1:72 S-199 - interior 3D decals for Eduard kit

A combination that was never meant to be

The Avia S-199 is one of the strangest aircraft of postwar Europe. After the store of the original engines was destroyed, a bomber powerplant, the Junkers Jumo 211 with a massive propeller, was fitted into the airframe of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. The result was a machine with enormous torque that could punish its pilot on every takeoff. Even so, it was the S-199 that became the first fighter aircraft of Israel and in May 1948 flew its very first combat action.

The layering of paint that falls away here

The classic procedure on a fighter cockpit has at least four steps: the base shade, a dark wash into the recesses, drybrushing of the edges and finally picking the dials out with a drop of varnish. Each of them can be spoiled, and the last two are very hard to undo in a small scale. A printed sheet already carries all these layers within it, including the shadows under the bezels. The time saved runs into hours and the result does not depend on how steady a hand one has.

• The complete equipment of a single-seat cockpit on one sheet
• The shadows and the highlighted edges are part of the print
• The belts do not have to be bent or painted afterwards
• The film follows the curve of the side walls without lifting at the edges
• It is applied with water onto a smooth painted surface

It is best to spray the inside of the cockpit in a dark gray shade in advance, so that any gaps between the parts do not show. With machines in Israeli colors in particular it is worth leaving the canopy open, because otherwise all this work stays hidden. The kit, paints and tools are not part of the delivery.