1:48 MiG-17 F - Surface Panels Mask Set (for Kinetic Kits)

Bare metal is not one color

An aircraft with an unpainted surface looks silver in a photograph, but in reality it is made up of dozens of sheets that differ in alloy, in the direction of rolling and in the degree of polishing. One panel pulls toward gold, the neighboring one toward blue, and the skin around the exhaust has darkened with heat. It is exactly this uneven mosaic surface that makes a model of a machine in a metal finish convincing, and that cannot be solved with a single coat.

What this set is for

The masks, cut to the real division of the skin panels, let every panel be sprayed separately without hours of cutting adhesive tape and guessing where a sheet begins. You work from the lightest tone, uncovering and oversparying the individual panels one by one, and the boundaries stay where the seams really run. The result is a surface that changes as the model is turned against the light.

The real subject

The MiG-17F was the most widespread version of the type: it received an engine with an afterburner, a wing swept at forty-five degrees and an armament combining one heavy cannon with a pair of lighter ones. It served with dozens of air forces from the 1950s and many machines flew without paint, so surface work on a model becomes the main task of the whole build. This type of mask so far exists for only two aircraft, so it is a new kind of accessory rather than an established range.

A metal finish is also unforgiving about the state of the surface beneath. Scratches from sanding, fingerprints and glue residue only come to light after spraying, so the time spent polishing the whole airframe before painting pays back several times over.