1:35 UH-1B Huey Canopy and Windows Paint Mask Set

The Bell UH-1B and its glass cabin

The Bell in the B version was the first Huey to establish itself in Vietnam as an armed machine. The short cabin, the two-blade rotor and the turbine made it a universal workhorse that carried wounded, set down squads and fired rockets and machine guns from side mounts equally well. The characteristic slapping of the rotor became the sound mark of that whole war and soldiers heard it before they even saw the machine.

Glass, of which there is unusually much

The cabin of the Huey is a glazed space almost all the way around: large front panes, lower windows under the pilots' feet, side cutouts in the doors and vision panels above the crew's heads. Going over all that by hand means a long evening and the frame still ends up unequally wide with trembling edges. Pre-cut pieces shorten that work to a fraction and the result is the same all the way around.

A machine that did everything

In a single day the same example could bring in supplies in the morning, set down a reconnaissance patrol at noon and carry wounded in the evening. Two pilots sat at the front, usually a pair of gunners by the side doors. There is no bulkhead between the seats, so you can see right through the cabin from one side to the other, and every unfinished detail inside is therefore visible.

Advice on the work

On curved panes it helps to warm the film slightly with a hair dryer, so that it presses down without folds. Spray the frames first in the color of the cabin interior and only then in the exterior shade - with transparent parts everything is visible from inside. Take the cutouts off soon after the paint has dried, not after several days, when the adhesive has aged and lets go less readily.

The film holds masking parts only. You will not find paints or a kit in the package.