Background

Of the many consumable items available to the modern-day modeler, pre-cut masking aids are perhaps one of the most useful types on the market. Originally targeting aircraft areas of interest, recent years have seen a tremendous proliferation into other genre – including military vehicles.

The Product

A recent and pleasant surprise was to see Hauler offer a masking set for Tamiya’s 1/48 scale US Staff Car kit. Having that model on the near-term build list, I just had to jump at the chance to try some Hauler masks for the first time. The set contains two sheets of finely cut, super-thin vinyl masks for glass areas and wheel hubs, and stencils for national insignia stars. A single sheet of placement diagrams is more than sufficient for applying the masks.

I am very appreciative of Acrylicos Vallejo (AV) for sending new products for review, and I am equally appreciative of all the Review Corps crew members who take care of all of the legwork to get materials to reviewers and the completed reviews published for the modeling community. It is a privilege to be part of this manufacturer-modeler group effort.

The Kit

Round 2 Model Company purchased the rights to the entire Lindberg line and they have been releasing selected kits gradually. In the past, “real modelers” disparaged the Lindberg Line as being inaccurate and simplistic, but these kits were never designed to be the be all and end all of accuracy, even at the time long ago when they were released. They were designed to generally represent the subject and do so in a kit that was easy to assemble and reasonably priced. By today’s standards, they are not what most ship modelers are looking for, however if you’ve got a youngster you’re trying to get involved in the hobby or maybe a Brownie or Cub Scout group, they would make great projects and teaching tools. Or, maybe you want to try out some new techniques. These kits would make great test beds for that.