1:72 Mirage III mask

The delta that made French aviation famous

The Mirage III is one of the types that rewrote the postwar history of fighter aircraft. A triangular wing with no horizontal tail surfaces gave it high speed and room for fuel, and although it cost the pilots a longer takeoff run, the result was worth it. The type made its mark far beyond the borders of France, flying in Europe, in the Middle East, in South America and in Australia, and in some countries local industry built it under license or developed it further into forms of its own.

The cockpit of this aircraft has a fairly intricate frame, and on a model it is exactly that which decides the final impression. A hand-painted frame tends to be uneven and the paint likes to bleed, and on a clear part every correction is hard to remove.

What the templates are for

The set holds precisely shaped self-adhesive cut-outs in thin film. The film bends over curved surfaces, so it follows the shape of the canopy and does not create channels under its edge through which paint could get inside.

The procedure is simple. Set the template on a degreased clear part, press it down with a wooden toothpick and spray first in the interior shade, then in the upper camouflage. Lift the film off while the paint is fresh, with fine-tipped tweezers and a pull at an angle to the side. The edge then comes out sharp and the cockpit frame gets exactly the width it should have. Small patches of glazing that the cut shape does not reach can be covered with a strip of tape cut with a fresh blade on glass. On the finished model the transition between the two methods cannot be told apart.