SHIPPING NOW!
The eagerly anticipated final three new 1/48 TIDAL WAVE/Ploesti B-24D nose art decal sets covering 16 more aircraft subjects with extremely cool nose art are shipping now! As always with PYN-up Decals, only 300 of each set will be printed.
The three new sets are:
PYND48047 TIDAL WAVE B-24D Ploesti Heroes #4
(Hail Columbia, The Witch, Black Jack (98th BG), The Sandman, Sneezy, and José Carioca)
PYND48048 TIDAL WAVE B-24D Ploesti Heroes #5
(Brewery Wagon, Daisy Mae, Chug-A-Lug, Jersey Jackass/Bashful, and Per-Diem The Second)
PYND48049 TIDAL WAVE B-24D Ploesti Heroes #6
(Snow White, The Vulgar Virgin, Bomerang, G.I. Ginnie, and Buzzin’ Bear/Miss Delores)
These participants in the famous 1 August 1943 low level bombing attack (Operation TIDAL WAVE) on the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, are produced to the usual PYN-up Decals world-beating standard of research and artwork accuracy. The artwork is based on several hundred hours (seriously) of close study of hundreds of photos, crewmember diaries, excellent-quality 35mm motion picture film, etc.
Just a few examples of the depth of research that’s’ gone into these decal sets include the fact that the tiny aircraft data blocks are accurate (not generic!) for that particular ship; instances where the exact color of a marking is not verified, I give you both possibilities (e.g., the yellow and white “P-bar” tail marking for Buzzin’ Bear/Miss Delores; the red and black options for The Vulgar Virgin name on her right side nose, and many more), etc., etc. This is in addition to nose art decals that capture every element of the original artwork.
Our research even breaks new ground: photographic confirmation that Bill Cameron’s Buzzin’ Bear was also named Miss Delores at the time of TIDAL WAVE. (Miss Delores has been misidentified for decades as a different ship and serial number/Radio Call Number.) Also, I have photographic evidence Daisy Mae had small nose art on the left side nose, which has never before been revealed.
Each decal set comes with a 20+ page instruction booklet that covers not only the markings placement, but also details of the actual camouflage and airframe modifications, along with other important hard-to-find details for every single ship.
This brings to 30 the total number of TIDAL WAVE Liberators available in the PYN-up Decals line, all released in both 1/72 and 1/48 scales. Here’s the big list:
The PYN-up Decals TIDAL WAVE sets cover the fancy nose art and specialized markings for the ships included in each set, but not the national insignia. Due to the plethora of national markings types and configurations used in the North African desert, I’ve released separate national insignia decal sets that cover all the relevant variations.
CED48286 9th Air Force B-24D Early “Standard” Insignia
This 1/48 DOUBLE SHEET set applies to the 9th Air Force and most of the 8th Air Force Libs that participated in the TIDAL WAVE mission. Note it even includes the slightly “yellowed” white star that was a universal hallmark of USAAF aircraft permanently stationed in the desert! (Note the nose art decal sets’ artwork shows which national insignia are appropriate for each TIDAL WAVE ship.)
CED48271 National Insignia Early
This 1/48 set covers nearly all B-24 national insignia variations from all theaters except North Africa* up through the time the blue outline replaced the red outline. It is relevant to some of the 8th Air Force Libs that participated in TIDAL WAVE. (Note the nose art decal sets’ artwork shows which national insignia are appropriate for each TIDAL WAVE ship.)
* This set applies to most North Africa-based B-24Ds prior to May 1943. From May 1943 the markings changed to those available in my set CED48286 9th Air Force B-24D Early “Standard” Insignia.
As you can see, if I’d included the national markings for each aircraft along with the nose art and other specialized markings, you’d get only one or two aircraft per decal set, rather than the 5-8 nose art subjects in these sets…and I sure has hell wouldn’t have been able to produce complete markings for THIRTY ships!
Although not the subject of this news alert, all 30 TIDAL WAVE B-24D ships and national markings are already available in 1/72.
All these decal sets, PLUS dozens more PYN-up Decals sets, PLUS hundreds of Cutting Edge and Yellowhammer Decals covering more than a thousand individual aircraft subjects are available exclusively at www.FineArtOfDecals.com.
I have a LOT more B-24 and PB4Y-2 markings on this website. Just type “B-24” or “PB4Y” into the search box in the upper right corner of any page. (Of course, you can search for any aircraft type you wish by using the same search box…).
Good luck and good modeling!
Dave