I got mine yesterday and look very much like a Blue Peter project.
If these cost more than 20p to make they were robbed blind and misused whatever money they used to pay for them.
I think that if retired, you are still entitled to wear uniform mess kit in your retired rank = thereās an opportunity?
Like I said, Blue Peter project and cost no more than 20p.
I doubt the ones costing several Ā£s a set are any better.
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Our Officer and SNCOs switched over to RAFAC slides yesterday. I must say they do not look as bad as I expected. I think the NCO slides are actually quite neat.
I spent some time on Monday night reducing the width of my jumper ones - they do look better as a result. However the epaulettes on my recent issue light blue shirt are slightly tapered which is a bit more of a challenge.
Iām rather hoping Snaiths will do better ones at some stage. One decent set in jumper and wedgwood blue would be well worth the expenseā¦
I always thought that the isosceles trapezoid rank slides looked daft and prefer the properly rectangular ones.
Oh, they do, but if the actual straps are tapered itās tricky to make them fit properly.
Combat Logos are now producing tapered rank slides in the drop down box. 6.5 cm at the bottom to 5 cm at the top
So obviously the RAFAC ones would be a waste of money as not allowed, but what about the small versions?
Ā£8.60 ā¦ hmm, think i will just get the needle and thread out and alter the ones i have 
Just received my issued official rank slides tonight and they are complete . The pale blue slides are:
- Oversize in width by about 15mm and dwarf my epaulettes.
- The rank braid pinches the background cloth which has ripples and will never lie flat.
- The RAF Air Cadets lettering isnāt sharp and has continued thread between letters. The enclosed gaps in individual letters appear black instead of pale blue.
- The background colour is more a pale blue/grey than Wedgewood and just doesnāt match.
In short, they look absolutely awful and give you the look of a Traffic Warden. Does HQAC realise how bad these rank slides look ? Laughing stock!
The only saving grace for the dark grey slides is that the RAF Air Cadets logo is barely visible but they are just as bad, but forgot about wearing them on a dark blue GP jacket as they just look silly.
Whilst I begrudge it, I will be purchasing my own slides from CombatLogos.com who cater for GP jackets, can supply the correct size and can provide with RAF AC lettering if required, the actual voted option by staff which HQAC disregarded !
given these are official issue by the official supplier - yesā¦
Do this and you are simply goading the badge police, 1358C will be updated to match the IBN with Jumper slides worn with GPJ & Jeltex. RAFAC whilst the popular vote is not going to feature on rank slides, as itās just as confusing as VRT was to the public.
You had a choice to wear VRT or not, you have the same choice with RAF AIR CADETS, if you donāt want to wear it become a CI.
The badge we wear has zero impact on what we deliver to the cadets.
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This is true, however the process we went through and the absolute disregard shown for US in the āwhat do we want to be calledā survey, which in the end has seen that our opinion counted for less than nothing, as the decision had already been made (in line with CACs objectives, no doubt guided by them above her) has left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouths.
Then to top it all what they supply you with looks very Blue Peter kitchen tableesque. There has been no quality control whatsoever or if there has, it was done with the lights out. You want to have a degree of pride in what you wear and these donāt give you that sense, given how amateurish they are.
As ever no money put into something and told get on with it.
No officer cadet at FO rank though!
Seems to work ok for the Aussies who use AAFC, TBPH what we wear on our rank slides will go unnoticed by 99% of the general public. We all know that public perception has nothing whatsoever to do with this change.
I like how the cadets/staff are identified by a blue or white background to AAFC
Interesting that their staff start at Aircraftmanā¦
they look quite good TBH
Ours probably look good on posters.