets of markings for the razorback version of the fighter in 1:48 scale
• fuselage letters, nose inscriptions and serial numbers
• lukewarm water of around thirty degrees releases the printing fastest
• leave the design on the paper until you slide it into place

Soaking has its rhythm. Ten to fifteen seconds in water is enough; then take the sheet out and let it lie for a while so that the adhesive softens without being washed away entirely. The design should be slid from the backing onto the model, not carried into place with tweezers. Anyone who oversoaks the printing loses the tack and the decal then holds only on the softener.