Plea to ARF manufacturers for better Insignia Markings
Every couple of years we have to get on our soap box again and make a plea for accuracy in our markings.
I apologize up front.
Imported ARF manufacturers are the worst. Skymaster, FBjets, Fly Eagle jet, etc. None of these companies bother to take the time or effort to render the US insignia correctly. Unfortunatly, many of us don't know the difference so we don't ask for better.
The trend these days is for the ARF to come already painted with the insignia. It takes just as much time to paint the star and bar wrong as it would to do it right. Can we get a discount when they paint the insignia wrong? Or are we going to get charged more when they paint it correctly?
For ARF manufacturers: We are not talking about too small or too large. That's only part of the problem. We are talking the proportion of the star in the blue circle, the length of the bars, the width of the red stripe, etc. Same issue on the British Roundel. Could you at least try to get the color shades correct?
Attached I've provided a Judges reference sheet that explains how the US star and bar should look. Free of charge!! Wow, we are offering a solution and have done the research for you! Yes, many contest judges are letting you get away with it too. But for the most part the top pilots know how the insignias should look, so the models that win use graphics from the better sources. And they aren't most ARF makers.
Phew, got that off my chest for another few years. Back to standing on my head.