Fantasy Printshop 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 USAAC/USAF Backing Patches
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
Hot on the heels of their earlier release of USAAC and USAF stars & bars, Fantasy Printshop has come out with a sheet of backing patches for those special occasions where you might need extra white. Traditionally, white silkscreened decals tend to be a bit thin on the white, even when printed at double thickness. In most cases this is not a problem, as they're going down over a relatively light color, or a consistent background. However, if you have one of these insignia going down over two colors that are in stark contrast (like black and white invasion stripes), there can be a pronounced tonal shift in the white. These aim to fix that potential problem by providing a solid white backing patch, upon which you can apply the standard star and bar and end up with nice, opaque whites, regardless of what was underneath.
The Decals
The decal sheets match up with the stars and bars previously released, so the sizes on each sheet are identical to those reviewed here.
- FP310 contains the 1/72 USAAC and USAF backing patches
- FP311 contains the 1/48 USAAC and USAF backing patches
- FP312 contains the 1/32 USAAC and USAF backing patches
Conclusion
These are very useful decals to have around for those rare occasions that you might need them. While they are designed specifically to match up to the Fantasy Printshop insignia, you could very likely use these with kit decals as well. My thanks to Fantasy Printshop for the review samples.