Hawaiian Air Depot

One of the first designs we planned for Hawaiian Air Depot was to be for the Revell Mk. II Spitfire. Then the 1/24 Airfix Mk. IX appeared, then the Kotare Mk.Is... you get the picture. But warts and all, the Revell kit is a sentimental favorite-- it was so inexpensive!-- so we're finally getting around to our Spitfire Mk. II Essential Mask Set. The four-page download gives you designs to mask the canopy (inside and out), clear parts, prop tips, wheels, radiator screens, wing walk stripes, theater ID bands, wing roundels, two types of fin flashes, and two types of fuselage roundels. If the interest is there we'll follow up with some addendums; we've got XR D all scaled up from our 1/48 set, and we're thinking of adding Bader's Va, since we're planning it for the Kotare kit anyway. Visit Hawaiian Air Depot for more details and to check out our other stuff. Mahalo!

Finally got around to working with the Curio 2. Welcome to the future. Check out our review here: https://www.hawaiianairdepot.com/make-your-own-with-had/the-silhouette-curio-2-the-newest-bestest-home-cutter-for-scale-modelers

Airfix swears they aren’t planning more big F6Fs and they didn’t include rear windows in their F6F-5. So how on earth are we supposed to model the most famous Hellcat of all? This is our first set of designs to include downloadable files for cutting both your own paint masks and styrene sheet parts. The mask includes the names, victory markings, tail stripes, and gear door markings for both McCampbell’s Minsi II and Minsi III. You can add the insignia, clear parts, and a whole bunch of other stuff from our Essential Mask Set. The downloads provide a simple solution to cut and install the rear windows: Use the included paper template to remove kit plastic, cut the same shape out of clear styrene or PTEG (.020-.040, your choice) glue in place, and cut the mask designs to create the window shape. There are also designs to cut the earlier F6F-3 style headrest and armored windows other products don't offer. When rear windows were present there were armored glass windows in the rear plate, and scallops in the headrest to increase the pilot's viewing angles. Check out the set on our website, and you can also read about how we designed the Minsi masks-- and all of our products-- in our Make Your Own blog.

Thanks, Chris! That's good to hear. We've been at it for about a year now, so modelers are just getting around to using our first products. We are looking for as much feedback like yours as we can get, make sure we are on the right track.

That’s just gorgeous. I don’t remember the kit headrest having that much texture. Yours looks great. How’d you do it?

Thank you, Tom! and yes, SBDs are a favorite, so they are in the queue. All these fantastic new (groan) 1/48 kits (the Miniart P-47, MF F4U, Arma Hurricane, etc.) have been distracting us lately, but we hope to release some 1/32 SBD masks in 2024. In fact, we plan the Dauntless to be out first 1/18 set, too.

Cause, ya know, it's 2024. It's also our Paper Anniversary and it's National Hobby Month. What better time for our first ever sale? Visit Hawaiian Air Depot and use discount code HAD2024 at checkout. The sale starts today and continues through 11:59 PM Monday, January 15. Hawaiian Standard Time, of course. Supports use this week and we'll do 25% next year. How's that for motivation to make it to 2050? Happy New Year everyone!

Yep. There's a learning curve for loading the files into the software that runs the machine, but once in there our products are ready to go. Initially you'll also fiddle around with cut settings (blade depth, Cut force, etc.) but once those are dialed in they are pretty reliable. Here's a link to our blog about mask sheets, including Tamiya Masking Sheet and Oramask 810, 2 of the most popular choices. The post includes links to Amazon and other suppliers. Here's one about the Portrait 3.The Amazon link there has it for $149 right now. And here's on that opines about the learning curve. Let us know if you have any questions!

The Curio 2 is the shiny new toy on the market, adopting features of industrial machines, hence the price tag. If it works the way we hope and becomes popular, we might see market competition bring the price down. That said, we consider the Silhouette Portrait 3 still the best tool out there when factoring for ability and cost. It is now a last-generation design, but its still more than adequate for cutting paint masks and parts from styrene sheet up to .030. We'll continue to design our products with the Portrait 3 in mind. You can nowadays find them for around $150 new. With so many aftermarket companies manufacturing products, we're not now inclined to join the furball. We think our business model has two distinct advantages for consumers. One is that selling digital downloads allows us to create much smarter, more innovative, and more comprehensive design. For instance, a typical canopy mask set might be 3x4" and run $12-$14. Our largest designs include 6 7x9.5" pages for $6.99. 12x as many masks for half the price. To manufacture, package, and ship such a product would push the retail price near $40. The other advantage for users is the plasticity of the product. Not only can an unlimited number of copies be cut for personal use, but they can be cut from whichever materials models prefer for a given task. And as modelers gain even modest design skills they can modify their HAD products to begin creating their own. Given those advantages, we expect modelers will realize more and more projects can benefit from cutting masks and parts at home, making the initial investment a good one.

All true, but .080 sheet is just a soft breeze over the 2mm craft blade depth. Our Cameo 4 tends to drag anything over .030 styrene during the cut, making it inaccurate and unreliable for thicker plastic. We're hoping the greater power, clearance, and the fact that the plastic won't already be moving during the cut on the Curio 2 will mitigate that. We'll let everyone know what we learn. Some sources indicate 20mm cuts are possible, but I wonder if that means multiple passes with the standard blades on softer materials like craft foam?

Oops! 20mm. Edited above to avoid confusion. The available cutters all cut up to 2mm now, but it seems that's mostly for softer materials: felt, etc. Probably the same for 20mm, but we're hoping it means cuts to .040-.080 styrene might now be in play. If so? Cockpit boxes, wing spars, etc. Could be huge. Check it out.

Thanks Bill. Our idea is that many modelers are starting to look at the Silhouette and Cricut home cutters to up their painting and scratchbuilding games. The main barrier to entry is that many of us lack the digital design skills to create their own masks and parts. That's where we come in. In order to get you started, we're offering inexpensive, professional designs that you can download and cut without needing to learn digital drawing skills first. Even better, as you learn them, you can modify our designs to customize your projects. Every Hawaiian Air Depot purchase includes an unlimited personal use license, meaning as long as you aren't posting online, reselling, or sharing them with your friends, you can use and modify them for however many projects you like. We're betting home cutters are soon going to be as common and useful to scale modelers as our airbrushes, compressors, and motor tools are today. We encourage you to get on board! We're planning to soon offer blog posts and videos to help you learn all aspects of Cutting Your Own. Meanwhile, check out our blogs on the Silhouette and Cricut cutters, to help out if you want to join the revolution. And everyone stay tuned: we just got the Curio 2, Silhouette's new top-of-the-line machine. It features a moving cutting head, rather than mat (this promises finer cuts), an electrostatic bed (no more adhesive mats), and it cuts materials up to 20mm. . From what we've read, it might be the first machine that is ideal for scale modeling applications. We'll blog about it when we put it through some paces.

We've got two new sets of downloadable files just listed for sale at Hawaiian Air Depot: Masks to paint the camouflage scheme on the 1/32 Tamiya VIII/IX Spitfires, and a comprehensive set to paint Johnson's legendary (mythical?) Beer Run Spitfire. The Beer Run designs includes 5 pages of 7 x 9.5 inch (177.8 x 241.3mm) designs, covering everything from the canopy (inside and out), wheels, prop tips, radiator screens, radiator overspray masks, roundels, fin flashes, fuselage theater band, wing ID bands, wing walk stripes, Johnson's squadron codes, serial numbers, and invasion stripes. The Beer Run release also includes a spare set of fuselage roundels and theater stripe, in case you want to model another Spitfire using serials and squadron codes from another source. Sign up for our mailing list and be the first to hear about our new releases, including more designs for 1/32 Spitfires, Mustangs, and the 1/24 Hellcat. Meanwhile, we're about to release some stuff for the 1/48 Magic Factory F4U-1A/2 Corsair, which we mention here because we'll soon scale it up for the 1/32 Tamiya kits. Stay tuned!

Lately we've been a little distracted releasing teeny-tiny Hurricane masks for the new Arma kit, but today we're back in LSP land with the release of our P-51D 8AF Essential Mask set for the 1/32 Revell D-5 and D-15 Mustangs. This set include 5, 9.5x7in. pages of downloadable files for cutting your own masks at home on Silhouette and Cricut machines. These designs mask it all: canopy, antiglare panel, wheels, prop tips, insignia, theater ID stripes, two styles of invasion stripes, and two styles of checkerboard nose markings allowing you to paint a variety of subjects from the 357th, 339th, and 55th Fighter Groups. Use kit or aftermarket decals for the squadron codes, serial numbers, personal markings, and stencils: Hawaiian Air Depot will do the rest. You'll also get designs we believe have never before been offered: one group masks the panels that remained when the Mustang's wing was puttied. Place the masks, slather on your favorite filler and smooth it out. Shouldn't be so tedious anymore. And you know that curved sliver of metal between the windscreen side panels and the antiglare panel? Yep, we made you a mask to paint that. And, of course, all the designs feature our innovative alignment aids and slight overspray cutouts for underlying colors. Check it out at Hawaiian Air Depot or Scalemates. Coming up next are addendums to the 8AF Essential designs: more checkerboards for 78th and 353rd FG Mustangs. If demand is there we'll do more 8AF addendums: green noses, yellow noses, all the noses. Then we'll pull together a set for 15AF Mustangs: Red tails, striped tails, checkerboard tails, all the tails. Then it's back to the 1/32 Spitfires, with camouflage masks and markings sets for the Revell Mk. II and the Tamiya Mk. IX. We'll eventually modify our Mustang designs for the Tamiya kits and maybe even the 1/24 Airfix P-51D. But with the new 1/48 Corsairs and Thunderbolts soon to arrive we'll need to get to work on those. Don't worry; while we're at it we'll spend a little time scaling up and adjusting them to fit the big Tamiya Corsairs and the 1/32 and 1/24 P-47s, too.

Great idea, Rod; we've released two designs to compliment our Torpedo 8 offering, one for VT-3 and one for VT-6. The addendum sets include plane numbers and fuselage insignia arrangements to model several VT-3 and VT-6 Devastators. Add them to the complete masking set for Torpedo 8 and you can model at least 10 Midway TBDs. Thanks for your input!