Stencils and insignia

[Rover420]

Probably not the the right place, but to do with decals. Stencils. Do they go over national insignia or are they covered over when the insignia is painted and not redone? I have done both ways on my aircraft but have never been sure on it. Not so worried on painted aircraft but for P51’s etc in NMF. I am probably opening a can of worms here, like spitfire camo masks! 

[TonyOD]

18 hours ago, Rover420 said:

Probably not the the right place, but to do with decals. Stencils. Do they go over national insignia or are they covered over when the insignia is painted and not redone? I have done both ways on my aircraft but have never been sure on it. Not so worried on painted aircraft but for P51’s etc in NMF. I am probably opening a can of worms here, like spitfire camo masks! 

I've sometimes wondered this. Were national insignia painted on in the factory per the specification of the purchaser, or were they painted on once they were delivered? As suggested by the name, were spare stencils issued with the airframe so the end use could repaint them on if needed? Reason I've pondered it is because more than once I've put a stencil on top of a roundel only to see it silver in an ugly fashion. Maybe a further coat of Klear on the roundel is needed before I put the stencils on...

 

 

 

 

[Giorgio N]

Both stencils and national insignia are generally painted at the factory according to the specifications of the customer. For this reason, stencils do or do not cover the national insignia, depending on what the specifications are.

The picture linked here gives a good idea:

 

http://spitfiresite.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/23-23-7557926480_17cc030455_k.jpg

 

Stencils and insignia are already in place and so are certain features related to the current scheme of the day (the Sky rear band for example). On the Spitfire it was specifically stated that the walk line should not cross the roundel and it is therefore painted this way. On other aircraft there was no such request and the stencils were painted over the insignias (as in many F-104 schemes for example ).

Keep in mind that the stencils are there to show groundcrew and other personnel specific points and areas that could cause a safety hazard or require access for maintenance purpose. As such they have to be visible, if for some reason an important stencil ends up where the national insignia is, the stencil will take precedence. It is the job of whoever draws the location of national markings to try and have these in areas that do not interfere with the stencils, if this is not possible, the stencils can go over the insignia.

 

All this is applicable to aircraft painted at the factory. In case of repaints it would depend on who did the repaint and how the official guidelines were followed. This would depend on user and timeframe. Don't always assume that because an aircraft was repainted when in service this was done by some guy with a brush, it may have been true in some cases but very far from the truth in others...

 

[TonyOD]

6 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

Both stencils and national insignia are generally painted at the factory according to the specifications of the customer. For this reason, stencils do or do not cover the national insignia, depending on what the specifications are.

The picture linked here gives a good idea:

 

http://spitfiresite.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/23-23-7557926480_17cc030455_k.jpg

 

Stencils and insignia are already in place and so are certain features related to the current scheme of the day (the Sky rear band for example). On the Spitfire it was specifically stated that the walk line should not cross the roundel and it is therefore painted this way. On other aircraft there was no such request and the stencils were painted over the insignias (as in many F-104 schemes for example ).

Keep in mind that the stencils are there to show groundcrew and other personnel specific points and areas that could cause a safety hazard or require access for maintenance purpose. As such they have to be visible, if for some reason an important stencil ends up where the national insignia is, the stencil will take precedence. It is the job of whoever draws the location of national markings to try and have these in areas that do not interfere with the stencils, if this is not possible, the stencils can go over the insignia.

 

All this is applicable to aircraft painted at the factory. In case of repaints it would depend on who did the repaint and how the official guidelines were followed. This would depend on user and timeframe. Don't always assume that because an aircraft was repainted when in service this was done by some guy with a brush, it may have been true in some cases but very far from the truth in others...

 

Fascinating, thanks. I used to do more or less exclusively Spitfires and I reckon they all had a walk line across the roundel 🤪

[Rover420]

Thanks very much Georgio for the information. I think I will be putting the stencils on top of the roundels for my P51 ‘Dooleybird’. If any coincide. With Klear! (Tony). Hopefully I will get some on there this weekend if Swmbo allows it. Thanks again.