1:35 Camo Paint Masks For Russian MT-LB Ver. 2

The tracked jack-of-all-trades from Kharkov

The MT-LB is a light armored tractor which got under way in the Soviet Union at the end of the 1960s and which is still counted on today. It came about as a universal platform: wide tracks and low ground pressure let it cross a marsh and deep snow alike, it swims without preparation and it carries an infantry squad just as readily as a mortar, an anti-tank system or the wounded. That is exactly why it has seen dozens of conversions and serves from the Arctic to the Middle East. The Ver. 2 qualifier in the designation refers to the second variant of the pattern which the manufacturer worked out for this tractor; the older set from the same workshop covers the Soviet-era scheme.

How the set works

Instead of adhesive tape and paper stencils you get self-adhesive parts cut to shape which fit the outline of the hull exactly. The patches can thus be repeated on both sides of the vehicle in the same form, which nobody will do freehand. The edges of the mask hold the sprayed paint in a clean line, so the hard transition typical of paint applied by brush in the field is created. The rest of the hull meanwhile stays covered, so there is no need to tape the whole vehicle over with paper and adhesive tape.

The most common source of ruin

Most often a spray that is too wet is behind it all. The builder wants the second shade covered in one pass, brings the airbrush closer and lets a heavy coat go on all at once. The paint then wicks under the edge of the film and once it is removed a bled patch is left, which cannot be put right other than by spraying the whole side again. Proceed the other way round: two or three misted coats with a pause between them, always directed from the edge of the mask inward and never at an angle against the edge.