We have several aircraft panels available for hand painting, some reproduction panels, some original WW2 aircraft parts. Our inventory varies as projects progress, and prices vary for each piece.

We first discuss with you the kinds of ideas you'd like to see as part of your nose  art design. Would you like an airplane included? A certain phrase, or type of pinup?  Once we get some  agreed ideas, we develop concepts using historic pieces or poses available on the internet, or basic sketches.  Then, once you feel we're getting closer to the concept you like, we can confirm the design, and begin the hand painting.

We develop a comprehensive concept before it gets hand-painted to the panel (or airplane), to confirm we have the design correct. In some instances we will create a digital painting of the artwork, to confirm everything before we begin to paint.

Once we begin discussing the concepts for your nose art design, the time to complete the project depends on how quickly we interact on the concept, get approvals and can move forward with the painting. This can happen as quickly as a few weeks to as long as it takes for a client to respond to our concept reviews and questions. If we have a significant workload in the studio, we will let you know what our production time will be, in general.

We paint on BOTH jackets produced for Victory Girl, and client-provided jackets.

We at Victory Girl work hard to ensure our artwork will remain on the jacket for as long as the jacket is wearable! We guarantee the art will not slough or peel off; we will repair it no charge if this is the case (with regular wear). The artwork WILL crack over time, as the leather underneath dries; this is natural and cannot be avoided.

We paint on a variety of leather types; goatskin, buffalo, cowhide, deer hide, horsehide, pigskin, etc. We have even painted designs to MA-1 (nylon) jackets, microfiber, and denim. Different leathers accept paint differently, and thus we prep  surface areas prior to painting to ensure the best adhesion. We do not paint to suede, as the nap of the leather is too long to effectively hold paint. We also do not recommend painting to faux leather surfaces (synthetic/plastic), as plastic out-gasses and eventually lifts the paint.

All our hand painted jacket designs start with a concept and idea brought to us by a customer. We'll be glad to paint your original design idea! Once given a concept idea, we build mock-ups to clarify and confirm what we'll be painting. With your written (email) approval of the mock-up, we begin the painting.

We always create a concept mock-up of the proposed jacket artwork prior to any painting. We do this to 1) understand that the idea we have in OUR head of your proposed design is the same idea you have in YOUR head  and 2) it confirms sizing and placement of the artwork to the jacket. The mock-up will not be the final art, but will give you a good idea of how it will turn out. See our Painted Jacket Gallery page to see examples of mock-ups and the finished jacket painting.

Once we receive the jacket in the studio (or a jacket is purchased), we create the mock-up for your review and approval. Once painting begins on the jacket it takes about 10 days for completion. Total time in the studio depends on the painting que and how much work is ahead of your project. On average, we'll have your jacket for 3-5 weeks.

All our vinyl nose art, historic and modern graphic designs are precisely contour-cut around the shape of the design, to minimize or eliminate any ‘white’ background showing. When cutting very small sizes (3-4” in width or height) we sometimes HAVE to leave some white edging, as the contour blades can nick very small cuts. Take a look in our ‘Nose Art Gallery’ page for images of installed vinyls to see examples of how they look installed.

When ordering vinyls from Victory Girl, you will also receive installation instructions, a test piece to play or work with before you install you purchased piece(s), and a small gift vinyl.

We list our design sizes  by Height, and Width, whichever is the LARGEST dimension. Product images for each design show a ‘height’ and ‘width’ bar alongside the design, illustrating the height/width. For example, ‘Eye Candy’ is a design with a height (tall) dimension larger than its width. ‘Eye Candy’ is sold  at 3,4,6, 8 and 10” TALL. “La Tormenta’ for example, is a design who’s largest dimension is WIDTH, so it is sold at 3,4,6,8 and 10” WIDE. 

Yes, we can cut almost any size up to 54” tall and unlimited width (or visa versa) as we cut the material off 58” rolls. If you’re interested in a size that is NOT shown in our store, just send us a note via the ‘CONTACT US’ page and we’ll get your custom order started!

No— some of our designs are built from historic pieces that faced only one direction, or, the design we created does not have a reverse image. Designs that DO come with a ‘left’ and ‘right’ side (or ‘reversed set’) will be listed on the product page with a ‘left’ or ‘right’ option to purchase. Reversed Sets consist of a ‘Left’ AND a ‘Right’ side version. Purchasing the set is generally cheaper than buying the left and right side separately.

Our graphic designs were all originally created as ‘nose art’ for aircraft, which meant the artwork was placed on the left or right side of the aircraft fuselage (looking toward the front of the plane). Artwork generally faces forward on the aircraft- hence if you have a ‘left’ facing pinup design, the figure will be facing left, or towards the forward part of the plane. If you order a Reversed Set, you will receive both a left facing, and right facing design. If you order a ‘LEFT’ American Flag, for example, you will receive an American  flag that has the blue field of stars to the LEFT of the design.

We cut all our vinyl designs in very durable, exterior, marine-grade 2ml thick vinyl, and laminate it with a 1ml UV protectant, that can withstand outdoor usage for 4-7 years without discoloration. It can be waxed, washed, immersed in water, heated, and cooled without adverse affects. This material is successfully used on boats, aircraft, RVs, off-road vehicles, tanks, glass doors and other outdoor surfaces.

Our vinyl material can be installed on any smooth, non-porous material such as metals, cars, boats, RVs, motorcycle tanks, kegs, refrigerators, glass windows, and more! This vinyl has also been successfully installed to painted wood, fiberglass, glass, and most plastics. Some sure-grip/textured plastics are not effective surfaces for vinyls, because of their rough texture, and they continue to out-gas after manufacture. Our high grade vinyl CAN be installed over uneven surfaces, such as cracks, rivets, and contoured shapes. Installation instructions are provided with each vinyl order. When installing the vinyls over an uneven surface, a light application of heat (such as from a hair dryer) will help the vinyl ’shrink wrap’ around the uneven area without leaving wrinkles.

Yes, we regularly customize designs on request for customers, such as changing the text, updating colors, or even altering a pose, clothes or hair color. There is a small art fee for us to alter the design (the fee is based on how large a change we’ll need to make) and we need to cut a minimum order of the new, custom design based on our printer roll. Generally, you’d need to order a minimum of  two 10” designs, three 8” designs OR several 6" or 4” print sizes to meet the minimum print order.

No, the vinyl adhesive used is not strong enough to pull paint off an adequately prepped/primed and painted surface (assuming the painted surface was stable prior to installing the vinyl). Applying a small amount of heat, such as a hair dryer or heat gun to the vinyl that you want to remove will allow the adhesive to soften, and make it easier to pull the vinyl away from the surface, WITHOUT having to gouge or scrape the vinyl to bits to get it off.

We recommend you do NOT clearcoat over our vinyls, as they have already been laminated with a clear UV protectant, and we cannot guarantee the clearcoat will adhere successfully to the laminate. If you DO need to clearcoat over the design, let us know, and we can custom-print our vinyls to WATERSLIDE material, made especially for clearcoating applications.