1:35 Tiger I - TAMIYA

A masking set for the road wheels of the Tiger I, 1:35 scale

The set is an accessory for painting, not a kit. It sets the boundary on a road wheel between the wheel disk and the rubber tire and is cut for the kit from the Tamiya company. Sets for the same vehicle for the kits of other manufacturers exist as well, so the target kit is the distinguishing figure.

Where the saving of time shows most

The vehicle has interleaved running gear, so there are several times more wheels on one model than on an ordinary chassis and some of them overlap as well. Blocking out the tires by hand is here work for several evenings and above all work in which concentration gradually drops: the first wheels come out well, the last ones less so. A masking set reverses this ratio. Applying one mask is a matter of a moment, it can be done in series at the table in a single sitting and all the wheels then go through one pass together with the rest of the lower structure. Instead of a repeated precise stroke of a brush, a single activity remains, which can be done as routine.

How to organize the work

• Prepare and degrease all the wheels at once, not one by one.
• Put them on skewers or on wire, so that you can turn them.
• Apply the masks in series, then check the alignment on all of them at once.
• Spray the wheels together in one pass, which saves paint as well.

Who the set is for

For modelers of the kit mentioned and for everyone who does not want to spend evenings on blocking out by hand on vehicles with many wheels. The result is moreover uniform across the whole running gear, which with work by hand is never entirely the case.

Paints, thinners and the kit are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.