In keeping with their tradition of supplying unique-looking aircraft, Lifelike has taken on the task of another 109 sheet. There are so many unique 109s that doing so is easy for them to accomplish.

The instructions are printed on two single-sided A4 sheets in full color; one sheet includes the upper and lower plan views, the other contains the history and the reason Lifelike drew their conclusions from. That is the one thing I like about Lifelike. They aren’t afraid to offer an educated guess when some marking are in question. They let you know what is speculative and how they came to their conclusions. They leave it up to the modeler to make an informed decision. Very professional and a non-pompous way to do business. There is also a separate sheet for the stencils that covers the Emil and Gustav versions.

There are two decal sheets. The decals are in perfect register and very thin. They appear to have good color opacity, as well. The larger of the two carries most of the markings, including the spirals, while the smaller one carries the individual markings. There appear to be enough National markings to do all the aircraft, with enough stencils to do one machine.

As is usual for Lifelike, there are four aircraft included on the instructions – an E-3, E-4, G-6, and a G-14/AS. Lots of options there.

The first aircraft is a rather plain-looking E-3. It is a plain-looking RLM 02/71/65 machine. It is plain until you look at the rudder, which sports the Staffel markings of JG-26. It does wear the smaller fuselage crosses that were seen at the time.

The E-4 shows how the progression of camouflage worn by the Emil. This aircraft has an RLM 74/75/76 paint scheme. Again, like the previous machine, this one carries some unique Staffel markings, but this time they are under the canopy on both sides. The two aircraft together represent a period in time for JG-26 that has not been available before.

The next aircraft is a G-6 from the Far North, assigned to JG5. What makes this aircraft unique is, even at the last part of the war, this aircraft had kill markings on both sides of the rudder. That, along with its RVD band of yellow and black, makes for quite a colorful machine. The Eismeer emblem is also present on the cowling. This is as colorful as late war aircraft get in the Far North.

The final machine is one I’ve liked for a long time: “Lumpi”. A G-14/AS assigned to 2./JG300 in September 1944, this aircraft was flown by Uffz. Wolfgang Hudsdorfer. It wears the standard RLM 74/75/76 paint scheme with some overpainted areas on the fuselage in RLM 83 Dark Green. I’ve always loved the little Dachshund with the B-17 in its mouth. This is a favorite of mine and will probably be of yours, as well.

I like the way Lifelike approaches the decals as a work in progress when there are unknowns. I love the subject matter and the presentation. There is not a whole lot more you can do to make these decals any better. Great job again, Lifelike. Keep up the great work.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Lifelike for the review copy and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.