Print Scale 1/48 “Die Markierung der Flugbomben, Luftwaffe 1930-1940” Decals By Mike Whye

Well, blow me down. I never knew some German Luftwaffe bombs in WWII were painted sky blue, field gray, sandy gray, blue-green and aluminum. Over the years I’ve seen the instructions of Luftwaffe aircraft kits state the bombs in those kits were black or dark green (RLM 71) or dark gray (RLM 66). I never knew about the other colors until I saw a set of waterslide decals for Luftwaffe bombs by Print Scale, of the Ukraine.

Print Scale’s CatNo 48-014, which has the title of “Die Markierung der Flugbomben, Luftwaffe 1930-1940,” (which basically means the markings of aerial bombs) has markings for concrete bombs, bombs for water targets, high explosive bombs, fragmentation bombs, big bombs and little bombs--at least nine types including some subtypes. If you want to add more detail to a model that has bombs which are easily visible, these are the decals you’ll want.

The markings include red and yellow stripes to use on the tail cones of the bombs and black stencils of numerous types to use on the casings. Some of the decals allow you to mark up four bombs of a particular type, five bombs of another type and six bombs of still another type. From what I see, you should have enough to detail a set of bombs for many of your Luftwaffe models.

The instructions are marvelous, fantastically clear. I wish other decal--and some model manufacturers as well--were as clear with their instructions as Print Scale. Not only do you get four-color drawings of the bombs on the four-page set of instructions, you also get detailed line diagrams, three color photographs and three black and white photos. If you want to detail a set of SC 250 Type JA bombs, painted sky blue, for one model and SC Type SC 250 Type JB, painted aluminum overall, for another model, with these decals, you’ll be able to do it.

A few years ago, someone, I believe Monogram’s Pro Modeler, came out with a set of decals for American bombs and HVAR rockets and that was quite a welcome relief from painting yellow stripes around the noses and casings of various bombs. This set of decals by Print Scale allows modelers to now achieve parity of detail with the German bombs slung under their Luftwaffe models.

I should mention that Print Scale also makes decals for the markings of 1/48 scale U.S. bombs used in WWII and Korea and a sheet for 1/72 scale U.S. bombs. These links to Print Scale’s website will show you those decal sheets but few of the words are in English.

Thanks to Print Scale for the review sample.