1:72 SAAF Fighters WWII Collection Pt2

South African squadrons from Kenya to Italy

The South African Air Force fought in the Second World War along an unusually stretched path. It began over East Africa against Italian garrisons, still with machines technically closer to the 1930s, continued with the desert war in North Africa and ended on the Italian front with modern fighters and twin-engine attack aircraft. The second part of the collection follows exactly that arc and offers ten marking options.

Represented are machines of training units at home as well as combat aircraft at the front: a biplane from East Africa in 1940, a desert fighter from a unit operating in 1943, American fighters used over Italy in 1945, a twin-engine attack aircraft in the anti-shipping role and a fast wooden machine operating from Italian bases. The range of schemes is therefore wide, from silver and brown-and-sand finishes to dark naval combinations, and the form of the national insignia changes along with them.

What the sheet is good for

The sheet is printed for 1:72 and assumes that the modeler will choose a matching kit himself. Given the breadth of types, the sheet also suits a modeler building a single themed display case from various machines of one country. The markings are printed in sharp register, so even the small codes stay legible. They go onto a smooth gloss surface and once dry are gone over with a flat varnish so that they blend into the surrounding finish. On the older biplanes it is worth allowing for the fact that large insignia run across ribbed fabric, where a softener helps.