1:32 AS-365

The Dauphin, a twin-engine all-rounder

The AS-365 comes from a French design line that followed on from an older single-engine type and offered two turbines, retractable landing gear and a tail rotor enclosed in the vertical surface. It is that ring which is the most striking recognition feature of the whole family. The helicopter made its way into rescue service, police work and coast guard duty, where its speed and smooth running proved themselves. Its glazed nose is characteristic as well, giving the crew a wide view downward, and at the same time making the painting of the cockpit the most demanding part of building the model.

What the package deals with

Inside you will find accurate self-adhesive shapes for the transparent parts of the Trumpeter model. Both sides are covered, so the inner frame can carry the cockpit color and the outer a finish matching the chosen operator's form of the machine.

The cockpit of a rotary-wing machine has a different masking logic from a fighter. There are more panes, they are larger and they often reach down below the crew's feet, so they cannot be covered with one piece of tape. Ready cutouts shorten that work to a few minutes and the edge of the frame stays equally wide along its whole length.

Before you start spraying

• Mask the glazed nose from the bottom up, as the lower pane tends to be the largest.
• Hold the model by the fuselage, not by the glass, as fingerprints show under paint.
• On helicopter cockpits it pays to spray the interior before the whole airframe.
• Pull the films off slowly so that they do not tear away fresh paint.

The set concerns the glazing. Do not look in it for registration markings or warning stripes.