# Decals for German WWII aircraft



## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Seems every kit I have does not include the dreaded "swastika" symbols usually found on the tail of the aircraft. Does anyone know who sells aftermarket decals of these symbols in both 1/72 and 1/48 scales? Thanks.


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## Rainfollower (Oct 6, 2006)

Try http://www.squadron.com/Search.asp

Enter "swastika" in the Keyword field.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Yep, you can get 'em by the billion (well, lots of them anyway).

Any aftermarket decal of German markings will have them included, or you can get sheets of only swastikas.

The kitmakers exclude them because the symbol is illegal to display in Germany and parts of Europe. I've always said, if someone in Europe is buying a model of a WWII Nazi airplane, they should expect the swastika to be included and suck it up. And anybody who hates seeing the swastika is probably not going to be buying models of Messerschmitts.


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Just checked out Squadron as suggested, a company called Aeromaster has a whole sheet of them! Thanks for the help!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Aeromaster decals are VERY good quality.


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Airfix also later changed a lot of its old 1960's and 1970's aircraft box art to remove the World War II violence, producing instead art which showed the planes flying through peaceful skies...


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

What kills me is that masterpieces by cover artists like Koeki Shigeo have to be historically inaccurate by having the swastika left off. I consider that to be historical art, and I consider the omission of the symbol to be revisionist.


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Yes, it's revisionist all right, and it's a deliberate distortion of history for reasons of either political correctness or modern taste. The artwork was changed either so as not to 'promote Nazism', or to shield children from depictions of the horrors of war. But to protect children from the horrors of war or from the promotion of unsavoury regimes, we'd need to alter all sorts of comics, books, artwork, toys, gum cards and whatnot that are prevalent throughout childhood. Why did poor old Airfix get slapped with this?


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Cro-Magnon Man said:


> Yes, it's revisionist all right, and it's a deliberate distortion of history for reasons of either political correctness or modern taste. The artwork was changed either so as not to 'promote Nazism', or to shield children from depictions of the horrors of war. But to protect children from the horrors of war or from the promotion of unsavoury regimes, we'd need to alter all sorts of comics, books, artwork, toys, gum cards and whatnot that are prevalent throughout childhood. Why did poor old Airfix get slapped with this?


Funny you mention Airfix, the 1/72 Bf-109E I'm building, that doesn't include the swastika's, happens to be an Airfix kit! But, I also have a bunch of other kits, by other manufacturers, that also omit the swastika. Sometimes they include it, but in two pieces that you have to "put together" to get the proper marking. Still, I would rather have that then no marking at all!


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

spock62 said:


> ...the swastika. Sometimes they include it, but in two pieces that you have to "put together" to get the proper marking.


I hadn't heard of that way round the problem before! Good luck with the kit.


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## scottnkat (May 11, 2006)

I've heard of some manufacturers splitting the swastika. The reason it was dropped by so many companies is because it is illegal to display the swastika in Germany. Rather than have two separate sets of decals or two separate box art prints (one for Germany and one for everyone else), many manufacturers simply omit it altogether or modify the decal so they can market the exact same kit everywhere.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Oh, the split swastika decal has been around for a loooong time. Another trick, which Hasegawa uses, is to have the swastika alone on the very edge of the decal sheet, and they slice that part off for European sales.

Oddly enough, Huma Models of _Germany _always included the swastika, even if it was split.


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