1:72 US Navy lettering – Black & White

Naval aviation lettering decals 1:72

This sheet from Mark I holds letters and numerals in the style carried by US Navy machines, and both a black and a white execution are stated in the name. It is not the marking of one particular aircraft but a stock of lettering from which you put an inscription together to match your own subject.

Why there are two colors

Fuselage codes and lettering read according to the surface beneath: over a light gray finish black stands out, over a dark surface white does instead. A sheet with both shades therefore covers machines from various periods and various camouflage schemes and allows fuselage numbers, unit codes and smaller lettering to be combined on one model.

How to work with a lettering sheet

• Lay the inscription out dry beside the model first and measure the spacing.
• Cut the characters out one at a time, not a whole line at once.
• Stick a strip of tape below the inscription to serve as a guide line.
• Move a character with a brush wetted in water until it sits exactly right.
• Straighten the line before the decal starts to dry.

Who the set is worth it for

It will be appreciated by anyone who builds several naval machines and needs a free stock of characters, for example when they want to turn a model into a particular example with its own number. The letters will also serve to rescue an inscription that was damaged during the build or torn while being lifted off the backing. The rest of the sheet stays usable for another build, because only the characters actually needed are taken off.