| Cutting Edge |
| Black Magic Mask for the 1/72 TSR.2 |
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kit number: CEBM72170 |
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Reviewed By Jim Pearsall, #2209 |
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MSRP: $4.99 USD Thanks to Cutting Edge/Meteor Productions for this review item. A while back, John Noack sent me a mask set to review. This was just about the time that Airfix had announced the pending release of their BAC TSR.2, and that’s what this mask set is for. Except it’s actually for the Resintech/Aardvark/Heritage resin kit. John agreed to wait until Airfix’s kit hit the streets, and then I’d do the review. Well, John, here it is. I guess you could call this a pre-release aftermarket item. The “Kit” The mask itself consists of a thin vinyl sheet with a back sheet. The masks are pre-cut and labeled. A nice touch is that the wheel masks on the “left” side of the sheet are for the “hole” side of the tire, the “right” side has masks for the other side. There are 8 wheel masks (inside and outside for 4 tires), plus the canopy mask, which is 3 parts for the windscreen, and 2 parts each for the pilot and navigator canopies. There is a single sheet of instructions, printed on both sides, that gives very good and specific direction on how these masks should be used. |
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The masks are pretty simple in concept, but some skill is required
for execution. Not a HUGE amount of skill, or I probably would
still be out there in the workroom trying to get the masks to fit.
The tools required are a toothpick, wooden, without a sharp end, a
nice sharp knife, and sweaty palms. Their term, not mine, but still
true. Masking and Painting: Wheels: I tackled the wheels first, as there was less chance of making a fatal error. I see so many requests for clear parts on the scrap yard web site, that I can’t help but think that the clear parts are the most difficult to work with. I’ve had to buy a replacement canopy for a P-51, but I stepped on the kit canopy. The first step was to assemble the wheels (each of the main gear is 2 parts), clean up the seams, and spray them all black. |
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The mask is taken off the backing sheet. I bent the backing sheet
slightly until a corner started to lift, and then used the point of
a #11 hobby blade to lift it free. The mask is then placed on the wheel, with the center hole leaving the hub uncovered. Here’s where the toothpick comes in. You use the end of a blunted toothpick to convince the mask it wants to fit tightly around the hub, and to snug it down against the tire. I used toothpicks to hold the tires while I sprayed them black. In order to get them to fit, I had to cut the end off. This gave me a blunted toothpick. One spiffy bit of engineering is that the wheel mask has a built-in handle, so you can hold the wheel while painting it without putting your hands (even in gloves) on the paint. Once this is done, spray the white (for the TSR.2) to color the hub. |
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I did all 6 of the “hole” side first. This allowed the paint to
dry, so I could handle the wheel. I then did all 6 of the outer
side. When the white paint had a chance to dry thoroughly, the instructions call for putting a small drop of highly thinned black paint (9 parts thinner to 1 part paint) into the joint between the hub and tire. I did this, and the paint neatly follows the joint by capillary action, giving you a clean division between tire and hub. |
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The masks fit tight, but with a little persuasion from the toothpick
(they also caution about stretching or tearing the mask, as the
material is robust but can be damaged). The results were splendid.
If there is any difference between the resin kit and the Airfix
product, it’s not in the wheels. Canopies: The 7 pieces of the canopy mask show up here. The mask parts have been removed, leaving the white backing showing through. The masks for the canopies match the Airfix scribing extremely
closely. They aren’t as close on the windscreen. The good news is
that it’s very simple to fix, as the masks are larger than the
scribing on the windscreen. By cutting a very narrow strip off all
3 parts to make them narrower, and a small slice off the top of the
center to make it shorter, they all fit. I then applied the masks, put masking tape inside to prevent overspray, and painted the parts the interior color. I then let the paint dry, and worked on other parts of the TSR.2 to keep my hands busy and off the parts. |
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Later I painted the clear parts the white I’m planning on using on
the rest of the aircraft. Then some more work on a different model
until the white set up completely. I then used the #11 hobby blade to pick up one corner of each mask, and tweezers to remove them. The instructions give you this hint too. The finished product looks marvelous. It’s really nice to have a mask like this, instead of cutting little pieces of tape, which then blow off at the first hint of the airbrush. I use larger pieces of tape, and mask each area individually. Which means that instead of taking a couple of hours (Including the drying time), it takes me several evenings to do canopies. And I don’t do interior color. |
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Overall: This product (and the ones like it) saves us a lot of time, and allows us to do some of those little tedious jobs quickly and cleanly. If you’re doing a model for a contest, and the date is creeping up on you, consider using a Black Magic mask to allow you to do your usual good job, but a lot faster. Or, if you’ve got eyesight and shaky hand issues, like many of my age do, this can be a real life saver. A good product, super instructions, well worth the money. Oh, the sweaty palms part? The glue on the back of the masks is a little too sticky, and sometimes lifts paint. Rub the sticky side on your sweaty palm to make the glue less aggressive. It’s there, in the instructions. I told you these guys are good! A Lagniappe: The “other kit” referred to when doing the canopy is a World War I Paris taxi, made famous during the “Miracle of the Marne”. The little black dots from the center of the main wheel masks are exactly the right size to mask the wheel hubs and spokes on this vehicle. What a deal!! |
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| Thanks to John Noack for his patience and Meteor Productions/Cutting Edge/Black Magic for a superior product which even they don’t know all the uses! |
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