An extremely popular aftermarket item has been canopy masks. These have been produced by a number of manufacturers over the years, but the ones that seem to be the most popular are those by Eduard.

Masks have been made from a variety of products including thick and thin vinyl as well as from kabuki paper (basically the same stuff as Tamiya tape, but not quite a thick). Some masks only cover the outlines of the clear part. This is very much the case when it comes to bits with large compound curves such as you see on F-86s and MiG-29s as no material will properly stick to convoluted surfaces like that. In those cases, you fill in the rest with your favorite tape or with liquid masking solutions.

I am not a major mask user, but when it comes to kits that have a zillion fairly small panes and especially those where the frame lines are not super prominent (as we find with many Hasegawa kits), They are well worth the price. Interestingly, the amount of time it takes to apply these as opposed to putting down some tape, holding the transparency to the light, and cutting the tape is about the same. I guess this is because one does several panes at once with the cut method while with the mask they are one at a time.

This set is for the Hasegawa Avenger and is good for both their TBM-1C and TBM-3 kits. There are differences in the tail gun transparencies and this mask takes care of that difference. The set also includes wheel masks, which allow you to either mask the hub or the wheel portion next to the hub; the rest of the tire should be masked with liquid mask. Will these work on the Academy kit? Frankly, I wouldn't try as they aren't designed for it. There is a complete set of instructions that show what goes where.

For bubble canopies and such, things like these sorts of things are really not needed by most modelers, but for multi-pane 'greenhouse' canopies, they can be very useful, especially if the frame lines are indistinct.

September 2019

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