Lifelike Decals

1/48 Ki-84 Hayate Pt. 1 decal sheet

Product # 48-013  

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Dec 7 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 five different Ki-84's.  This is Part 1of  a series dealing with the Ki-84.  This decal sheet provides a good variety paint schemes for this well known aircraft.

The first plane is a Ki-84 Hayate flown by 2nd Lt. Toshizo Kurai with the 1st Operational Flying Training Unit out of Sagami AB in Dec 1944.  This aircraft has 3 kill markings on the nose and 23 white bands around the rear fuselage.  There are red and white stripes on the tail.  The prop spinner is red.  The paint scheme is light grey on the underside and dark green on the side of the fuselage.  The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen is flat black.

The second plane is a Ki-84 Hayate flown by 2nd Lt. Moritsugu Kanai of the 1st Chutai, 25th Sentai, Kyongsong/Korea in the summer of 1945.  The markings are clean and include a white stripe on the tail and a white 05 on the tail.  The aircraft is overall black on the topside and natural metal on the underside.  The prop spinner is Yellow/Green #7.  2nd Lt. Moritsugu Kanai was an ace with 26 aerial victories.  Further information about this pilots life are included in the instruction sheets.

Click on images below to see larger images

The third plane is a Ki-84 Hayate flown by an unknown pilot with the 104th Sentai, Xinjin/ China in late August 1945.  The paint scheme is greenish grey on the underside and yellow green #7 on the topside.  The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen is flat black.  There are red and white markings and a white chevron type band on the rear fuselage and red and white markings on the tail.  The prop spinner is yellow green #7.  The paint on this aircraft was heavily weathered.  

The fourth plane is a Ki-84 Hayate flown by 2nd Lt. Col. Hiroshi Yoshioka, Commander of the 21st Hikoudan (Air Brigade) sometime in May to December 1944, Japan to Formosa.  Lt. Col. Hiroshi Yoshioka was killed on a sortie on against US forces in Mindoro Island on Dec 17 1944.  The paint scheme is natural metal finish on the underside and dark green on the topside.  The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen is flat black.  There are red and white "Z" type markings on the tail.  The prop spinner is yellow green #7.    

The fifth plane is a Ki-84 Hayate with the 102nd Sentai around May 1945 at Miyakonojo AB.  The paint scheme is either Natural Metal, greenish grey or Navy J3 grey and blue on the topside.  The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen is flat black.  There are red Sentai emblem on the tail.  The prop spinner is red with a yellow green #7 stripe.   

The quality of these decals is quite pleasing and of a high quality.  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.  

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
*M & Models/USA, *
Zed Hobbies/Australia, *AB &S Enterprise/Australia, *Desert Miniature/USA 

Decal Sheet

A very nice decal sheet and sure to be of interest if you're planning on building the KI-84 in the future. 

I would like to thank Lifelike Decals for providing me with this review sample.

Steve  

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford