Lifelike Decals

1/72 Spitfire Mk.XVIe Part 2 decal sheet 

Decal sheet product # 72-007 for MSRP- $14.50

Product Article by Floyd S. Werner, Jr. on Aug 11 2011

 

The British Spitfire is one of the prettiest aircraft ever designed.  Yeah I said it.  My issue is that the color schemes tend to be on the boring side.  Lifelike Decals’s latest re-release proves me wrong yet again.  

The decals are designed for the Heller Mk. XVI and provides markings for four aircraft.  Three aircraft sport the Dark Green/ Ocean Grey/ Medium Sea Grey camouflage.  The other one is an overall natural metal finished Spitfire.  The decals are beautifully printed with good register and color saturation.  They are provided on two sheets.  The bigger one contains the squadron codes, national insignia, and personal markings.  The smaller one has all the black stencils for one complete aircraft. 

Click on images below to see larger images

  

The first aircraft belongs to Sqdn. Ldr. Kacsmarek from the famous 302 Polish Squadron.  The aircraft sports the Polish emblem next to some nose art.  The cockpit side has more art work.  It is quite a unique look for the standard scheme. 

Aircraft two belongs to New Zealander W.O. Lind.  The four part spinner and the cockpit artwork makes this aircraft somewhat less than standard. 

Aircraft three of the Royal Auxillary AF is the most colorful of the ‘typical’ camouflaged aircraft.  It was used in the Cooper Air Races in 1949.  The red spinner, yellow tail band with a black 6 on it, along with the serial number under the wings makes this aircraft quite interesting.  The upper wing also sports a black 6 for the air race. 

The last aircraft is a natural metal finish aircraft from a gunnery school.  Just the uniqueness of a Spitfire in NMF makes this aircraft interesting.  The aircraft is not a silver painted machine according to the research.  That should make life interesting.  The spinner and gun covers are painted in red for a splash of color. 

The instructions are on two 8 x 10 sheets.  One has the left side profiles and the stencil diagram.  The other sheet contains the research notes, as well as, the upper and lower plan views.  It also has the right side profiles where they are other than standard. 

Colorful aircraft, great decals and excellent research, everything you could want in a decal sheet.  These sheets are typical of Lifelike quality.  This is a limited re-release so get it while you can before it goes out of print again. 

Highly recommended 

Thanks to Lifelike for the review copies.  You can obtain your copy by visiting their website at http://www16.ocn.ne.jp/~lifelike/ .  Make sure you tell them where you heard about it.  Buy with confidence.

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 

Floyd S. Werner, Jr.

Photos and text © by Floyd S. Werner, Jr.