Republic
P-47D Thunderbolt

Part 5

1/48 scale

Lifelike Decals

HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Someone at Lifelike Decals must have a soft spot for the P-47 as this is the fifth sheet they have produced for it! 

The sheet provides markings for three machines of the 354th Fighter Group when it was based at Rosieres-en-Haye, France in December of 1944.  The individual aircraft are: 

• "Wee Speck" a P-47D-30 44-20514, flown by Captain Lowell Brueland of the 355th Fighter Squadron.  The aircraft is in natural metal finish with a full length olive drab anti-glare panel, blue and white cowl and black theatre stripes to its tail feathers.

• The Mad Pole" a P-47D-30-RE flown by Lieutenant Robert J. Klopotek, 356th Fighter Squadron.  The aircraft is also in natural metal finish with an olive drab anti-glare panel, and sports a star spangled black band around its engine cowling with the black theatre stripe applied to its vertical stabiliser and rudder only.

• "Polly" a P-47D-28-RA flown by Lieutenant Chuck A. Olmstead of the 353rd Fighter Squadron.  As per the previous options, Polly is also in natural metal finish with the full length olive drab anti-glare panel and the black theatre stripe to her vertical stabiliser and rudder.  This time, the cowling is yellow.

As with the other sheets I have seen from Lifelike Decals, each option is fully documented and where there is any controversy or doubt as to what markings were worn on the one-to-one-scale machines, a full explanation as to why they chose to depict the marking is given. 

The placement guide itself is A-4 in size, and printed on very thin cardboard.  It provides left hand side profiles for each option and descriptions/history on the centre pages as well as appropriate upper and lower surface views on the back page.  A full list of references consulted is also provided. 

There are two sheets provided in this issue.  The larger one carries the vast majority of the markings whilst the smaller one carries a single set of national insignia and minor stencil data items.  Speaking of stencil data, there is plenty of it and it is all legible, and each option is also provided with its own correct data block. 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The decals themselves have been printed by Microscale.   They are thin, have an absolute minimum of film surrounding each subject and are in perfect register. 

The placement guide and two decal sheets come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag. 

Another excellent product from Lifelike Decals, and, as far as I know, the markings for these three aircraft have not been printed in decal form before. 

Recommended.

Thanks to Keishiro Nagao of Lifelike Decals for the review sample.

Lifelike Decals are available by email at lifelike@eos.ocn.ne.jp or from

2-8-7-202, Kameari, Katsushika, Tokyo 125-0061, Japan
fax: +81-3-5680-6733