Montex 1/32 P-61B Black Widow Mini Mask
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
After years of minimal P-61 coverage, in the last few years we have been inundated with high quality new-tool Black Widow kits. One of the more impressive kits is the Hobby Boss 1/32 P-61 Black Widow kit, a truly large and amazing model that has many salivating. One of the challenges of the P-61, though, is accurately painting the canopy, and this latest mask set from Montex handles that problem in a very thorough manner.
The Masks
Most of the time when you pick up a canopy mask set, you get a set of masks that cover the edges, with the interior sections sometimes filled with liquid masking. The concept there is to paint the interior color, then the exterior color, covering both the inside and outside colors with one mask. While this works all right in small scales, the depth difference of the clear plastic creates more of an issue with larger models.
Montex has addressed this issue by providing two masks: one for the interior and one for the exterior. This will allow you to paint the same color on the inside of the canopy as the rest of the cockpit, and have it match in shade and finish, while the exterior masks act just like what we'd expect from a canopy mask. The end result will be a much more realistic canopy.
There is, however, a bit of a challenge here, as there is no easy way to get precise alignment of the interior and exterior masks. As this is on the canopy, you only get one shot at it, too, so it's even more critical. As the framing is on the exterior, I would think that applying the exterior mask first, and then lining up the interior mask would be the easier route here. There is bound to be some parallax issues as well, where the thickness of the clear could throw off your perception of alignment, so be aware of that, and good luck!
Conclusion
Aside from the challenges of alignment, these types of interior and exterior canopy masks are definitely a better solution than just external masks alone. Of course, the best solution would be to have an injection-molded frame with separate glass, but then there's the issue of cleanly attaching the glass. With no simple solution, this mask by Montex is probably the best compromise out there to get accurate interior and exterior colors on your P-61. My thanks to Victory Models for the review sample.