Saturday, August 28, 2010

New P-40 Decals now up on the Website.


A photo of AK772 GA-Y, clearly showing the very dark blue undersurfaces. This undersurface color is even darker than the Dark Earth uppersurface color. Azure blue is many shades lighter than dark Earth.

Hi Guys,

Its been a really busy time for Barracuda Studios. More on this later.

The good news is that the 6 new P-40 decals are now ready for purchase on the BarracudaCals website.

www.barracudacals.com

The new decals represent all 3 popular scales. 1/72 scale modelers take note; I have not forsaken you, despite the fact that sales of 1/72 decals are a fraction of what 48th and 32nd decals are. If you guys want to keep the decals coming, you have to actually BUY some once in a while!!! I'm teasing... but not really. :-)

Here's what's new and available:

1/72nd scale (with 1/144th scale markings included)

BC72005 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1
BC72006 P-40E Warhawks Part 1

1/48th scale

BC48005 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1
BC48006 P-40E Warhawks Part 1
BC48007 P-40K Warhawks Part 1

1/32nd scale

BC48007 P-40K Warhawks Part 1

A few interesting facts about these new sheets. The 1/32 P-40K sheet is the ONLY aftermarket decals available for the Hasegawa kit! The P-40K white 13 flown by Jay Overcash has been done before, but the markings were not very accurate and incomplete.The other Ks on this sheet have never been done before in any scale (maybe Patsy Ruth, but I'm not sure about that) making this a must have sheet for P-40 aficionados.

The P-40s of 112 squadron sheet has been shrunk down to 72nd and 48th scale with 2 new schemes added from the very early days of 112 Squadron in North Africa, before they were repainted into desert colors. Most of the schemes on this sheet have never been done before in decal form.

The P-40E sheet features 3 extremely well known pilots, including Scott's Old Exterminator, with accurately reproduced markings for the first time. Lander's P-40 is included, and while not as colorful as his P-51 Big Beautiful Doll, is nonetheless interesting. The Aleutian Tiger is a new scheme, with colorful red surrounded star and bar national marking.

Just a heads up for those of you who have been waiting for these sheets to be released!

Happy modelling. Roy

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Down to the Wire... 2 More Sheets for Phoenix!

The first and only aftermarket sheet ever made (so far) for the beautiful Hasegawa 1/32nd P-40K . Three interesting and different schemes are featured.

Hi Guys,

No time to be long winded today. I am racing to get out the door. I am already late for leaving. The drive to Phoenix is about 12 hours from here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I won't be arriving until around midnight tonight. Then its up early to get set up for the onslaught of customers in the vendor room! Looking forward to it. If you are going to be there, be prepared. I may look like death warmed over, as I have been surviving on about 4-5 hours of sleep for then last week or so.

Anyway, above is the new 1/32 P-40K sheet. White 13 is an interesting aircraft. While it has been done in decal form before in 1/48th scale, it has never been done even close to correctly. The Scorpion on the nose was not correct, and the markings on the rudder were missing altogether.

The 1/48 sheet has an additional scheme never done in decal form before.

OK, campers, thats it for me today. Sorry I couldn't go into more detail. The images will have to speak fro themselves for now. More information when I get back.

These sheets will go up on the website available for sale next week. I'll let you know when they are loaded!

Happy modelling!

Roy

Monday, August 2, 2010

New Decals to Debut This Thursday in Phoenix!

The cover of the new P-40E decal sheet in 1/48th scale. Col. Scott's "White 7" has never been done correctly before in 1/48th and 1/72 scales!

Tomahawks and Kittyhawks and Warhawks... Oh My!

Barracuda Studios is proud and excited to announce the first new decals since last year! The very popular P-40 sheets that were released in 1/32nd scale have been reworked, reformatted and released in both 1/72 and 1/48th scales.

The sheets have been expanded and feature additional subjects that there was not room to include on the 1/32nd scale sheets. The new sheets are as follows

BC48005 1/48 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1

This sheet has been expanded to include 2 new P-40B Tomahawks from the early days of 112 Squadron in North Africa. These 2 airplanes still carry the European camouflage with Medium Sea Grey codes, but sport the new sharkmouth motif that was first applied in Egypt. The other 3 schemes are carryovers from the 1/32nd sheet and feature the famous ace pilots Neville Duke and Clive R. Caldwell. GA-Y carries the very unusual and decidedly non-standard dark blue undersides.

BC48006 1/48 P-40E Warhawks Part 1

The Aleutian Tiger faced P-40 on this sheet is not the same one from the 1/32nd sheet. This one has never been done in decal form before, and is more colorful. It sports the red surrounded stars and bars as well as the white cross on the rudder and a nickname under the windscreen. Col. Bob Scott's Old Exterminator has never been done correctly in decal form, and Preddy's Tarheel, the aircraft he almost bought the farm in when a student pilot collided with him are also featured on the 1/32nd sheet, while John Lander's Skeeter is a new scheme.

BC72005 1/72 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1

Dispair not, oh builders of the one true scale! This sheet has been shrunk down to 1/72nd scale and expanded to include 2 new P-40B Tomahawks from the early days of 112 Squadron in North Africa. These 2 airplanes still carry the European camouflage with Medium Sea Grey codes, but sport the new sharkmouth motif that was first applied in Egypt. The other 3 schemes are carryovers from the 1/32nd sheet and feature the famous ace pilots Neville Duke and Clive R. Caldwell. GA-Y carries the very unusual and decidedly non-standard dark blue undersides.

BC72006 1/72 P-40E Warhawks Part 1

Here's another new sheet for the guys who can still see the really small stuff. The Aleutian Tiger faced P-40 on this sheet is not the same one from the 1/32nd sheet. This one has never been done in decal form before, and is more colorful. It sports the red surrounded stars and bars as well as the white cross on the rudder and a nickname under the windscreen. Col. Bob Scott's Old Exterminator has never been done correctly in decal form, and Preddy's Tarheel, the aircraft he almost bought the farm in when a student pilot collided with him are also featured on the 1/32nd sheet, while John Lander's Skeeter is a new scheme.
The cover of the new P-40s of 112 Squadron Sheet. Two new schemes have been added to the 1/48 and 1/72nd sheets, giving a better cross section of schemes worn by 112 Squadron in the early days of the North African Campaign.

These 4 sheets are printed and in-house. The instructions arrived today, and a mad dash of packaging will ensue. These 4 new sheets will be debuted at the IPMS/USA national Convention in Phoenix, AZ (110 degrees plus Fahrenheit!!) starting this Thursday morning, August 5th. If you are attending the show, please stop by and say hello!

I get home early next week, and after a few days to get caught up with shipping and packaging, these new sheets will be ready to start shipping.

Even MORE News!

Watch this space tomorrow for an announcement of two MORE new decal sheets. These are also printed and in the process of being packaged. They will also be available for sale at our tables on Thursday.

The 365th Fighter group book continues to progress. I flew out to Carson City, Nevada last Friday with Don Barnes, the man behind the book. We went to visit 378th FG pilot Allen Mundt. I interviewed him and we scanned his extensive personal photo albums. He is a great guy; very sharp and active. He pulled out his flight jacket (replete with Hell Hawks Squadron Badge), and his crush cap. I will post about this trip soon with images, but right now, I am in a huge rush to get ready to leave on Wednesday morning... early!

I have about 2 weeks of work to somehow smash into the next 36 hours. If anybody out there has made a breakthrough in time displacement between now and then, drop me a line. I'd like to figure a way to get a bit of sleep before I go!

Happy modelling! Roy