A favorite of many modelers is the P-47 Thunderbolt, while others have little interest in the aircraft. One thing about the P-47 that it has in common with the Mustang is that they often carried some impressive arwork and colors, especially in the last year of the war when the Allies held air superiority.

This particular sheet offers markings for three aircraft. The set is designed to fit the Tamiya kit, but I feel that they should also fit other kits, though some fiddling about may have to be done. It has always amazed me as a modeler that ALL kits of a specific airplane are not identical in dimension and shape, but such is the case.

The first option is 'Little Chief' of the 61FS/56 FG. This scheme has been kitted more often than probably any other as off the top of my head I can think of three razorback Thunderbolt kits that have offer it. However, one benefit of aftermarket decals is the generally increased research into a scheme that brings forward information that has been overlooked by others and such is the case here.

Next is 'Slick Chick' my personal favorite from the sheet and one that I'll be using in the near future. This was flown by the CO of the 386 FG. It is a later -30 P-47D with the extended fin fillet as well as a lot of additional red bits and pieces. The sheet provides two different options for the aircraft. One is when the CO was flying it on missions and the other is after it went through overhaul.

The final scheme is one with not a ton of color but the a pair of large fuselage/nose pieces of art. This one is from the 347 FS/350 FG and was apparently previously owned by another unit. We don't often see Italian units depicted on decals so this one is a nice change.

The set includes superb instructions with lots of information on each option as well as a full upper and lower surface diagram. A complete stencil/data instruction sheet is provided and there are enough of these for one plane. The decals themselves are superbly printed with the main two sheets by Microscale and the detail section by Cartograf.

June 2016

Copyright ModelingMadness.com

My thanks to Lifelike Decals for the review set. Check you local hobby shop for availability.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.