Dear Friends,

Going beyond the Monogram questionnaire, I am taking a poll on how my fellow u-boat modellers and enthusiasts might suggest providing an historically accurate DKM naval ensign for a 1:125 VII B u-boat. Becuase of anti-nazi laws in Germany as well as most all of Europe, the decal provided by Revell of Germany in the U-99 I am building suffers, as I was sure it would, from the curious omission of the swastika in the centre circle filed in the flag. As I am unsure as to how one might hand-paint this historical symbol in the blank field, I am further dissuaded by a more general disdain for decals posing as flags. Decals are stiff and plastic; ensings, made of cloth, flow in the wind.
I had thought of perhaps hand-painting an ensign on a small block of silk fabric. But I am unsure as to how silk would "take" ink or paint. Moreover, the decal provided is merely 1/4 of an inch. I had located a company in England, listed on subcommittee.com, that sells cloth ensigns, presumably as small as 1:128. However, in response to my inquiry, he stated the smallest flag, presumably 1:128, was 3/4 of inch. So as I am now unsure as which dimension (1/4 or 3/4 of inch) is actually in 1:125 scale, I also have doubts about the flag's thinness. The end result is that I am quite unsure about what the best strategy would be. Ought I have a cloth ensign that drops as if the wind were perfectly still, or should I resort, instead, to some other medium that, not as lifeless as those gaudy decals, closely emulates a flag wisping in the wind.
As a final note, I will mention that an extensive search through subcommittee.com, warship.net, and other links failed to yield a desirable alternative. Thus, I hope to have a "round-table" discussion with as many as possible about what strategy might provide the most superior results.

Warm Regards,

Einsamer Wolf