PV-1 Ventura
Sirens of the Sea

Bombshell Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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This Bombshell Decals release provides seven alternative marking schemes for Revell’s well-regarded 1/48 PV-1 Ventura kit that was first released back in 2011.  The chosen aircraft all appear to have been US Navy-operated and – with one exception – camouflaged in the mid-war tricolour scheme of Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue and Insignia White. 

As you’d expect from Bombshell decals, most of them also wore interesting art somewhere on their fuselage.  Unfortunately the instructions don’t mention the units to which the aircraft belonged – if anyone has this information, I’d be interested to know.  Other details are as follows:

• ‘Blonde Blitz’/5.  I found some good black and white footage of ‘Blonde Blitz’ on Youtube that includes a clear shot of the large nude artwork on the mid-starboard fuselage. A comparison between this shot and the equivalent decal shows Bombshell has done its homework well, although the decal nude is perhaps slightly more finely rendered than the original!

• ‘Scooters Dream’/3 features on the same film, with the nude artwork – this time on the rear port fuselage – once again accurately captured.

• 840.  The artwork on this Ventura was a comparatively subtle motif on the port nose consisting of five hearts – four white and one red with a question mark in the centre – pierced by a white arrow.  There was also a mission tally of 17 white bombs on the port fuselage beneath the canopy.

• ‘Shoot Your Faded’/741.  Both the aircraft name and an angry looking Bugs Bunny head were on the port nose, with a tally of 16 mission markings just above and behind them.

• ‘Miss-us Flak’/486 carried artwork of a surprised looking and scantily clad blonde woman on its port nose.

• The titular ‘Coral Princess’ of this aircraft was a dramatically stretching nude on the port nose.  Rather than the tricolour scheme, ‘Coral Princess’ appears to have been camouflaged in overall Blue Gray.

• 22.  For modellers not interested in glamorous nose art, this machine carried no markings other than national insignia and the identification number on its nose.

The decals are on a single sheet that has been printed by Cartograf.  Printing is flawless, with the four female nose-art figures rendered in almost photographic quality. Enough national markings and stencils (including Hamilton-Standard logos for the propellers) are provided for at least two aircraft.

The instructions are frustrating in that the information that is provided – a full-colour port or starboard profile of each aircraft with paint colours and decal locations clearly marked – is very useful.  There is also a drawing of a propeller showing where stencils should be placed on the blades. 

However, as I mentioned earlier, no information about the subject aircraft is supplied, and there are also no overhead or undersurface views showing the location of national insignia on the wings.

This is another very good product from Bombshell Decals.  Limitations of the instructions notwithstanding, there is a lot to like about the quality of the decals and variety of aircraft represented.  This set is definitely worth considering if you are thinking about building Revell’s quarter scale Ventura.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Bombshell Decals for this sample.

Text and Images Copyright © 2016 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 26 April, 2016
Last updated 26 April, 2016

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