1:72 Tornado IDS Nat. Insignias

National insignia masks 1:72 Panavia Tornado IDS

A set of masks for the national insignia and the supplementary markings for a model in 1:72 scale. It has nothing to do with the cabin - the masks are stuck onto the finished finish of the airframe and the insignia is sprayed in paint into them. With the multicolored insignia that the European users of the Tornado carry, the work goes in layers: first the lighter base area is sprayed, then further parts of the mask are uncovered and the darker tone is added. The colors thus follow on exactly and no white gap arises between them as with a badly aligned decal.

The real subject

Besides the Royal Air Force, the IDS version was operated by several other European air forces. Each of them used its own national insignia, and because many of them are multicolored, their clean rendering on a model belongs among the more demanding steps. The airframe stays the same across the users, and it is precisely the markings and the shades of the camouflage that differ.

How to work with the mask

Paint onto a dried and best of all glossy surface. Place the mask according to the drawing, press the whole perimeter down and protect the surroundings with paper against overspray. Proceed from the lightest color to the darkest and let the sprayed coat go tacky between the layers, otherwise the shades will mix. Apply thinly and straight at the surface. After taking the mask off, check the edges against the light - a slight overrun can be corrected with a brush before the evening clear coat comes.

Who the set is for

• Modelers who want a multicolored insignia without the visible edges of a decal
• Those who build machines of the European users with different markings
• Builders used to working with an airbrush and the layering of colors
• Modelers who weather a model heavily after clear coating