Lifelike Decals

1/48 Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighters Part 2 decal sheet

Decal sheet product # 48-021 

Review by Steve Bamford on Sept 19 2007

--------------------

This latest release from Lifelike Decals decal sheet features six different Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighters.  This is Part 2 of  a series dealing with the Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighters in Japanese markings from January of 1940 to the summer of 1943. 

The first plane is a Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighter (probably) of some training units in Manchuria, Time and location unknown.  This aircraft might have been assigned to the 28th Fighter Training Unit which was located at Shimen AB in northern China in the summer of 1944.  The colours for this plane is Dark Green on the upper surfaces and grey on the lower surfaces with no white fuselage band.  The leading edges of the wings are yellow and will need to be painted.  Markings include a large black horse on a yellow circles on the tail.  The Hinomarus on the fuselage have a white outline.  

The second plane is a Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighter (s/n 5362) flown by M. Sgt. Totaro Ito, 5th Sentai 3rd Chutai, Kashiwa AB in Chiba Pref. at the end of 1940.  The overall colour for this plane is a "greenish gray" (gray color with slight green tint, and is slightly lighter than RLM 02 color).  Markings include 2 yellow diagonal stripes (included as decals) on the sides of the tail.  M. Sgt. Totaro Ito continued to fight with the 5th Sentai with a  final score of more than 13 big bombers and survived the war.   

 

The third plane is a Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighter flown by Major Kato, Commander of the 64th Sentai, Kwangtung AB/Cjina in May 1941.  The overall colour for this plane is a "greenish gray" (gray color with slight green tint, and is slightly lighter than RLM 02 color).  Markings include a  wide yellow and narrow fuselage band and a large yellow arrow on the tail.  There are 3 kill markings below the canopy on the side of the fuselage indicating May 1941, when he participated in an attack against Hulzhou.  Major Kato fell to the guns on an RAF Blenheim IV on May 22 1942 and was promoted to Major General posthumously.   

The fourth plane is a Ki-27 Kou Type 97 Fighter of the 10th Independent Chutai, Taiyan A/B in northern china in 1929 and 1930.  The overall colour for this plane is a "greenish gray" (gray color with slight green tint, and is slightly lighter than RLM 02 color) with a black tail.  Markings include a narrow black as well as a narrow white fuselage band.  A paper template is provided to assist in painting the tail.

The fifth plane is a Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighter with the 50th Sentai, 3rd Chutai (Hoshi Hikoutai), Clark AB in the Philippines in January of 1942.  The overall colour for this plane is a "greenish gray" (gray color with slight green tint, and is slightly lighter than RLM 02 color).  Markings include a long yellow lightning bolt with a black outline across the tail and the rear half of the fuselage as well as a large red star on the tail.  This lightning bolts demotes 3rd Chutai of 50th sentai and the central red star on the tail was designed for Colonel Komataro Hoshi, the commander of the 14th Army Air Division, to which Chutai belonged.    

The sixth plane is a Ki-27 Otsu Type 97 Fighter flown by Capt. Toshio Sakagawa, leader of the 3rd Chutai, 24th Sentai, Hailar AB in Mongolia in January 1940.  The overall colour for this plane is a "greenish gray" (gray color with slight green tint, and is slightly lighter than RLM 02 color).  Markings include yellow horizontal bands with red outlines on the tail.  There is also a red fuselage band.  This aircraft is fitted with an external fuel tank, which the Japanese Army Air Force was the first to introduce to combat A/C in the world.  Capt. Toshio Sakagawa was a very able leader and later commanded the 47th Independent Chutai in Burma, 25th Sentai and 200th Sentai and survived the war as a Major with a score of about 15.   

The quality of these decals is of very good quality.  The decals themselves are clearly printed and in perfect register on 1 decal sheet with an additional paper template for masking the tail on one of the aircraft.  Some decals come in 2 layers to ensure perfect registration. You also get 2 full pages of text telling about each of the aircraft.  The instruction sheets show the placement of all the decals.

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 Ki-27 sheet with some excellent aircraft marking to choose from 

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