Thanks very much to Lifelike decals for providing IPMS USA these review sets. We appreciate your support and look forward to your future efforts!

I had heard of Lifelike decals, but normally don’t work in 1/72^nd scale. However, when these showed up, I had to throw my name in the hat… and am very pleased I did.

The first set, 72-029, covers four B-24’s with four different groups in the pacific region. All have very colorful tail markings, and the nose art is particularly striking. The fact I have not seen these before made them a better value.

Markings are included for the following:

• 20 CMS 6 PRG F-7A in natural metal with yellow tail and red/white/blue rudder, “American Beauty”.
• 320BS/90BG B-24L, natural metal, with red tail, white skull and crossbones bombs, with red/white/blue rudders, “Air Pocket”.
• 373BS/308BG, B-24J, natural metal with the red/white/blue rudder and dice in a ball, (with stunning nose art in either red or blue background).
• 23BS/5BG B-24L in natural metal incorporating a large blue shield with a red stripe on the fin.

The second sheet covers:

• European based 789BS/467BG B-24H, Olive Drab over neutral gray double Trouble”.
• 23BS/5BG, B-24D based out of Libya in desert “pink over gray”, “Lil Deicer”.
• 2PMS/311PW, F-7A, OD over neutral gray photo recon bird, “Over Exposed”.
• 532BS/380BG B-24M, Natural metal“Sky-Chi Baby”, based in the pacific.

The Libya bird got my attention.

The hard part, I soon discovered, was finding a Hasegawa B-24D. I finally used ‘Evil Bay’ and found a seller of a unit formation bird, which parted me from a substantial sum. It was worth it. I have built B-24s’ from other companies, and the Hasegawa bird has a lot better detail and fit.

The assembly was relatively simple; one or two seams around the nose to fill, and the usual assembly sequence, with nothing out of the ordinary. I was very happy with the kit. However, masking the windows was a royal pain, and it turned out later there was too much overspray to cope with. Denatured alcohol, mix up a bit of the upper surface color, and use a “0” sharp brush. This occurred AFTER I decaled the model and applied flat coat.

I know, real men airbrush. I did, but this time the small masks sucked.

I purchased and used SAC landing gear on the kit, as there is no way the nose gear will survive the amount of weight required to keep the nose down on this short-coupled model. I would have used Terry Dean’s nose weights as well, but time pressed. I went with bb’s and flattened lead.

Ready for paint! Black overall, mask the deicer boots, and then the basic colors. I used Vallejo, and mixed my own version of the desert colors. Neutral gray for the underside, gloss coat, then on to the decals.

The decals went on great. They are a combination of Cartograf for the nose art and details, and Microscale for the national insignia and basic airframe details. I did not realize at the time that a set of deicer boots is included on a separate decal sheet. Would have saved a lot of masking.

The colors were dense and correct, and the national insignia in particular was appropriately sized and scaled. A lot of big companies recently have been messing up the U.S. insignias; bars too short, dimensions wrong, color not right, etc., but not Lifelike!

I applied a flat coat and light white fade coat on the upperside to simulate desert sun fading. In the end after the decals had dried, I had a great B-24D. I am highly impressed with Lifelike decals. When are the 1/72 and (dare I say it, 1/48) B-29s going to start appearing? A lot of great nose art out there that has not been done, both for WWII and the Korean conflict.

A full 10 of 10 for these decals, and I highly recommend them! Thanks again to Lifelike for the review items!