1:16 Allied Stencils US Stars & Medical Crosses Paint Mask Set

Allied stars and medical crosses in 1:16

From 1942 the white five-pointed star was the most conspicuous recognition marking on Allied hardware. It was painted on the hoods, the sides and the roofs of vehicles, and later a white circle was added to it, which was meant to break up an aiming point that had become all too readable for enemy gunners. Beside it appeared the red cross on a white field, with which, under the Geneva Conventions, ambulances, dressing stations and medical supplies were marked.

The package handles both in the form of spraying templates. The marking is sprayed rather than stuck on, so no step arises on the surface, the step that always gives a decal away. The second advantage is durability: a sprayed marking will not peel off during later varnishing or work with a wash, and it will take harder weathering of the surface.

The 1:16 size means extensive areas, and on them the cleanliness of the edge decides. The film is machine cut, so the inner points of the star hold sharp angles and the circle is genuinely round. The use is wide, from the hoods of off-road vehicles through the sides of half-tracks to the doors of trucks.

In a tableau with several vehicles it is worth considering varying the size of the marking. Real workshops painted them using templates that they often made themselves, so the dimensions and the density of the white differed from one vehicle to the next. A small irregularity therefore looks more convincing than perfectly identical markings on every vehicle in a column.

The procedure does not change: the base must be smooth and perfectly dry, the template is transferred with application film, pressed down with a soft cloth and sprayed in thin coats perpendicular to the surface. Remove the paint while it is still supple, that is, shortly after it dries to the touch. If it does run under the edge after all, careful scraping with a cut-down toothpick will even it out.