1:48 P-51B Invasion Stripes Vinyl Mask Set

The stripes of June 1944

Immediately before the landings in Normandy, Allied aircraft received alternating white and black bands around the wings and the rear part of the fuselage. It was a purely practical measure: ship crews and ground units were to recognize their own machine at first glance and not fire at it. The finish was applied in a hurry, often with a broom straight on the hardstand, and that is why it tends to have uneven edges in period photographs. Over the summer the stripes disappeared from the upper surfaces, and by the autumn most units had removed them altogether.

Spraying instead of a decal

Large-area decals are not popular for the stripes: they are harder to lay over pressed detail, they gloss differently from the surrounding varnish and they tear easily on the wing edges. The masking set does the same job in paint, so the result has a uniform surface and will also take later weathering. The cut pieces are shaped to the outline of the wing and fuselage of the early Mustang version in 1:48 scale, and the vinyl can be laid even over the leading edge without folds.

Before you start spraying

Without a model to put the stripes on, the set makes no sense, so you need the kit separately. Spray the surface white, apply the cut pieces once it is dry and add the black; the reverse order would call for far more coats. Seal the edges of the masks with a thin coat of the base color so that no further coat can seep under them. The set covers a markedly larger area than a canopy mask.

It is also worth noting how fast the stripes disappeared from the aircraft. Units first removed them from the upper surfaces, so that the machines were not conspicuous on flights over land, and only later did they vanish from below as well. A model with bands on the underside only therefore belongs to a later period than an aircraft banded all the way around.