1:32 Buffalo Mk.I (model 339E) Markings airbrush mask for Special Hobby

The Brewster in British colors

The Brewster in the 339E version was the export form of the American carrier fighter, ordered by Britain and taken into service under the name Buffalo Mk.I. The machines reached Malaya and Singapore at the close of 1941 and flew with squadrons of the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Against their Japanese opponents they were overloaded and not powerful enough, yet their pilots fought on until February 1942.

Finland provides an interesting contrast, where the same type in a lighter and older version was among the most successful machines of the whole war. The difference was not made by the airframe but by the weight of armament, armor and equipment that the British order called for on top.

How the mask works

The set contains self-adhesive parts cut exactly to the shape of the national insignia and the lettering. The markings are not transferred by a decal but applied with paint directly onto the surface, so no carrier film and no glossy edge around the insignia is left on the finished machine. The paint of the marking also has the same character as the surrounding finish, which tells above all on matte camouflage schemes.

The procedure is straightforward: the part is transferred onto a perfectly dry surface, pressed down around its whole circumference and sprayed in light coats from the edge toward the center, so that the paint does not get under the film. The set is cut for one particular kit, so the sizes and the spacings match the shapes of that tooling and nothing has to be trimmed afterwards.

Who it suits

It will be appreciated above all by modelers who build machines with a matte camouflage finish and do not want to deal with decal silvering. A mask in itself is a consumable; it is removed after spraying and is not used again.