Category Archives: Scale Modeling

28 Airplanes!!!! ...  (Read more)

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. ...  (Read more)

My TIDAL WAVE B-24D decal sets are getting much closer to completion.  However, there are about 45 aircraft that I could include these decal sets, but that’s obviously too many!  I need your help deciding exactly which ships to include.

There’s some really cool nose art here.  But be aware, some of the “favorites” people have mentioned earlier are not included!  They are omitted for one of three reasons:

1. If no known photos exist of the airplane’s nose art.  The prime example is Addison Baker’s “Hell’s Wench.”  Yes, I know an IPMS-USA national convention from years ago included a couple of “possibilities” for this nose art, but there were (and are) no photos of this plane.  A couple of artists have done beautiful paintings of this ship, but they used the IPMS decals (which are fantasy) and cannot be taken as historically correct.  But wait, there’s more.  NONE of the vast number of contemporary official documents I’ve found even mention this nickname–not one.  I’ve verified this ship was delivered “brand-new” to North Africa less than two weeks prior to the mission, and certainly a name might have been painted on it before it left the States.  Or maybe not.  We just don’t know, and I’m not going to release this or any other decal marking based purely on speculation.
   
   
2. If the ship was a “turnback” that did not actually participate in the TIDAL WAVE attack on Ploesti.  This includes several well-known ships with great nose art: Picadilly Filly, Shoot Luke, Hellsadroppin II, Big Operator, Shanghai Lil, etc.
   
   
3. Except for five individual crews, the 376th Bomb Group did not actually attack Ploesti, they simply followed the orders of the mission commander and flew in a big circle around the city and salvoed their bombs on the way home.  The survey below includes the only five 376th ships that actually attacked Ploesti, plus the TIDAL WAVE command ship, Teggie Ann, which also did not attack Ploesti.  The 376th had some pretty cool nose art, but these decal sets are about TIDAL WAVE and if they didn’t attack they’re not really TW veterans.

Some of this artwork is what we call “line art” graphics and will be released in my Cutting Edge Decals line.  Some of it is what we call “shaded art” and will be released in my PYN-ups Decals line.

Previous buyers of my 1/48 B-24 and B-17 decal sets in both my Cutting Edge and PYN-ups Decals lines have seen that none of those sets include the national insignia (the 1/72 sets do include national insignia).

The reason they’re omitted from the 1/48 sets is straightforward: since there were many variations in the exact type of national insignia applied to various TIDAL WAVE ships, to include the proper variants on the decal sheet with the nose art would dramatically reduce the number of nose art subjects I can offer, and therefore drastically reduce the choices you’d have in marking your Liberator models.  By separating the national insignia from the nose art and other individual markings, you get a LOT more nose art subjects per set and can then choose which one of my national insignia markings sets is appropriate to the specific plane you’re modeling.

Take the survey below to tell me which ships you like best. It’s OK to skip any planes that definitely don’t interest you.

Sorry, this survey is now closed. Thanks for participating!

I’m thinking about producing a series of brand-new decal sets related to the research I’ve been doing on the TIDAL WAVE/Ploesti operation. Note–this is not a definite commitment on my part to actually do this, but I’m considering it and need your guidance.

These decal sets would produced to the same high standard as my other sets, likely in the PYN-ups Decals line with their photographic-quality nose art decals, and possibly a set or two the Cutting Edge line.

This is also a chance for you to let me know if there are other subjects (beyond TIDAL WAVE) you’d like me to create–just put your suggestions in the comments section.

 
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FOR SERIOUS SCALE MODEL BUILDERS ONLY:

If you’re a serious museum-quality scale modeler and are interested in some pretty cool TIDAL WAVE B-24D markings decals, I have a few of the following decal sets available. PYN-up Decals are universally acknowledged as the finest scale model aircraft decals ever produced, and feature photo-realistic nose art markings. These decal sets are intended for experienced modelers only, and are sure to make your model the centerpiece of admiration in any collection of models. ...  (Read more)