Masking sets first started making their appearance a while back and have been made in several materials including vinyl and tape. Eduard has settled on the kabuki style thin yellow tape for their masking material and makes a wide assortment of masks for many different subjects. I think tape is the best item as it is thin, conforms to the shapes well and provides a good seal.

This Eduard set is specifically designed for the Kinetic 1/48th scale F/A-18C and provides masks for the windscreen, canopy, and the wheels. Use of the masks is very simple. The windscreen and canopy are broken into four parts- two for the left side and two for the right side. Start at the corner and place the mask to conform to the curve in the corner and extend it out even with the bottom frame. Place the next corner and run the two parts on the frame to a smooth edge. Do this until the part is completely outlined as you can see in the pictures. Eduard does not do the entire cover as the early masks that tried for full coverage would kink and not give a smooth edge. To finish masking, Eduard stated to use liquid mask and that works great. I use Tamiya masking tape and add pieces until fully covered. I used this for both the canopy and windscreen. Painted them black and then gray to match the kit. I left the masks on when attaching the windscreen but removed the canopy mask after adding the frame to make it easier to glue into place.

The rest of the masks are for the wheels. They include four masks for the front hubs and four masks for the main wheels. Spray the wheel your favorite tire color such as grimy black. Once dry, add the masks, burnish the edges well and further mask with Tamiya tape and then shoot the wheel hub white in the case of our F/A-18C. Once dry remove the mask and the wheels are perfect.

The results are excellent. In my life, my biggest issue is the time I have to model. When I can shortcut time and get excellent results, it is worth it. This set will provide excellent masking for canopy, windscreen and wheels. Total time to add them was under five minutes and I was shooting paint. This is an excellent addition to a modeler’s toolkit, which gives great results. Recommended.

My thanks to Eduard for the opportunity to review this mask.