1:48 Paint Masks For UH-1D Huey Helicopter - Canopy And Windows

The glass of the best known machine of the Vietnam War

The Huey became a symbol of the fighting in Southeast Asia. The UH-1D version received a lengthened fuselage and a roomier cabin, so it carried more soldiers and wounded than the older short rendering. The characteristic beat of the two-blade rotor is familiar even to someone who has never taken an interest in machinery.

The glazing as the main task

The pilots' compartment of the Huey is glazed really generously. To the rounded front panes are added the panes under the pilots' feet, the side door fillings and the roof windows above the seats. The frames between them are slender, and in 1:48 scale each one is about half a millimeter wide, which is exactly the measure at which trimming tape by hand stops being enough.

The set offers every shape separately. That does away with the tedious job of sticking down strips of masking tape and then trimming them to the engraving, during which it is easy to slip into the area of the glass.

The machines of combat units wore a uniform olive finish, to which white lettering and a number on the fin belonged. The glazing therefore remains the only markedly light place on the whole model, and a badly sprayed frame ruins it more than any other detail.

Working with the stencils

Rinse the parts of transparent plastic, dry them and only then stick the shapes on. Press the edge down so that paint cannot get underneath. Spray on the dry side and in several light passes rather than in one heavy coat, because a flooded edge stays blurred once the mask comes off.

The delivery includes only the film with the shapes. Obtain the helicopter model and the paints separately.