1:72 Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate undercarriage bay paint masks

The real subject

The Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate is a Japanese fighter from the late part of the Second World War, listed by the Allies under the name Frank. It was among the best-performing Japanese machines of its day and builders have taken to it for its clean shape and for the varied finishes it flew in. In 1:72 scale it is a small model on which every inaccuracy in the painting shows at once.

What the set solves

The inside of the landing gear bays tends to have a different shade from the surrounding surfaces and it masks badly: the space is intricate and deep, and plugging it by hand with paper or putty leaves uneven edges. Templates cut in advance follow the outline of the bays exactly, so that while the lower surfaces are sprayed their interior stays untouched and the edge comes out crisply. That saves not only time but above all repairs to oversprayed places, which in the depth of a bay are hard to reach.

Work tips

• spray the bays first, and only then mask them and paint their surroundings
• wash and degrease the surface before applying; a mask does not hold on greasy plastic
• press the edges down with a blunt tool, so that paint cannot flow under them
• spray perpendicularly and in thin coats; a heavy coat creates a step at the edge
• lift the mask off as soon as the paint has set, not after a long wait

Who it is for

It suits anyone who builds Japanese fighters in a small scale and wants the transition between the inside of the bays and the lower surface of the wing clean. Work with templates is quicker than cutting tape and the result is repeatable on further models of the same type.

Terms of supply

The kit, the paints and the glue are not part of the delivery, unless stated otherwise.