Lifelike Decals

1/32 244 Sentai Part 2 decal sheet

Decal sheet product # 32-004 

Review by Steve Bamford on Jan 21 2008

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This latest release from Lifelike Decals decal sheet features four different Ki-61's with 244 Sentai.  This is Part 2 of  a series dealing with the 244 Sentai aircraft from February 1945 to October 1945. 

The first plane is a Ki-61 Hein I-Hei, #15 flown by Corporal Seiichi Suzuki from Chofu AB, on January 29, 1945.  Seiichi Suzuki achieved 1 confirmed kill, 4 shared kills, 1 damaged and 2 shared damaged between Dec 22 1944 and Jan 27 1945.  On Feb 16 1945 he was shot down and killed at the age of 20 over Ashikaga City on his 5th sortie of the day.  These pilots were under extreme stress by this point of the war.  This aircraft sports my favourite Ki-61 camo scheme with it's green camo squiggles over a white background with a red spinner.  This plane has victory markings.

The second plane is a Ki-61 Hein I-Tei, #5262 reserve aircraft of Commander Teruhiko Kobayashi from Chofu AB , in the middle of April 1945.  It is not known if Commander Teruhiko Kobayashi ever flew this aircraft due to a leg injury in mid April.  2nd Lt. Itakura did fly this aircraft.  This plane has many victory markings.  The camo scheme is white on the undersides and green on the top side with a  red spinner and red tail.

 

The third plane is a Ki-61 Hein Type I-Otsu, #16 flown by Capt. Teruhiko Kobayashi, Commander of the 244th from Chofu AB , on February 10 1945.  The camo scheme is overall white with a  red spinner and red tail and a red horizontal stripe along the side of the fuselage.

The fourth plane is a Ki-61 Hein Type I-Otsu, #16 flown by Corporal Matsumi Nakano from Chofu AB , in late February 1945.  Corporal Matsumi Nakano was a member of the Shinten Seiku-tai (aerial suicide attack squadron) and made a successful ramming attack against a B-29 on December 3rd and safely returned to base.  This plane has victory markings.  The camo scheme is white on the undersides and green on the top side with a red spinner and red tail.

The quality of these decals is of very good quality.  The decals themselves are clearly printed and in perfect register.  Some decals come in 2 layers to ensure perfect registration.  

There are 4 pages of instructions.  You only get one side profile of each aircraft and this is no doubt due to the lack of reference material on these aircraft.  There are pages of text that go into  

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 

Yet another very nice decal sheet with 4 very good options for when you build the big 1/32 Ki-61 Hein.  

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

Steve

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

Click on images below to see larger images

  

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford