1:24 P-40B

A long greenhouse over the fuselage

The glazing of the early Curtiss P-40 is among the most laborious to be found on the fighters of the time. Behind the windscreen the sliding section begins, behind it a fixed tunnel continues as far as the fuselage decking, and the whole thing is held by a framework of straight bars arranged into several fields. In 1:24 scale that area grows so much that freehand masking with tape has practically no chance of coming out evenly. The widths of the bars moreover change between the individual fields and some of them converge at a sharp angle, so even an experienced builder loses time there recutting and patching.

The reverse that gets forgotten

The set encloses masks in two versions, that is separately for the outer framing and separately for the surface on the other side. The fixed rear tunnel makes that second layer more important than it is on fighters with a hinged teardrop cockpit: light passes across it and a frame without paint on the reverse looks like a floating line inside the glass.

Three sets of markings instead of decals

Besides the glazing the package carries three sets of masks for national insignia. A disc or a star is then applied with an airbrush straight onto the metal, so the surface stays uniform and even after matte varnish has dried no glossy square of carrier film shows through anywhere. Working with a marking like that is slower than applying a decal, but the result will take polishing and the final dirtying without the edge lifting anywhere. The shades are chosen according to the scheme selected, and neither paints nor a kit are in the package.