 |
1/48 P-51 Mustang Pt. 1
Decal sheet product # 48-015
Review by Steve Bamford on June 8 2005
--------------------
|
||
|
1/48 P-51 Mustang Pt. 1 |
||
Decal sheet product # 48-015 |
||
|
Review by Steve Bamford on June 8 2005 |
||
|
-------------------- |
| Lifelike Decals is a Decal company out of Japan. The owners have been involved in the researching of decal sheets for other companies for many years. | ||
| This latest decal sheet features
four different P-51's. This is Part 1of a series dealing with the
P-51 in colourful American markings from WW2. This decal sheet provides a
good variety paint schemes for this well known aircraft. The first plane is a P-51D-15-NA flown by Capt. John Voll of 308FS/31FG at San Severo AB in Italy in late November 1944. This aircraft is one of the best known P-51D's and is finished in NMF overall with an olive drab anti glare panel. This plane has diagonal stripes on the tail and rudder and upper and lower tail horizontal flying surfaces. It also has a red prop spinner with a red ring around the front of the engine cowling and red wing tips. The top and bottom of the wings and tail horizontal flying surfaces have yellow stripes. On the side of the nose is the red script "American Beauty" with a pink rose between the two words. This Mustang is loaded with 21 kill markings....4 of which were from Nov 16 when he fought one of these air abttles against 12 Luftwaffe fighters. |
|
|
The second plane is a P-51D-15-NA flown by Capt. Raymond Wetmore of 370FS/359FG at East Wretham AB in England in February 1945. This aircraft "Daddy's Girl" is Capt. Wetmore's last mount is a well known mustang and is finished in NMF overall with an olive drab anti glare panel. This plane has a blue rudder and a green prop spinner and lower nose The top and bottom of the wings and tail horizontal flying surfaces have black stripes. On the side of the green nose is the white script "Daddy's Girl". This Mustang is loaded with 21 kill markings....4 of which were from Nov 16 when he fought one of these air battles against 12 Luftwaffe fighters. |
|
||||||
|
The third plane is a P-51D-10-NA flown by Capt.
Ted Lines of 335FS/4FG at Debden, England in November 1944. This
little known aircraft has unique kill markings which go with the North
American Navaho Indian Thunderbird theme. This plane bare metal
overall with a red spinner and red band around the front of the engine
cowling. The top
and bottom of the wings and tail horizontal flying surfaces have black stripes.
This aircraft also has lower fuselage D-Day stripes. On the side of the nose is the
red artwork for the Navaho Indian Thunderbird (a sacred spirit animal). This Mustang
10 kill markings although unofficial numbers indicate Capt. Ted Lines had
13 kills to his credit.....10 of these were during a 5 month period.
The fourth plane is a P-51K-15-NT flown by Lt. Col. Bill Dunham, Deputy CO/346FG at Shima/Okinawa in August 1945. This very famous P-51D "Mrs Bonnie" is finished in NMF overall with with red, yellow, blue spinner and a red, yellow, blue and white tail. this is a colourful fighter. This plane has wide vertical stripes on the rear fuselage and top and bottom of the wings. On the side of the nose is the black script "Mrs Bonnie" with with red shadow below the script. This pilot had a total of 16 kills during WW2 and went on to serve with the USAF in Vietnam. This aircraft also scored kills against shipping. The quality of these decals is the usual high quality I expect from Lifelike 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. Some decals (such as the noseart decals) come in 2 layers to ensure good coverage. The instructions also include an extra page with 4 view line drawings showing stencil placement. |
|
|
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 Yet another very nice Mustang sheet with 4 very good options for your next Mustang. I would like to thank Lifelike Decals for providing me with this review sample. Steve |
|
Photos and text © by Steve Bamford |
