1 Man Army Paint Masks

1 Man Army, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Clayton Ockerby

It’s no secret that when possible, masking and spraying your markings is always going to give you a superior finish to using decals. It makes sense right ? The actual markings on the real thing were painted, so why no replicate that on your model.

I personally have had a great deal to do with self-adhesive films and masking materials due to my line of work, and I regularly setup and cut myself masks to use on my own models. Trouble with cutting masks through a traditional plotter and using self-adhesive vinyl is there is a limit to how fine and small you can cut due to limitations with the film and the actual cutting mechanism. Essentially, if you try and cut too fine the blade will chew up your film and leave you with an unusable mess.  So, masking your insignias and ID codes was always an option, but trying to cut and mask all of the tiny stencils seen over an aircraft was simply out of the question, and as modellers we would need to refer back to plan B and use the decals. That’s not to say decals won’t give you a great result, because most of the time they will, but imagine if there was a way to actually spray on your stencils just like the real thing! Well now there is.

The sets are produced out of Belgium by a company called 1 Man Army and have been in development for the past two years. At present there are 13 different sets available with the view to extend the range to 25 by the end of the year. 

The sets I have been sent are the HELLCAT F6F-3, the Me262 A1-A2 and the RAF Spitfire MkI/II, all in 1/32 scale.

I was genuinely excited to take a look at these sets when they arrived because I was curious as to how the fine lettering was going to be. On opening the set, I was flabbergasted at how incredibly small and fine the lettering have been cut. It was like nothing I had ever seen. I suspect the stencils had been laser cut rather than a traditional plotter setup allowing them to be cut so fine.

As far as the packaging goes the set is quite large measuring 210mmx 297mm and is reasonably sturdy due in part to the user manual and instruction sheet being printed on a lightweight card stock. This should allow for them to travel well through the post.

There are 3 parts to the package – the stencils themselves, a 4 page instruction sheet highlighting positioning and a generic User Manual with tips and tricks to get the most out of the product.

The set itself contains masks for not only the stencils scattered around the aircraft, but the national markings and other ID numbers for specific aircraft.

The proof would be in the painting though… so I set about trialling the small sample sets I was supplied. The instruction card suggests to build the paint up in numerous, light layers and to be certain to never floor the mask.

Initial tests spraying a lacquer paint (SMS) through the airbrush proved to be encouraging. I achieved a reasonable result on the first attempt although some of the stems of the finest lettering didn’t present properly, but probably good enough to pass as a ‘weathered look’

The manufacturer is still working on the finer points of distribution around the World, but I’m told the sets are available through 6 major European distributors so should be readily available if you wish to take the plunge. Even better, take a look at the website - www.1manarmy.be to check out the entire range and keep up to date with availability.

Whilst I am no expert on the finer points of the accuracy of the sets, they do appear to my eye to be quite comprehensive and very well made. The ability to directly paint the aircraft stencils is a bit of a game changer and will no doubt cause quite a stir amongst the 32nd scale aircraft modelling fraternity.

Thanks to 1 Man Army for the review samples

Text and Images Copyright © 2021 by Clayton Ockerby
This Page Created on 1 June, 2021
Last updated 2 June, 2021

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