Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Meteor Productions

FirstLook

PYN-up Decals from Meteor Productions are very high quality printed decals that feature excellent and finely detailed reproductions of the nose art worn by WWII and Korean War aircraft. Normally, there are two individual sheets in each release. The decals on the main sheet are printed using the silk-screen process and a second smaller sheet that holds the nose art decals printed using a laser printer to ensure that capture the detail of the original one-to-one-scale examples they replicate.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

48029 is the first sheet in two-part coverage of the North American B-25 Mitchell. Markings are provided for two machines. The individual aircraft and there markings are:

B-25H-1-NA 43-4211 'Erotic Edna'

The personal transport aircraft of Brigadier Orde Wingate, as flown by Lieutenant Ralph Lanning of the 1st Air Commando Group that was based in Burma during WWII.

The machine wears a standard olive drab over neutral grey camouflage scheme with five white band Group markings around her fuselage. Edna's supplied markings include:

• Small yellow bordered black '8' plane-in-squadron-number. This marking is supplied as a two-part decal and you place the smaller black '8' over a larger yellow '8' to achieve the yellow border

• Yellow serial,

• Black data block,

• The white Group marking bands for her fuselage. These are supplied in two as left hand and right hand side ones,

• The name 'Erotic Edna' in yellow.

• Two-part nose art, a white background decal of Edna on which the laser-printed deal is placed. The white background is printed using the silk screen method whilst Edna herself is achieved the laser-printed way and is placed on the white background.

B-25J-11-NC 43-36012 'Lazy Daisy Mae'

of the 345th's Bomb Group's 501st Bomb Squadron. A Pacific Theatre based aircraft; the machine was flown by Captain James Underwood. It is in the same olive drab over neutral grey camouflage as the previous option. She wears the famous Type I 'Air Apaches' Group insignia on her vertical stabilisers, squadron markings consisting of orange cowling rings and white bands chord-wise around her wings – the white wing bands are not mentioned on the placement guide but are clearly visible in a photograph of the aircraft on page 228 of the Lawrence Hickey book Warpath Across the Pacific. The supplied markings are:

• Indian head Group markings. The printing on these is fantastic.

• Yellow 012 serial. The serial differs from that shown in the same photograph being more 'stencil style' than the original. (If you really want to model this option and are worried about the serial a correct one can be found on the Superscale sheet 48-489).

• Black data block,

• The three-part nose art. As with the previous option, the main parts are printed using the silk screen method whilst the pin up part is achieved with a laser-printed decal. The detail on this marking is true to the original when compared to the photograph of the original artwork that the placement guide carries.

• The main sheet carries a set of blue bordered 'star and bar' national insignia, and a single set of propeller logos which means you can make one option or the other but not both. As the laser printed decals are fragile, two of each design is included in case of accidents in application!

• The placement guide is A-4 in size and shows left hand side profiles of each option on the front and a plan view of the upper surface of the left wing on the back. Photographs of both options are also included on the placement guide. A smaller sheet is also included in the package. This sheet carries detailed notes on the care and application of the laser-printed decals as well as the silk-screen ones. It also carries a model paint match to the camouflage colours worn by the machines.

The decals are first rate indeed. They are thin, in perfect register and have a minimum of carrier film. If I were to hazard a guess at the printer, I would say Microscale.

The decals and the placement guide comes packed in a clear plastic zip-lock bag. The laser-printed decals get their own bag for double protection.

Nice stuff from PYN-up Decals!

Recommended.
 

Review Text and Images Copyright 2005 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 12 December, 2005
Last updated 12 December, 2005

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page