1/48
& 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe decal sheet Pt. 1product #
48-006 # 72-006Review by Steve Bamford on
Nov 18 2003--------------------
Click here for Japanese translation of instruction sheets
| Lifelike Decals is a new Decal company out of Japan. The owners have been involved in | ||
| the researching of decal sheets for other companies for many
years. They have decided to create their own decal line. Their
sixth sheet is this one featuring four different Supermarine Spitfire
Mk.XVI's.
The Spitfire is one of the most notable fighters to leave it's mark on the history books during WW2. The Spitfire evolved throughout the war years and after, with the last versions of the Spitfire being quite different from the original Mk.1's that were used to defend the British Isles during the dark days of the summer of 1940. This decal sheet provides a good variety of paint schemes and markings as you can see in the instruction sheets below. Each plane is a post war Spitfire. |
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| There is also a
page
of text describing the various colours and markings and
references on these planes.
The first plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVIe SL 721 flown by Air Marshall Sir James Robb from probably Bovington AB in the UK in 1946. This aircraft has a 3 star pennant on the side below the cockpit. This plane is overall powder blue paint scheme. One thing to note is the code letters aren't lined up straight and the gun bay has been converted into a luggage compartment. |
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The second plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVIe TB900 flown by Squadron Leader Raymond A.F. Lallemant of RAF No. 349 Squadron (Belgium AF) out of Fassburg/Germany in 1946. This aircraft includes noseart of a Rooster head with the text "Winston Churchill" along with a bunch of kill markings from ground attack and air battles. This plane is painted in RAF Dark Green/Ocean Grey/Medium Sea Grey with Sky Code. The prop spinner is white. The Third plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVIe TD231 of No. 350 Squadron of the Belgium AF out of Fassburg/Germany in 1946. This plane is painted in RAF Dark Green/Ocean Grey/Medium Sea Grey with Sky Code. The prop spinner is red. The fourth plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVIe TE199 flown by Air Officer Commander of RAF No.21 Group out of Swinderby AB in September 1948. This aircraft is overall gloss black with gold spinner and wingtips. Roundels are pale in shade and compared to regular colours for the roundels. The quality of these decals is quite pleasing...they are printed by Mircoscale so that should give you a very accurate idea of their high quality. The carrier film in nicely limited around the 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. |
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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 |
I highly recommend these decals to anyone interested in building a late mark post war Spitfire.
I would like to thank Lifelike Decals for providing me with this review sample.
Steve
Photos and text © 2003 by Steve Bamford
