The title says it all. Why did Eduard recently (at least to me) switch away from kabuki tape for at least some of its masks to a black material?

I'm not sure what the new material is, but it doesn't look like vinyl (or at least like the vinyl Eduard used before it switched to kabuki tape). I've seen the new material in several of the masks I bought recently, including ones for the Meng pickup. They still seem to be using kabuki tape for the new-issue airplane masks, however.

Does the new material behave differently? Is it better? Worse?

why don't you try it & review it for us all?

I'm about to use part of the set for the Meng pickup, so I'll let everyone know how it behaves, but I'm still curious as to what the reason behind the change was, and why only some sets have been switched.

Hi Lucas,

Try dropping a line over at Eduard customer service, they are
the best people for answering such a technical question.
Cheers,
Joe

Well, I tried the mask for the Meng pickup, and it is vinyl. Definitely stiffer than the kabuki tape masks, but it worked well on the flat rear window I used it on. There was no paint bleed under the mask, and I even managed to peel three of the four panels off without damage, so in theory I could reuse them later. Given the stiffness of the new material, I don't think it would work well on highly curved surfaces, so that may be why they are not using it for aircraft sets.

Sounds like thick frisket. I bought some, soon after returning to the hobby. Completely useless, for masking, without a perfectly steady hand and swivel knife or cnc machine.