Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Part 8

Lifelike Decals, 1/48 scale

S u m m a r y :
Catalogue Number:	LifeLike Decals Item No. 48046 - Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Part 8
Scale:	1/48
Contents & Media:	Each set offers one full size and smaller sheet/s of waterslide decals; colour instructions.
Price:	Available on-line from these stockists:
	Stockist	Price
	Lifelike Decals	¥1,700
	Hannants	£11.99
Review Type:	First Look.
Advantages:	Clearly printed and in register; Detailed stencil data supplied; Excellent colour reference; Very high quality presentation.
Disadvantages:
Conclusions:	Highly Recommended.

Reviewed by Floyd S. Werner Jr.

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

The P-47 Thunderbolt is quite the canvas for unit artists and as such is a natural selection for model builders. 

This sheet contains marking for three aircraft.  The instructions are printed on two single sided A4 sized sheets and the stencils are on a half sheet.  They are all printed in full color with the history of each aircraft.  What I like is that Lifelike also includes the methods used in determining the markings.  Interestingly, Lifelike is not afraid to tell you, the modeler, what is known and what is an educated guess.  They are also not afraid to provide new decals if new information is obtained after the decals are released. 

The decals are printed by Cartograf and Microscale.  The largest of the sheets contains the aircraft markings and stencils.  The second sheet has all the US Stars and Bars.  The third sheet is the nose art sheet.  These are very nicely done and quite colorful.

The first aircraft is a D-30 flown by Major Matheson from Furth, Germany during the Spring 1945.  This aircraft had the outer two guns removed.  The striped spinner is definitely unique.  The cowling has two shades of yellow on the cowling.  The upper part of the tail has red/yellow/blue underlined in black. 

The second aircraft is a D-23 version flown by Cpt. Grant off of Leyte between Nov 1944 and Jan 1945.  One of Kirby’s crew, this aircraft has the typical red/white and blue rudder with a light blue stripe in front of that.  The aircraft also has a horizontal stripe from the front to the fuselage US marking.  The forward cowling is a hold over from his older earlier OD/NG with the ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Racine Belle’ on the cowlings.  This aircraft looks more like a race plane than a war plane.

The last aircraft is from the famous 4th FG and flown by Cpt. Anderson in 1944.  The aircraft has ‘Hell’s Belle’ on the cowling.  This is one of the times where Lifelike has had to make an educated guess.  They are not one to shy away from controversy.  The rest of the aircraft is typical OD/NG paint scheme. 

Lifelike continues to provide the best researched decals in the world.  They are printed by the two best decal companies in the world.   They provide some really impressive markings so all that you need to do is buy more Thunderbolts.  These are impressive decals just like the rest of the line from Lifelike and the best way to improve your model. 

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Lifelike Decals for these samples.

Text and Images Copyright © 2016 by Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Page Created 24 October, 2016
Last updated 24 October, 2016

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