A few months ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing paint masks sets from Belgium-based company, 1 Man Army. The masks were for 1:32 scale aircraft and were a comprehensive set of airframe stencils and markings for various subjects from the WWII era. To say I was impressed at the level of detail is an understatement. I was blown away. 1 Man Army has been able to perfect the cutting process and create paint masks with a level of detail that has never been seen in the industry. Whilst I was impressed with the aircraft range, I can’t hide my armour bias and I had hoped they may branch into the field of armour at some point. I am pleased to announce the wait is over as I hold the sample sets in my hand today. There are 11 sets in the initial release, and all have been created to use with 1:35 scale armour. The sets cater to most of the major modelling subjects.
The Wehrmacht sets cover the major Division emblems, the basic single colour versions of the Balkenkreuz and Turret numbers in varying styles and sizes. The US Armour sets cover Generic US ‘Late’ Serial numbers as well as various Stars and US markings.
The Soviet set concentrates on various turret numbers and star markings. The secret to achieving a successful result is to spray the paint in fine layers and build the coverage up slowly. I can personally vouch for the results and am so impressed with the level of fine detail that has been achieved with these sets. They are simply a game-changer. Whilst the masks are not sold for multiple use, I have been able to successfully use the same mask a number of times.
Masking and spraying your models markings will always give a superior result. It’s as simple as that. The major benefit is they can be chipped and weathered in a more authentic way as well as avoiding potential decal silvering and visible carrier film. Issue with cutting masks in the past has been the limitation of how fine they could be cut but as mentioned earlier, 1 Man Army has cracked the code and opened up a whole new world for the armour modeller.