If you’re like me, you hate masking canopies/windows. The advent of the canopy mask has made it possible for me to attempt many kits that I otherwise would never try due to large expanses of glass. But even in the case of kits with relatively limited glass, they certainly make life a lot easier.

Hauler Brengun is a Czechoslovakian model company that produces a whole series of accessories for their own kits such as resin detail parts, masks and oddly enough, replacement canopies for their own kits. The subject of this review is their set of masks for their Typhoon IB (car door) kit. Included are a set of masks for the canopy, masks for the wheel hubs and finally for the wing landing lights. They are made out of the same type material as Tamiya masking tape. They have a good level of tack, not too low or high, and can bend around curves if required. Let’s break this down to the three areas covered (pun intended)

Wheels – Provided are two kinds of masks. One is used if you want to paint the hub first and then mask it while you paint the tire and the other is if you want to paint the tire first and then mask it and paint the hub. I used the hub masks on my model and they fit well and applied easily. The final painted wheel had a precise, neat paint line.

Wing lights – These are just simple rectangles that fit over the installed kit part. A word on this, however. You need to install the kit part and then you will have to add some putty to blend it into the wing. If you don’t do this well, masking the part would produce a sharp paint line on a part that doesn’t fit well. When I went to apply the masks, I found that they were a tad too long and needed trimming to fit right.

Canopy – There are multiple masks for covering this part, but as with the wing lights, you have to blend the canopy in to the fuselage or it just won’t look right. The canopy needs a bit of work to fit correctly. The inside of the bottom needs to be beveled so it snuggles down better, but it will still need putty to blend it well. In addition, I dipped it in Future to gloss it up. The masks consist of four single parts that cover the glass on the forward canopy and three that mask the rear bubble area. These are in the form of strips that mask the edges and need to be applied around curves and angles, so some care is necessary, but they do fit very well. You will need to fill in the open area with liquid masking fluid. I use two coats as I have found that it covers better and is easier to remove.

The photos show the canopy before masking, the parts masked before painting and then the parts in place on the finished model. Don’t judge the masks for my modeling skills as the kit is a bit of a wrestling match to get together, but that’s another story.

One note to remember. The masks will stay in place from the application of primer to the last coat of flat finish. As you can see from the photos, this can lead to a build-up of paint, so make sure your coats of paint are as thin as you can make them.

In summary, these are a great product that make painting this kit much easier. For the price, to me they are well worth it in the labor they save.

I’d like to thank Hauler Brengun for supplying the product and IPMS/USA for the chance to review them.