Maketar DeHavilland Mosquito Paint Masks 1:32

[Mike]

DeHavilland Mosquito Paint Masks
1:32 Maketar

HK Model and Tamiya have both recently entered the market with brand new kits of the much beloved (by me and quite a few others) Mossie at 1:32, which has opened up a new market for Maketar for paint masks. They have produced this masking set to help you not just with masking the canopy, but also with replacing almost all of the decals for that smooth painted-on look that is much more realistic than decals, which suffer with the thickness of carrier film that can be tricky to hide.

Each set is designed to allow you to set aside all but the tiniest and most complex markings, such as small stencils and nose art, which often has a high colour and shade content - They recommend keeping those decals. The masking material is either vinyl or kabuki tape, which you can select at time of purchase according to your preference. In case you're not familiar with kabuki tape, it's the yellow flexible tape used by Tamiya for their masking tapes, as well as others. There's a page here on the Maketar site that discusses the differences between the two if you're interested. Each set arrives in a ziplok bag, and inside you'll find your masks surrounded by paper packaging. There are no instructions included in the pack, but it's not too difficult to work out how to apply them, and placing central dots in roundels is a breeze if you apply the outer bands as temporary place-markers. Burnishing the edges of the tape and spraying your chosen paint colour in thin dry layers away from the edges where possible will also help obtain a clean and level result. The key component is to take your time though.

The canopy masks are laid out in the shape of the glazing panels, so all you have to do is work through from one end to the other, taking extra care on the compound curves at the corners, which have been slit to allow easy lay-down. You might want to put some masking fluid over the darts though, just to ensure no paint creep. Some additional strips of masking are included with both sets to help you with other masking tasks, and the HK Model patterned set also has a name-plate that will come in handy if you're putting your Mossie on a base, and a set of wheel masks as a bonus. Of the two the Tamiya set is the larger, as it mimics a larger range of decal options provided with the kit, and has no space for extras such as name plate and wheel masks. Please bear that in mind if you're wheel-painting phobic!

Conclusion
At 1:32 scale there is a good argument for painting markings, as they're large enough to handle easily, and it also allows you to apply any modulation, weathering or chipping effects to them, which is more difficult to do with decals. Into the bargain you have no carrier film to hide after decaling, which is always nice.

Highly recommended.

HK Models Mosquito B Mk.IV Series II (01E015)

Tamiya Mosquito FB Mk.IV (60326)

Review sample courtesy of

[FG2Si]

Nice review Mike. It works as a great primer on hire to use them. I have both sets and just used one on my HK build. I used Tamiya tape to fill in the gaps.

Here's the masks for the roundels in use.

Carl

[Mike]

They look great when done well, don't they?

[FG2Si]

They certainly do. It's my preferred way to do insignia on models these days when I have the option.

Carl