1-600 German WWI Balkenkreuz Style #1 THICK White Outline Decals
These 1-600 German WWI Balkenkreuz Style #1 THICK white outline Decals provide German WWI Balkenkreuz Style #1 THICK white outline markings for 1-600 scale aircraft miniatures. Use them to reproduce the corresponding national, service, or recognition markings on aircraft appropriate to the design and period.
Decal Information
This sheet provides German WWI Balkenkreuz Style #1 THICK white outline markings for 1-600 scale aircraft.
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
Nation / Region: Germany Service: Imperial German military aviation Period: World War I Marking: German WWI Balkenkreuz Style #1 THICK white outline Scale: 1-600
Historical Information
These 1-600 German WWI Balkenkreuz Style #1 decals reproduce the straight-sided black German national cross with a thick white outline, a marking associated with the final months of World War I.
In mid-April 1918, the German Air Service adopted the straight-sided Balkenkreuz to replace the earlier cross pattée or “Iron Cross” national insignia. The new marking appeared on German aircraft during a period of intense operations on the Western Front and quickly became characteristic of late-war German aviation.
The transition was not perfectly uniform. Aircraft already in service were often repainted in the field, and earlier crosses could be modified into straight-sided forms. As a result, period photographs show substantial differences in bar thickness, proportions, and the width of the surrounding white border. This sheet represents a bold Style #1 version with a heavier white outline.
Thick-outlined Balkenkreuz markings are appropriate for selected late-war aircraft such as the Fokker D.VII, surviving Fokker Dr.I, Albatros D.V/D.Va, Pfalz D.IIIa and D.XII, Hannover and Halberstadt two-seaters, AEG bombers, and Gotha bombers, depending on the individual aircraft and date.
Because many 1918 Balkenkreuz markings were created during factory changes or field repainting, border width and proportions varied noticeably. Use photographs of the specific aircraft whenever possible when choosing between the thick-outline, thin-outline, and Style #2 Balkenkreuz sheets.
