Lifelike Decals

1/48 Republic P-47 Thunderbolts Pt. 5 decal sheet

Product # 48-014  

Product Article by Steve Bamford on June 1 2006

 

 

 

Lifelike Decals is a Decal company out of Japan.  The owners have been involved in  the researching of decal sheets for other companies for many years.  

This latest decal sheet features three different P-47's.  This is Part 5of  a series dealing with the P-47.  This decal sheet provides a good variety paint schemes for this famous American fighter from WW2.

The first plane is a P-47D-30 flown by Capt. Lowell Brueland with the 355th FS/354FG, Rosieres-en-Haye, France in December 1944.  The paint scheme is a bare metal finish with quite the selection of artwork.  The engine cowling is light blue with white diamond check pattern and a cartoon bomb and the text "Wee Speck".  The white diamonds are included as a decal to make installation simple.  This plane has 14 1/2 kills markings from the European theatre.  The anti glare panel in front on the windscreen is olive drab.  Code letters on the side of the fuselage are GQ U.     

The second plane is a P-47D-30-RE flown by Lt. Robert J. Klopotek with the 356th FS/354FG, Rosieres-en-Haye, France in December 1944.  The paint scheme is a bare metal finish with invasion stripes on the underside.  The engine cowling is black and white stripe with white stars on the black stripe.  The black stripe is included as a decal with the white stars....so this will be very easy.  The anti glare panel in front on the windscreen is olive drab.  Code letters on the side of the fuselage are AJ K.  Artwork on the nose is a cartoon plane with text above it that appears to say "TRE MAD POLE".            

Click on images below to see larger images

The third plane is a P-47D-28-RA flown by Lt. Chuck A. Olmsted with the 353rd FS/354FG, Rosieres-en-Haye, France in December 1944.  The paint scheme is a bare metal finish with a yellow engine cowling with a black stripe and black winged skull with cross bones artwork.  The is large yellow script on the side of the engine cowling that reads Polly.  

The anti glare panel in front on the windscreen is olive drab.  Code letters on the side of the fuselage are FT J.  There are invasion stripes on the lower part of the aircraft.  

The quality of these decals is the usual high quality I expect to see from Lifelike Decals.  The decals themselves are clearly printed and in perfect register with fine clear tiny stencils.  The colour of the decals appears solid enough to prevent paint showing through the decals.  Some decals (such as the kill markings decals) come in 2 layers to ensure perfect registration.  This decal set includes enough national markings and stencils for one aircraft.  The instructions also include and extra page with 4 view line drawings showing stencil placement. 

You can purchase these decals either directly from Lifelike Decals at fax number is +81-3-5680-6733, and e-mail is lifelike@eos.ocn.ne.jp. or from HobbyLink Japan.  

Other shops that stock Life like Decals are *Hannants/UK, *Mister Kit/Italy, *Revi (publisher)/Czech Republic, *SkyGrid/Canada, *Roll Models/USA, *Great Models Webstore/USA, *FlightDecs/Canada, *Victory Models/USA
*M & Models/USA, *
Zed Hobbies/Australia, *AB &S Enterprise/Australia, *Desert Miniature/USA 

Decal Sheet

It's a treat to see these 3 P-47 represented in decal form. 

I would like to thank Lifelike Decals for providing me with this review sample.

Steve  

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford