1:32 Heinkel He 111P-1 one-sided express fit mask for Revell

Single-sided painting mask for the He 111P-1 in 1:32 scale

The mask is self-adhesive and pre-cut to shape, so it is applied straight onto the clear part and the laborious cutting of strips from tape is avoided. The single-sided designation means that masking the outer side of the glazing is provided for. On the extensively glazed nose of a bomber that is a great saving of time: outlining all the frames with tape by hand takes several hours, and one imprecise edge is enough to make the result look untidy. A double-sided version, by contrast, is prepared for the inner side as well, so that the interior shade does not read through into the transparency.

The real subject

The Heinkel He 111 was a German twin-engine bomber that appeared in the mid-1930s. The P version received inverted V12 Daimler-Benz DB 601 engines and, above all, a new, fully glazed nose without a stepped windshield, with the pilot's position shifted to the left. It is this nose that makes an He 111 model a demanding piece to mask and at the same time its hallmark. The P-1 subversion belongs among the early production machines of this line.

Tips for painting the glazing

Wash the clear part before masking in lukewarm soapy water and let it dry; a mask does not hold on a greasy surface. Take the pieces off the sheet with a scalpel and press the edges down with a toothpick. Spray the frames first with the interior shade and only then with the outer coat, or in the finished cabin it will show that the frame is camouflage-colored from the inside. On German bombers the upper surfaces were sprayed in a two-color pattern with a sharp boundary, which is masked with tape stuck on the edge, not freehand.

Who the mask is for

• For modelers building the He 111P in 1:32 scale
• For those who do not want to spend hours cutting tape for a glazed nose
• For builders for whom masking the glazing from the outside is enough
• For collectors of German aircraft of the Second World War