1:32 Bell P-400/P-39D/Q Airacobra canopy airbrush mask for Special Hobby/Revell

The Airacobra with a cannon on the axis of the propeller

The Bell P-39 was an unconventional machine for its time. The Allison engine sat behind the pilot's back, the drive shaft ran under the cockpit floor and a cannon of 37 millimeters fired along the axis of the propeller. The nosewheel leg was a novelty among American fighters, and instead of a sliding canopy the cockpit was entered through car doors with a wind-down window. Without a turbocharger the machine fell behind at high altitude, but close to the ground it did excellently: in Soviet hands it became one of the most successful fighters of the Eastern Front. The export P-400 with a cannon of 20 millimeters ended up with American units in the Pacific, where over Guadalcanal they mainly flew attacks against ground targets.

The set of masks covers the glazing of the model in 1:32 size, including the side doors, which on this type are harder to mask than a conventional canopy.

• 1:32 scale
• For the P-400, P-39D and P-39Q versions
• Cut for the Special Hobby and Revell kits
• Sharp frames without laborious cutting of tape

Working with a mask is a matter of order: first the interior color of the cockpit is sprayed, and only then the covering shade of the fuselage, so that the frame does not show through from inside. Press down around the whole perimeter with a wooden toothpick, which does not scratch the film, and press the corners down especially carefully, where the mask lifts most easily. It is uncovered only once the last coat has dried, and best straight away, while the finish has not aged and does not hold the mask more firmly than you would like. Anyone who wants an even more convincing frame sprays a thin line of a dark shade into the joints between the individual panes of glazing once the mask has come off.