1:144 Painting masks for model Zvezda Tu-154 kit

Three engines in the tail and a T-tail

The Tupolev Tu-154 first took to the air in 1968 and for two decades became the backbone of long domestic routes east of the Iron Curtain. Three engines set in the rear of the fuselage, a high-set horizontal tail surface and an unusually massive landing gear with six-wheel bogies that retract into nacelles on the wing made it a machine able to operate even from airfields that Western twin-engined aircraft would not accept.

Why reach for masks

The glazing of the flight deck on this type is intricate and bordered by narrow frames. Building it up with strips of tape means an hour of fine work, and there is still a risk that one of the frames will slip by a tenth of a millimeter. A pre-cut mask shortens that time to a few minutes and the edges come out equally wide on both sides of the cockpit.

A procedure that has proved itself

Before the masks are applied, it is recommended only to rinse the glazing and let it dry freely, because fingerprints under a mask stay forever. Once it is stuck on, it is worth spraying a thin layer of paint in the shade of the inner frame first, which seals the edges, and only then covering with the top color. Take the mask off while the paint has only just dried, not after several days. Older paint holds more firmly at the edge of the mask and will peel away with it.

• The masks are adapted to a particular kit in 1:144 scale.
• The glazing and the whole model are obtained by the builder separately.
• Working with a mask shortens masking the cockpit from hours to minutes.