Masking tape aircraft

It's been a little over 11 years since I started making things out of masking tape. It all started with the Airbus A300-600 (below), which I made back in 23.11.2009. Compared to where I'm at now, it didn't look as good, but I did at least try and manage to get the general shape of it. Later on, I would eventually extend the fuselage to the correct length, and even convert it into a freighter, partially so I could try out modeling an opening cargo door. It's still at my old home in Sharjah, albeit, probably in a worse state than it is now, since I left the UAE back in 2016.

All it was was basically me twisting and rolling strips of masking tape--sticky side out, mind you--to make the shape of various aircraft components, including the fuselage, wings, and stabilizers separately, and sticking them together. Eventually, I'd cover the aircraft with masking tape with the non-sticky side out to prevent dust and lint from accumulating.

I had used various brands of masking tape, but two that I favoured the most was Mecotape and Olympia Tape, thanks to their strength. But as I progressed, I would come across brands that didn't stick for as long or as strongly, and that's only when it came to covering the aircraft. Fortunately, PVA glue turned out to be the best solution for this, and I've stuck (pun intended) to covering my planes with PVA ever since.

Eventually, I'd go on to make close to 60 planes as of now. Below are most of what I've made just as 2014 started, including the famous SR-71, Concorde (AF tail), the C-141A, a B-17. and the only one in the bunch with a fully-painted fuselage, a Canadair CL-44J, painted white (so far).

By the way, the largest one in that picture, the Super Guppy, isn't wholly masking tape; the cavernous fuselage is made mosty from paper, and the wings, empennage, and lower fuselage section from cardboard. My B-29 model, which is gone now, was also partially masking tape. This was so I could save on masking tape for other projects.

Prior to 2017, I used to make replicas of aircraft by eye. Unfortunately, this usually means that I don't get the proportions exactly right and may have to make some minor modifications to correct this. Oh, and the livery was "painted" on using permanent marker and a ball-point pen. Such is the case with this Viscount. Nowadays, I print or trace 3-view drawings, use them as templates, and visually compare my work to the drawing.

It was only by 2019 did I start taking decorating my aircraft very seriously, as this would better bring life to my creations, starting with my Convair Liner models (below).

A quartet of masking tape Convairliners (left to right: 440, 640, 5800, 600). Only the 5800 is all-white.

This is one of my fairly recent creations. I made this Il-18D model (top) back in 2019, over a span of two weeks plus breaks. Looking at different photos of the Il-18 keeps getting me, what with the plane's fuselage diameter relative to the wings, how far apart the inboard engines are from the fuselage, fuselage height etc. I also had to use a 0.3mm felt tip marker to make the cockpit windshield, which is my least favourite part about replicating Ilyushin aircraft. Eventually, this month, I narrowed the fuselage, hopefully for good, and slightly increased the wingspan by extending the centre section with one twisted strand of tape. I even sanded the top of the fuselage in an attempt to straighten it out, though that one needs a little more adjustment.

And finally, as of writing this, two of my most recent planes have been in the works; both of Soviet origin: the An-32 (which will be painted in the colours of Valan ICC South Africa), and the Il-62MGr (pictured; to be in Rada Airlines colours). Both have already been painted white, but the Il-62 is gonna be a bigger pain for me... mainly due to its cockpit glazing, which is similar to the Il-18.

I'm contemplating starting a business where I could make and sell such things on a commission or something, but I'm yet to figure out how I could apply very complicated liveries on masking tape aircraft. Let's see where fate will end up.