1:32 Douglas A-1 Skyraider Vietnam Era Camouflage Paint Masks Set

The Skyraider over the jungle

This piston-engine attack aircraft with its massive radial engine came into the world too late for the Second World War, and paradoxically it was for that reason that it lived its most famous chapter twenty years later. Over Southeast Asia it did what jets could not: it could circle for hours over one place, it carried an enormous load of armament and it took hits that would have sent a faster aircraft down. In the version for searching for and rescuing downed pilots it earned a reputation that outlived it.

What to spray it with

The period camouflage rested on two green tones and one brown above, completed by a light, almost white or very pale gray underside. On this type, however, you will often also meet a variant where the underside is markedly dirtied by exhaust gases and by oil leaking from the radial engine, so alongside the basic four have a dark brown-gray ready for later emphasis.

Preparing the airframe

• Glue and dress the engine cowling including the cooling flaps; once the films are stuck down you will not reach them.
• Mask the glazing of the pilot's compartment and any space for further crew members.
• Check that the underwing pylons are in place, as they affect the course of the fields on the wing.
• Have a burnisher and fine tweezers ready for the long strips along the fuselage.

Compared with jets a propeller-driven aircraft has many more convex and rounded surfaces, over which a film follows the shape unwillingly. It helps to warm the piece with lukewarm air and press it down gradually from the center toward the edges. Then apply the paint in thin coats; on a rounded surface a heavy application gathers into a drop and ruins exactly the edge you bought the set for.