The Atom Furnace: To Mask or not to Mask, that is the question

Aircraft canopies are easy to do poorly. Model makers often compromise their construction to simplify manufacture and assembly, and a sub par paint job just draws attention to it. For a model, particularly in larger scales, to not draw undue attention to its "modelness". Typically the framing is a not too crisply formed raised area surrounding the glass, making hand painting without some sort of mask an exercise in futility. So in my estimation, the answer is "Mask", but how? For years i have relied on scotch tape and an exacto knife, hand cutting and trimming each pane. This works reasonably well, but is limited by the crispness of the molded canopy, the steadiness of my hand, my ability to see the frame through the tape, the curves of the canopy, etc. Oh. And sometimes you can't quite get all the adhesive back off eadilt.

Recently I began finish work on my backlogged Tamiya G4M in 1/48. It has a dizzying amount of windows, nearly all curved. Could I tape and cut? Yes, but....

Fir this one I tried something new (for me): a precut mask, in this case an Eduard diecut mask. They have a plethora of them available and in stock. Their shipping, while pricey got my mask set to me in a matter of days, not weeks. (If you can get yours from a domestic stockist, more power to you!).

My mask for the Tamiya Betty arrived in a stiff carboard mailer unmolested by man or machine. The small sealed plastic package held two snall sheets of mask and one large sheet of instructions - placement diagrams, not text.

It provides mask for every pane of "glass" on the model except, curiously, for the bombardier's downward facing window. Looks like there will be some scotch tape in my future after all. They also expect you to use some liquid mask on a few curved pieces where they provide the outline and the liquid fills in the center.

I am using my most fine-pointed tweezers to remove the individual mask pieces from the sheet and applying them to the glass.

Note, I recommend doing this prior to adding wings or empennage, as it makes manipulating it easier. You'll need a steady hand and a good eye, but it goes on cleanky and is an excellent fit overall. Just be prepared to spend a very long time getting it all on.

My hat's off to the folks at Eduard who can produce something that is as precise a fit as this. These little bits of tape fit like they were, well, made for this.