White Dog Decals

#721001 & #721002 1/72 B-24s of the 494^th & 380^th Bomb Groups
$6.95 Each

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

(Click on decals for a larger image)

The Minicraft B-24 is easily the best 1/72 B-24 out there. After looking at these two decal sheets, my only complaint is that a 1/72 B-24 tends to take up a fair amount of space. And between these two sheets you can do a total of four B-24s, all with interesting markings, including three from the same Bomb Group.

The first sheet, 721001, has two B-24s: one from the 494^th BG and one from the 380^th BG. The 494^th BG B-24 is "Playmate", a B-24J-180-CO from the 867^th BS. With a nickname of "Playmate" you can hazard a guess as to what the nose art looks like, and you probably aren't too far off. A reclining nude figure in a typical Vargas-style painting adorns the nose, with the word "Playmate in red behind her. The tail is quartered with the top rear and bottom front quarters being black. A total of 31 mission markings are on the nose.

The second choice off of this sheet is for a B-24M-20-CO, "Queen of the Strip", from the 529^th BS, 380^th BG. This one is quite a bit tamer than most B-24s with nose art. The Queen of the Strip is fully clothed, although her skirt is flying up a bit. There is also another badge on the opposite side of the nose that is provided as well. All the nose art for both planes is provided in the Photoflex format, giving a very realistic rendition of the original. In addition to the nose art, this B-24 also has two different styles of lion's heads to choose from for the tail.

The second sheet, 721001, has two B-24s from the 380^th BG. The first one is "Flak Fled Flapper", a B-24J-160-CO from the 528^th BS. This one has the 528^th BS unit badge on the left side of the nose and a skimpily clad female sitting on the right side, with the title "Flak Fled Flapper" on either side of her. Two styles of the lion's head are provided, as in the first sheet. A total of 56 mission marks are on the nose of this B-24.

The last choice is "Net Result", a B-24M-5-CO from the 528^th BS. Again, the unit badge is on the left side and the nose art is on the right, this one being a female tennis player tangled up in a torn net, with her clothing barely covering her. Again, two styles of lion's heads are provided for the tail, and there are 45 mission marks on the nose.

Both sheets include enough general markings to allow you to do both options without having to raid your decal spares box. The research on the instructions is very well presented and there are instructions as to the best way to make the proper variants from the Minicraft kits. All in all these are excellent decal sheets and if you're looking for some interesting B-24s to do, look no further.