1:48 Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk.Ia - TFace Mask Set for Eduard

Shark teeth over the Western Desert

The Kittyhawk Mk.Ia is the British designation of the Curtiss P-40E. Under the cowling worked an Allison V-1710 V12, and in the wing sat six 12.7 mm machine guns. It reached the units of the Desert Air Force in 1942 and brought with it the artwork that made the type famous: the men of No. 112 Squadron RAF painted a predator's jaws on the radiator housing under the engine. At high altitudes the aircraft ran out of breath, but down low it did excellent work as a fighter-bomber.

Set contents

The set offers pre-cut masking material in thin kabuki paper, which follows the slightly convex surfaces of the canopy well. The TFace designation here means a double set of parts. One covers the glazing from outside, the other is reduced by the thickness of the material and is stuck on from inside, so the frames can be sprayed in the cockpit color without going over them by hand.

Recommended procedure

Before sticking them on, wipe the transparent parts with a degreaser free of aggressive solvents. The paper shapes well, and on curves press it down with a stick or a toothpick. After spraying, let the paint flash off and pull the mask away at a sharp angle, drawing it along the surface rather than straight up.

The set is cut for the plastic parts of the Eduard kit in 1:48 scale. The model itself is not in the package.

The choice of scheme is half the fun with this subject. Desert camouflage with sand and brown fields and a light blue underside suits most aircraft from 1942, but Commonwealth units in Burma flew in dark green finishes and Australian aircraft also carried bare metal areas. A crisply separated cockpit frame, meanwhile, is visible in every photograph, and it is what decides whether a finished model looks convincing.