28 Airplanes!!!!

1/72 TIDAL WAVE B-24D Decal Sets Coming Soon!

PYN-up Decals is proud to announce the upcoming release of our 1/72 TIDAL WAVE B-24D decal sets. The two nose art sets together cover 28 Liberators that attacked the oil refineries at Ploesti, Campina, and Brazi, Romania, on 1 August 1943. One-third of the B-24s were lost on this mission—and the 98th Bomb Group lost one-half of its crews and planes. An additional double-sheet set covers the standard markings for all B-24s, not just TIDAL WAVE.

All the 1/72 decal sets below will be available by 15 October 2019.

PYND72014 includes nose art and other non-standard markings
for FIFTEEN B-24Ds!

PYND72015 includes nose art and other non-standard markings
for THIRTEEN B-24Ds!

(Note all artwork here is intentionally distorted for copyright purposes. The actual decals and instructions are not distorted, of course.)

CED72216 B-24 Common Markings (DOUBLE SHEET SET!)

Finally, since I’d never before produced a 1/72 “B-24 Standard Markings” decal set , this new double-sheet set includes both TIDAL WAVE and later war insignia variations, making this decal set applicable to literally all B-24s that flew during the war.

Ninth Air Force B-24Ds (98th & 376 Bomb Groups) in North Africa wore different “standard” national markings than B-24Ds in the other combat theaters. First, some unknown environmental factor turned all the “white” US stars a slightly yellowish color—this is visible in literally all color photos of 9th aircraft. Interestingly, when the white side bars were first applied just days before the Ploesti attack, they were clearly a “whiter white” with no yellowing present. While the exact reason is unknown, it may be that different shades of white were used for the factory-applied star and the field-applied bars!

Furthermore, all 9th AF ships carried RAF fin flashes, as did many of the 8th AF B-24Ds from the 44th, 93rd, and 389th BGs that participated in the TIDAL WAVE attack. They were usually painted (yes, hand-painted!) on both sides of each fin, but in a few cases only on the outside of each fin.

Further furthermore, it is unclear whether 9th used RAF Identification Red (the “brick red” color we all know) or USAAF Insignia Red 45 (or ANA 509), a much brighter red as applied to the aircraft. Therefore my decal set below provides both options for many different size flashes.

8th Air Force standard markings were unique in a different way, in that the white stars (and later the white bars) were overpainted with gray paint, quite often Neutral Gray. My decal set provides both options.

The national insignia options are fairly mind-boggling:

• 8th AF 45” Simple Wing Cocarde with Neutral Gray star
• 8th AF 65” Simple Fuselage Cocarde with Neutral Gray star
• 8th AF 45” Wing Star and bar in Neutral Gray and red outline
• 8th AF 65” Fuselage Star and bar in Neutral Gray and red outline
• 8th AF 45” Wing Star and bar in Neutral Gray and blue outline
• 8th AF 65” Fuselage Star and bar in Neutral Gray and blue outline
• 9th AF 45” Simple Wing Cocarde with yellowed star and 4” yellow outline
• 9th AF 45” Simple Wing Cocarde with yellowed star and 6” yellow outline
• 9th AF 65” Simple Fuselage Cocarde with yellowed star and 4” yellow outline
• 9th AF 65” Simple Fuselage Cocarde with yellowed star and 6” yellow outline
• 9th AF 65” Simple Fuselage Cocarde with yellowed star and 8” yellow outline
• 9th AF 45” Wing yellowed star with white bars and RAF Identification Red outline
• 9th AF 65” Fuselage yellowed star with white bars and RAF Identification Red outline
• All other AF’s 45” Simple Wing Cocarde with white star
• All other AF’s 65” Simple Fuselage Cocarde with white star
• All other AF’s 45” Wing star with white bars and USAAF Insignia Red outline
• All other AF’s 65” Fuselage star with white bars and USAAF Insignia Red outline
• All other AF’s 45” Wing Star with white star and bar and blue outline
• All other AF’s 65” Fuselage with white star and bar and blue outline
• “U.S. ARMY” in Insignia Blue as seen under the wings of some early B-24D-CO aircraft in North Africa. Alaska, and Stateside. This marking could have been 18” or 24” high, so check your reference photos.
• B-24 red fire extinguisher doors with single-line stencil
• B-24 red fire extinguisher doors with two-line stencil
• Multiple sizes of RAF fin flashes with RAF Identification Red bar (“brick red”)
• Multiple sizes of RAF fin flashes with USAAF Insignia Red bar (a brighter red)

But wait—there’s more!

• Included are separate white side bars for those 9th AF B-24Ds that had the original simple cocarde insignia with yellowed star and yellow outline added a few days prior to the Ploesti attack—but not yet outlined with the required red outline. Oh, and sometimes the white bars were not applied parallel to each other, with one side clearly at a different angle than the other!
• The same white bars for wing and fuselage stars with no outline as seen on Libs in other in AFs (except 8th AF) with the simple cocarde with white star

And yet MORE:

• Several 9th AF B-24Ds on the TIDAL WAVE mission had their original simple cocarde insignia with the yellowed star and wide yellow outline overpainted with new insignia with the red outline such that part of the yellow outline was still visible above and below the blue cocarde! This insignia can be made by combining the above decals as required.

ANY of these options can be modeled using this decal set!

PYN-up Decals and Cutting Edge Decals are available exclusively from www.FineArtOfDecals.com.

Also note that several 1/48 TIDAL WAVE B-24D decal sets covering many of these same subjects are already available at http://fineartofdecals.com/goodies/first-1-48-tidal-wave-pyn-up-setsshipping-now/. They include two nose art decal sets plus several B-24 standard markings decal sets. The 1/48 scale sets are shipping now.