1-300 French Roundels Decals
These 1-300 French Roundel decals reproduce the familiar French national aircraft insignia consisting of a blue center, white middle ring, and red outer ring. Based directly on the colors of the French tricolor, the roundel—or cocarde tricolore—has served as one of the defining symbols of French military aviation for more than a century. The decal sheet is specifically designed for 1-300 scale aircraft miniatures.
Decal Information
The sheet includes French Roundels markings suitable for use on 1-300 scale aircraft miniatures.
They are printed on clear-background waterslide decal paper. They need to be individually cut out. Apply over a properly prepared and gloss-coated model surface using normal waterslide-decal techniques.
Key Historical Details
Region / Nation: French Service: French Military Aviation Time Period: Period Appropriate to the Marking Primary Marking: National Aircraft Roundels Scale: 1-300 Application: Historically appropriate aircraft and aviation subjects
Historical Information
France was one of the first nations to adopt a national roundel for military aircraft. The French military began applying the blue-white-red cockade to aircraft in 1912, before the outbreak of World War I. The concept proved highly influential, with several other nations later adopting circular national insignia based on their own colors.
The basic French design has remained remarkably consistent: blue at the center, surrounded by white and then red. During and immediately after World War II, French aircraft increasingly carried a version surrounded by a yellow outer border, which became the standard postwar marking.
Beginning in the 1970s, French combat-aircraft roundels were reduced in size, and with the introduction of adhesive national markings in the early 1980s, they became smaller still. The yellow border was eliminated in 1984, returning French military aircraft to the cleaner blue-white-red roundel represented by this decal sheet.
This unbordered version is therefore particularly appropriate for later Cold War and modern French aircraft, including types such as the Mirage 2000, Rafale, later-service Mirage F1, Alpha Jet, and numerous transport, training, and support aircraft. Unlike several other NATO air forces, France generally retained clearly recognizable national colors rather than adopting extensively subdued gray low-visibility roundels on Armée de l'Air aircraft.
