If you want to make life a little easier when masking and painting canopies and wheels, you may want to check out the line of masks produced by Eduard. This particular set is made for the Hobby Boss A-4E (kit 81764), and provides masks for the windscreen, canopy, and wheels/tires. The precut masks are easy to use, so modelers with a little experience placing items in exact locations will have no issues with this set.

After seeing the decals provided at the IPMS Nationals last year, I decided that I needed to add an A-4E Skyhawk to my stash, and being a relatively small plane, 1/48 scale seemed appropriate. Hobby Boss had recently released their kit of the E model, so it was an easy decision when I saw one on the Squadron table. My late father in law was a Naval Aviator, and he flew some A-4 missions in Vietnam, including Iron Hand, so this will a bit of a tribute to him once built.

The precut masks fit precisely in place on the corresponding kit parts. I would recommend starting the canopy masks in a corner, and then laying the subsequent masks starting in each of the other corners as there will be some overlap. For the windscreen sides, start in the front corner and back edge, as again the two masks for the area will have some overlap. The masks for the wheels will support painting of the wheels first or the tires first, and then masking the paint to add the other color.

The directions have you fill in the canopy with liquid mask as the provided masks only cover the edges. I used Panzer Putty to fill the area on my example, but there is enough excess mask in the set that you could cut strips of the excess to fill in the area just as easily. For painting the canopy and windscreen, I used Badger Stynylrez Black followed by Gray, and then used Model Master Acryl Gloss Gull Gray for the final color. I had no misses to mention with this set.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this set to anyone wanting to simplify the painting of the canopy and wheels for their A-4E. I would recommend this set to any modeler as the installation is quick and easy and will simplify the painting process.

I would like to thank the folks at Eduard for graciously providing this mask set to the IPMS/USA for review and to John Noack for allowing me to receive this set. I would also send kudos out to the assistants in the Review Corps for the great job they do in keeping the Corps running strong and as always, my appreciation to anyone who takes the time to read my comments.