1:32 15 Anos Anniversary Brazilian NAVY A-4 Skyhawk Paint Mask Set

The Skyhawk over the South Atlantic

The Douglas A-4 belonged among the smallest and lightest carrier attack aircraft of its time: the delta wing did without folding, the whole machine fitted onto a carrier's elevator and in service it proved exceptionally tough. Brazilian naval aviation bought used examples from Middle Eastern stocks in the 1990s, rebuilt them and introduced them as its only jet carrier type. For the fifteenth anniversary of its service one of them received a commemorative finish, in which a saturated color covered the tail surfaces and the spine of the fuselage, complemented by extensive lettering decoration.

A large area calls for a different hand

With ceremonial schemes it is not narrow strips that get masked but continuous parts the size of a palm. A piece like that is laid down from one side by rolling it on gradually, not by dropping it on all at once - otherwise an air pocket closes in the middle that you can no longer push out. The tack of fresh film can be reduced by pressing the part once onto a clean pane of glass. The glass takes part of the excess adhesive off it, and the film then sits firmly enough not to let paint through, but not so firmly as to take the sprayed layer underneath with it when pulled off.

What the mask does to the surface underneath

Only as much paint gets under the edge as you let there with the pressure in the gun. Light coats from a greater distance keep the edge clean, one generous pass smears it. Once it comes off, a precise line is left and a matte surface with no change of texture. The rest of the lettering decoration is then finished on surfaces that are already done, when the paint underneath carries its full saturation.