Lifelike Decals

1/48 Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa Part 1 decal sheet

Product # 48-041 for approx $16.75

Product Article by Floyd S. Werner, Jr. on Mar 19 2013

 

 

Lifelike Decals has always produced some of the best researched decals anywhere.  This new sheet is no different.  This time they cover the Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar) in a variety of paint schemes. 

The instructions are on two single sided 8.5x11 sheets printed in full color.  One sheet has the side views and the upper and lower plan views.  The other sheet has a description of the paint schemes, history, and discussion how Lifelike came to their conclusions on the paint schemes.  That is the one thing that sets Lifelike apart from other decal manufacturers, they tell you how they came to the conclusions that they offer.  Right or wrong they let you know what they do and don’t know.  Some things that are speculative they let you know up front.  It is up to the modeler to believe it or come to their own conclusion. 

The decals themselves are on two sheets.  One is a pretty typical 6x9 sheet with the main colors.  The other sheet contains the white and silver parts of the markings.  The decals are designed for the Hasegawa or Arii kits.  They are printed in Japan.  The color saturation looks great.  They are suitably thin.   

 

Click on images below to see larger images

The aircraft are a Type I Oscar flown by Major Kinshiro Takeda, of the 1st Sentai. This colorful aircraft is camouflaged in dark green over NMF but that is just the beginning.  There are white stripes on the rudder, fuselage, wings and horizontal tail.  The rudder and elevators are painted yellow.  The combination of colors creates a unique looking airplane. 

The second Hayabusa is a type II of the 23rd Sentai from the home defense Sentai in 1945.  This aircraft is NMF with dark green splotches with yellow leading edge and white homeland defense bands around the national markings.  The red Sentai marking on the tail just add that much flare. 

The next Oscar is a type I flown by Major Tadashi Ishikawa as flown in Burma in January 1943.  This green aircraft has worn areas.  The rudder and elevators are white.  The flash of blue with the blue spinner is quite colorful.  This aircraft carries wing drop tanks. 

The next aircraft comes equipped with white kill markings against the dark green background.  The flash and fuselage stripe are white.  This aircraft is a type I flown by Sgt. Satoshi Anabuki in Burma in 1943.  Anabuki was an able ace who became a helicopter pilot in the JASDF after the war.  This alone makes this aircraft desireable to me. 

The final aircraft is a type II flown by M. Sgt. Akira Sugimoto in 1943.  This NMF aircraft sports dark green splotches with red and white fuselage stripes and red tail flash. 

The quality of research, beautiful decals, and colorful markings makes this sheet a nice addition to your Hayabusa model. 

Highly recommended 

Thanks to Lifelike Decals for the review copy.  You can obtain yours by contacting them directly at  http://www16.ocn.ne.jp/~lifelike/ .  Be sure to tell them that you heard about it here.

Floyd S. Werner, Jr. IPMS # 26266

      

Photos and text © by Floyd S. Werner, Jr.