Trumpeter 1/32 TBF1C insignia decal size

[Dainis]

I have a question regarding US insignia size. Trumpeter  TBF 1C includes US insignia decals for the wings and the fuselage that are larger than the 1manarmy insignia masks for the TBM3. Should they be a different size? Enquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

[Cicchino]

Per the Grumman drawing on Aircorps Library, the wing insignia are 50" diameter (39.68mm in 1/32). Unfortunately, the fuselage insignia specs are illegible except for the width of the blue band surrounding the bar which is noted as 2.5". Using insignia specs, that bar should be .125 the radius of the roundel which would make r=20" and the fuselage insignia 40" diameter (31.75mm in 1/32.) 

 

Remember that US insignia diameter is measured at the points of the star. It seems some manufacturers have incorrectly assumed that the diameter is measured over the full blue field. 

 

Take this for what it's worth, hopefully it is useful. 

 

Regards, 

 

John

Edited November 16, 2025 by Cicchino

[Woody V]

On 11/16/2025 at 7:15 AM, Cicchino said:

Remember that US insignia diameter is measured at the points of the star.

 

This is incorrect. The size of the star is the diameter of the circle it fits inside of.

[Cicchino]

I may have misiterpretted these specs. This is from an earlier article on LSP, but I've seen the same diagram in Aircorps drawings.  To me it looks like R in this case goes to the point of the star, with the blue field extending beyond that.  As the war progressed, the original roundel (where the star did in fact extend to the edge of the blue field) was outlined first in red, then in blue, and where the points of the star originally extended all the way to the edge of the blue field, after the updates, they no longer did. From reading these drawings I inferred that the 'standard' measurement still referenced the points of the star. When I create my own insignia masks, that's the reference point I've used.

 

Apologies if I may have misled anyone. 

 

 

 

Regards

 

John