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1/48
& 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe Pt. 2 decal sheetproduct #
48-007 # 72-007Review by Steve Bamford on
Dec 15 2003
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1/48 & 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe Pt. 2 decal sheetproduct # 48-007 # 72-007Review by Steve Bamford on Dec 15 2003 |
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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
seventh sheet features four different Supermarine Spitfire
Mk.XVI's. This is Part 2 of a series dealing with the 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. The Polish pilots are well known for there efforts in the RAF Squadrons. I'm pleased to see one of their planes included on this decal sheet as well as a Spitfire piloted by a New Zealander. This decal sheet provides a good variety artwork and markings as you can see in the instruction sheets below. Each plane is either a late war or 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 TD240 flown by Squadron Leader Boleslaw Kaczmarek of RAF No. 302 (Polish) Squadron, Varrelbusch/Germany, June-early August1945. This aircraft has a variety of artowrk including a Bulldog wearing boxing gloves. This plane is the standard RAF Dark Green/Ocean Gray/Medium Sea Gray paint scheme. There is also the female name "Janetka" on the left side engine cowl and well as the squadron badge. |
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The second plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVIe TB625 flown by W.O. Murray JC Lind of RAF No. 485 (NZ) Squadron, out of Fassburg/Germany in June-August 1945. 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 the NZ fern leaf emblem and his personal marking "Rongotea" below the windshield. The prop spinner is red and Sky striped. The Third plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVIe SL718 of R Aux AF, No. 612 Squadron in 1949 Cooper Air Race, Elmdon AB, July 1949, This plane is painted in RAF Dark Green/Ocean Grey/Medium Sea Grey. There is a unit badge below the exhaust pipes and the racing #6 on a fuselage band. The prop spinner is red. The fourth plane is a Spitfire LF Mk.XVI RW396, of central Gunnery School at Leconfield 1946-1947. This aircraft is overall natural metal. The prop spinner is red. 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 late war or 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
