SPA Modeler

Hi All,

What width do you guys do your D-Day stripes in 1/48th?

Cheers!

Depends on what aircraft we're talking about. Fighters had a different width then bombers

Ah see I didn't know that - I thought the stripes were a standard width across all types. I was many thinking USAAF Fighters.

The stripes were five alternating black and white stripes. On single-engine aircraft each stripe was to be 18 inches (46 cm) wide, placed 6 inches (15 cm) inboard of the roundels on the wings and 18 inches (46 cm) forward of the leading edge of the tailplane on the fuselage. National markings and serial number were not to be obliterated. On twin-engine aircraft the stripes were 24 inches (61 cm) wide, placed 24 inches (61 cm) outboard of the engine nacelles on the wings, and 18 inches (46 cm) forward of the leading edge of the tailplane around the fuselage. However, American aircraft using the invasion stripes very commonly had some part of the added "bar" section of their post-1942 roundels overlapping the invasion strips on the wings.[citation needed]

So that makes a fighter stripe about 3/8" wide

That's really interested TJ, thanks!

so about 9.5mm - thanks for that. I've got to paint some up on the Thunderbolt I'm building.

In 1/48, the conversion of stripes from actual size is quite simple. 1/48- 1 inch actual equals 48 scale inches. 18 inches reduces to 3/8 inch. 24 inches reduces to 1/2 inch.
On a 1/32 scale kit, the increments are even simpler, as one scale inch is equal to 1/32 inch actual. So 18” scales down to 18/32” or more correctly as 9/16”, and 24” to 24/32” or 3/4” (remember in grade school where math class made you reduce fractions?)
You guys can do your own conversion of actual size imperial to metric