Maxi Mask

Plastic Model Club

Reviewed by Brett Green

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A new company from Poland called Plastic Model Club has thrown its hat into the expanding ring of vinyl mask manufacturers.

This new product is called Maxi Mask, and comprises a growing range of self-adhesive vinyl masks for aircraft in various scales. The masks cover canopies, wheels, national markings, codes and serial numbers The Mini Mask product provides canopy masks alone, while Maxi Masks include all of the major markings for specific aircraft.

Maxi Mask is presented in two different varieties of vinyl.

Masks for national markings, codes and serials are die-cut from a pale grey-green, thin translucent material very similar to Eduard masks. This material is fairly flexible, and the adhesive is quite low-tack (ie, not very sticky). This is fine for these larger shapes which do not have to be fitted around complex curves.

Masks for canopies and wheels are delivered on thicker, black vinyl with a much stronger adhesive. This is also ideal for canopy masking as the black vinyl provides high contrast to line up against canopy frames, and the strong adhesive won't let paint leak under the edges of the masks during spraying.

The only criticism of this new range of masks is that the instructions are very basic, comprising mainly of a black and white drawing of the provided masks. This is not a problem for wheels and canopies, but good reference will be essential when positioning national markings and individual letters/numbers, as there is no indication of location or camouflage whatsoever.

I used Maxi Mask on a 1/48 scale Tamiya P-47D Bubbletop that I built recently. The die-cut masks fitted perfectly between the moulded canopy frames on the kit parts. I also found that the mask for the Bubbletop canopy fitted well, even with the difficult shape of the contoured plastic.

Despite the strong adhesive, there was no glue residue upon removal, and the masks did not damage the coat of Future applied to the plastic prior to painting.

Below is a listing of currently available Maxi Masks in 1/48 scale:

Mini Mask and Maxi Mask are very effective masking solutions for a growing range of models in 1/48 and 1/32 scales.

Recommended.

Thanks to Dariusz Korczynski from Plastic Model Club for the review sample

Model, Text and Images Copyright © 2004 by Brett Green
Page Created 13 January, 2004
Last updated 12 January, 2004

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