1:32 ALBATROS DIII

A set in which there is no canopy at all

The Albatros D.III was one of the mainstays of the German fighter arm in 1917 and its pilot sat in an open cockpit, protected at most by a small flat windscreen. A canopy of the kind familiar from Second World War machines simply was not there. The contents of the box match that: four national insignia masks and nothing else. On sheets for fighters of the later era the glazing parts make up most of the contents; here they fall away by the very nature of the design.

Why the crosses are worth spraying

The wings of a biplane have a ribbed covering that prints through under a decal as a row of shallow waves, and the rim of a decal almost always gives itself away on such a surface. A sprayed insignia has no such problem: it settles into every hollow and has no thickness of its own. On First World War machines the shape of the cross also changed several times in a single year, so a precise mask cut is essential to how faithful the build is.

• Four masks for spraying the national insignia in 1:32 scale
• Intended for a machine with an open cockpit; it contains no glazing parts
• A kabuki paper carrier follows the ribbed covering of the wings
• A sprayed insignia has neither a rim nor a thickness of its own
• Suitable for building a biplane of the First World War period

Let the base coat cure thoroughly before spraying; on a soft layer the mask would pull the film of paint away as it is lifted. Press the edges down with a blunt tool and spray lightly, so that the paint does not get under the edge in the hollows between the ribs.