Stripes white film 3mm

The upper end of the film range

Three millimeters closes the white film range. Anyone who needs still wider material reaches for the paper rendition, which continues through three and a half and four millimeters up to five. For anyone building in the small scales, however, three is usually more than enough: in 1:72 it gives a trace corresponding to 21.6 cm of real width.

In the larger scales the use is different. On a 1:35 model it draws a band of 10.5 cm, in 1:48 then 14.4 cm. That corresponds to wide identification stripes, to the division of a two-color finish on a fuselage or to defining an area that you want to protect in its entirety while spraying.

Not only a mask: with the widest format the opposite role is often used as well. The strip can be laid on finished varnish as temporary protection for a detail that would suffer during further work: a transparency, an applied decal or a polished area, for instance. The carrier comes off without a trace and nothing is left beneath it that would need cleaning up.

Storing the sheet: leave the strips on their original backing and store the sheet flat, not rolled up. A bent carrier remembers its shape and then lifts on the model exactly at the place of the bend. A closed folder or an envelope that no dust gets into is ideal; the adhesive then keeps its effectiveness even after a longer time in storage.

A closing note: on long straight runs the widest format is easier to lay with two people. One holds one end taut while the other works from the center toward the edges, pushing the air out ahead. A bubble closed in under the carrier shows during spraying as a light patch exactly on the edge.