Miracle Paint Masks

II used the ocean grey camo colour to pre-shade over the rivet detail. I then over sprayed the areas with the paint diluted a bit more, to blend everything in. When it looked like more paint was needed I stopped and came back to it the following day. This is important as you only get to see what actually is required when you come back to it and the paint has dried. I thinned paint even more and over sprayed until I thought that more was still required and came back to it the following day. It required just a little more thinned paint in places. The following day I used my camouflage paint masks to mask out the ocean grey. The dark green followed the same process as the ocean grey.

I like that Jim, an interesting project

I have neglected to post this so here goes. The plan is to have this at my trade stand at Telford where I will be doing demonstrations of how paint masks work. It will be wheels up and prop spinning and, with a bit of luck, a pair of rockets leaving the rails. I started by priming the whole of the airframe with Mr Paint fine white primer. I masked the canopy, using the masks that will come in the set. The reason that it wasn't in position when I applied the primer is because the white will show on the inside if I did. I pre-shaded over the panel lines and around detail using gloss black. The canopy was painted matt black The under side was painted with medium sea grey. I used the colour to pre-shade over the rivet detail, then thinned the paint a little more and over sprayed over the whole of the under side to blend in the pre-shading. The under side colour was masked off. And in the mean time I painted the rockets, the bodies are Humbrol dark green 33 and the war heads are WEM colourcoats deep bronze green. I used my camouflage masks to delineate the ocean grey areas, but there was a slight problem, can you spot it! Yep, the main mask on the port wing is too small! I checked and it is 1/32 scale!!? Not an issue, I just cut the piece to 1/24 scale and cracked on. Actually it was a big deal as I had signed off the samples for the printing and I had spent 2 days getting the 13 elements of the camo into 2 sheets of material. This layout was reflected in the diagrams in the instructions! I immediately phoned the printers and luckily managed to stop the print run before it had started! Phew. I had to re-jig the sheets, which now meant that I had to revert back to 3 sheets. There is a bit of an up side to this; the 2 sheets were the largest size that would fit into my zip lock bags, and had to be trimmed very closely. This was a real pain and I could only get 2 across the width of my plotter with a fair amount of wastage. With the new, 3 sheet set up, I made sure that I could get 4 across the width with no wastage, for all 3 sheets. So all in all I may just be saving material. So with the masks in place I sprayed along the edges with WEM ocean grey, then the masks were removed, living the areas to be painted marked out. OK, I'll leave it there for the time being and post the pics of the upper surface camo going on later.

Hi Guys sorry for not posting sooner, I'm just too busy! I spent last week tweaking the camo masks, they are now bang on I also spent 3 days trying to get the 13 elements into 2 A5 sized sheets and, above all the odds I actually managed it This means that they will require less material so I can do them cheaper I need to get that done before I could decide on the overall price. I'm still working on that but I am aiming for less than £30.00! I know that seems a lot but the sets would work out a hell of a lot more if I didn't take 30-35% off. Just to remind you the promotional set consists of: Camo masks. D-Day stripe helpers. Roundel set. Canopy, clear parts and wheel masks set. Codes and serials and possibly nose art That depends on which machine you are building) can be claimed for your particular machine, also at a discount and post free! Yes I'm mad, I know I have decided to get 100 sets of the packaging printed so there will be a maximum of 100 sets in the is promotion. The price for every thing will be a set price and it will be for everything only. But at the price they will be a bargain as, for example, the camo masks alone would be £20.00+ (2xA5 sheets). If I do manage to sell all 100 sets, then any after that will be at the full price. Jim, I will send you a set of the camo masks and the canopy and wheel masks? I will be doing the sharks mouth version for Steve Budd but I won't have them ready in time as I haven't started them. I can do you the roundels, fin flash and codes and serials though? Drop me an email with your answer on these as its unlikely that I can get back here for a while again!

I have been soooooo busy that I haven't found time to post on here for some time. 2 of the things that have kept me busy are building the wonderful Airfix Typhoon and the other is getting the paint masks for it fianalised. The masks will be a promotional set at some stupid discount. At the moment I am tweaking the camo masks and then they will be ready; I am also doing final tweaks on the packaging and instructions then I will give the printers the go ahead. As I am trying to get the Tiffie built for Telford I am doing it wheels up, in flight with the prop spinning. I had hoped to have a pair of rockets firing but I don't think that I will have the time to achieve that! I just have the cockpit surround and the panels around the radiator and engine to fit and then we are good for painting, but I need to finish the tweaks on the camo before painting can start. Here it is on the stand that I have for it; ignore the writing this will be changed, of course. And with the camo masks on, this is before the wings and fuselage were glued on.

That really does look special Ralph

I announced that I was going to be producing a promotional set of masks for the Airfix 1/24 scale Typhoon see http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/2566-promotional-price-for-124-scale-masks-for-the-airfix-typhoon/ The hard part is all but done, the camouflage masks. I will make a couple of tweaks before they are completely finished but the hardest part is done. I won't be able to try them out on the big Tiffie until mine is together but that shouldn't take very much longer as I have almost finished painting the pilot Richard Caruana has sent me a 3 view drawing, which will form the basis of the instructions and I now have to see about getting the masks on to the smallest space possible so that I can keep the price down to a minimum! To that end I will be splitting the mask that goes over the port wing and up and over the fuselage; this will also make this easier to apply. The set will include D-Day stripe helpers, yellow leading edges and roundels and fin flash. For those that buy this set (probably at a 35% discount, but I need to crunch some figures to confirm that I can do that ) I will do a set of codes and serials of your choice, again at a discount and post free! A few have shown interest but if you haven't and are interested please follow the link and add your interest. Obviously the less wastage that I end up having the better

A very nice review Ben I picked up 2 of these kits today and your appraisal basically matches my own. I have started to build one kit which will be out of the box with a few necessary altereations and it will be in Geoffrey Wellum's markings K9998, so an early Mk I. I am building it for the Mullion Heritage centre. The second kit will be in the same markings but will have a modified Aires MkV cockpit with a scratch built manual pump for the undercarriage, plus the other changes necessary; this one will be for me I do think that Revell missed a trick in not doing the Mk I and getting the details accurate, they could have easily included the MkII option. I expect that fabric covered ailerons will be available in resin soon. To do these yourself shouldn't be beyond most modellers and the other fixes are also quite easy, if annoying that they need to be done. I keep looking at the surface detail on the wings and fuselage; it is a pity that they don't appear to have been done by the same designer but it looks to me as if that on the fuselage, and on the underside of the tail fins, is just a little deeper. However what makes it look to be less sophisticated is that they are closer spaced. I am hoping that this is an illusion caused by the depth of them, maybe they are a fraction bigger. What ever the reason I am hopeful that a couple of coats of paint will make it all look much better, we will see. I for one welcome this kit, although I was hoping that Tamiya would do a Mk I, but if they did it would be vastly more expensive! Maybe Revell have left the door a little open so that they still might

So sorry to hear about your loss, I can image the hurt as I have two daughters. It is nice to hear that you are looking to donate to a charity for terminally ill Children, well done. I will happily do you a set of paint masks Drop me a line at miraclemasks@hotmail.co.uk

I will be producing a set of masks for this which I intend to do as a promotion for the kit at Telford. I will, of course also be doing commissions for marking schemes, including the shark mouth option. The promotional set will include camo masks, yellow wing leading edge masks, roundels fin flash and D-Day stripe helpers; I plan on doing these at about a 35% discount. I am currently building one and I can say that the aftermarket guys will struggle as about the only thing that is really required is fabric seat belts

I've just closed the fuselage on mine I won't be showing the engine though, but yours is looking good

It sure has Steve, I just have to make sure that I do it justice Me too a glass or two of suds to toast this wonderful kit I'm thinking that I might just do a special offer on masks for this as painted on markings are a must but many will be too "scared" to try them, we'll see No, it doesn't come with the motor but there is provision for it and a stand

I'm currently building a Dragon 1/32 Bf110, I hope that it is half as good as this when I finally get it finished

Like I said, I was wondering the same. This arrived today: But it isn't what it seems inside: Can you tell what it is yet? What about now? OK, yep the second pre-production shot! Thanks Steve, it is even more amazing in the flesh and the instruction, although not in the final format are fantastic. I will be producing camo masks for this plus, of course all other markings. Steve has asked for the shark mouth of 245 Squadron, so that will be available. I would like to build this for my Trade stand at Telford but that will be pushing it as I have several other kits on the go but I may be able to get it to a stage to show the camo masks fitted. I am thinking about doing it wheels up and prop spinning? I will be buying a production model as well if for no other reason than to help the sales so that Airfix feel that they can continue in this vain and I really do feel that they should re-do the Spitfire Mk Ia to this standard next and then all the other 1/24 scale series of WWII aircraft. Thanks again Steve, a beer or 3 when we meet

Yes I was wondering the same

Can I have one please? This just looks stunning Steve, well done I feel a set, of masks for the shark mouth scheme calling, plus the camo and plenty of other schemes Although the decals look really good you just know that you need to paint the markings on this beauty

Let me see what you need Steve? You might be surprised at what can be turned it a paint mask Ajaycad, whereabouts in Hayle are you? I live in Mullion

I was actually looking at one of these at the Yeovilton model show on Saturday but the proprietor only took cash, I didn't have £152.00 on me! (£139.00 is the price it should be at he current exchange rate, so it was a bit expensive. I will be getting one of them though, its my birthday in March

A Great review James and I will be getting one of these Just one little thing, and it doesn't detract from anything, but I don't think that the canopy masks are cut in "kabuki" tape, they look like they are vinyl, probably "Oramask810", look on the back, is there a grid? and you might just see a part of the name? It could be of a little significance as Oramask does shrink back a little after cutting (ask me how I know!) I use it for some applications but not for items such as aircraft insignia, because of this issue. The shrink back is in proportion to the size of the cut element, and sometimes in one direction only so, if its small it won't be an issue. This shrink back can take only 24hrs, but sometimes quite a bit longer. I found a different material that doesn't have the same problem. What I'm saying is that although these canopy masks may have been cut accurately they may not, now, fit perfectly.

Stunning work do you have a scheme in mind for this?

Errrr, you just need to ask, I will be doing my 1/32 scale kit in Tuck's markings James, the cockpit is about done but I got myself all in a tizzwazz over the undercarriage bay and, having lost my modelling mojo around then, it has been languishing on the to do sometime soon pile for a couple of years! Oooooooh! a Hurricane gang now that sounds dangerous, I'll be up for that

I have a PCM Hurricane on the go Group Build? Montex Masks?

I am in the middle of the rush to get my new generic stuff ready for Telford, so I might not be able to post anything jut yet but I will if I find some time. Thanks for adding me to the vendors list

Hi Jim, Can I be added to the vendors list? Mal