Small Scale Military Headquarters

People have been asking me to show the process of the vinyl mask method for the painted on markings that I do. Here is a quick showing on the Russian Spitfire I did. Keep in mind that I used my phone to take the pics so image quality is not the best, but you get the picture (pun intended).

Step 1. I research (web) markings and schemes that I like.

Step 2. I redraw the markings in Adobe Illustrator and save the file out as an .EPS file for the vinyl plotter, burn a disc and run it to my sisters house.

Step 3. My sister puts the CD into her computer which is hooked up to the vinyl plotter. The black box on the top has a razor knife attached to it, the computer follows the path that I drew in the file and the machine moves the vinyl back and fourth as the black box moves left to right and that movement can follow any path to create any shape.




Step 4. I place the finished stencil mask onto the model and mask off the rest of the plane. you are now looking at essentially a negative.




Step 5. Paint over the masked and prep area and dry.




Step 6. Peel away the vinyl mask and tape to reveal the painted marking.




You can do this in layers to produce multiple color stencils (like the red star with black outline that you see... takes more skill and practice but it can be done. I will show how I do this in a follow up post as I do multi layering on my next model.

That's awesome.

double post

burn a disc and run it to my sisters house.

You mean drive really fast in your mustang to your sisters house.......

LOL!!!! That is totally how I feel when I need to get that vinyl cut for my projects! It doesn't help that my sister lives about 20 miles away. -Lets go burn some rubber!

What did the vinyl cutter cost, if I may ask you TKO? That's a pretty nifty little tool... I'm imagining it isn't anywhere near cheap though.

Awesome work!

Jesse James wrote:What did the vinyl cutter cost, if I may ask you TKO? That's a pretty nifty little tool... I'm imagining it isn't anywhere near cheap though.

I have no real idea of the cost of the plotter. My sister bought it a couple years back for another business she does from her house. It's frankly overkill in terms of the size and speed of cutting stencils for 1:18 planes. I suspect that a much smaller desktop unit would do just fine. I think this one she has was somewhere in the 1,500 range. I think there are some much much more affordable units out there that would get the job done.

She just happened to stop using it this past 6 months, so I put it to work for her cutting stencils on the weekends when I need them. Then I hop in my Mustang (ford) not the P-51... and I fly (drive fast) to her house so that I can get back to finishing my projects! Working on another Zero as we speak! Need more vinyl... where are my Mustang keys! LOL

Thanks TKO, that is great. Does your sister want to start a cottage 1/18 vinyl masking business? I have tried this by hand and my results have not been pretty.

Wow that is so bad @ss!!!

Some sign places and craft stores can do this as well. For a 18x 18 sheet of vinyl runs about $40 a sheet. You can put as much stuff on there as you can and cut around it. They have clear vinyl that you can use, it makes the overlays ( multy colors) a lot easier to do .

TKO, this is a weird request but would you be open to doing masks of other things? I assume they're reuseable... There's certain things in Star Wars I'd love to have stencils of to use semi-frequently (symbols, fonts, etc.), and I've not been able to find a good way to do the stencils perfectly like that...

If not it's ok, I totally understand, it was just something I was curious if you'd be open to doing or not.

Thanks for the info on the process though, it's really interesting from a customizer's POV.

That cutter will pretty much cut anything we can think up. It doesn't know the difference between military or Star Wars.

Seriously though, we can figure something out. Unfortunately, the stencils are not very good to reuse. They tear too easily when they are peeled up. Even if you are careful they tend to stretch out and deform. This is due to material, it's soft vinyl. lays down great and you can press it into cracks and surface detail to make a snug fit. This is critical as you don't want paint to run into those areas.

I am currently working with my sister to create a website where you can view the custom projects that I have done and order a set of stencils to make one for yourself if you choose. I currently have something like 20 custom stencil sheets made for different schemes. I plan to make at least another 20 more and then see what happens from there. I have the art for these all finished and they are doing nothing so I thought... Give them to my sister and let her deal with setting a small price making stencils for those who want them. Apart from me making a website (which I wanted to do for myself) I am out nothing and I don't need to make anything. But knowing that there is a solution for anyone else is cool I think!

I hope to have this all worked out in the first part of Jan. I already have a couple fellow friends on this forum needing some russian markings for P-40's and Spits. You guys will be first and thus you will be the lab rats! LOL. (I have not forgotten about you guys, I will make sure you get some stencils very soon.)

Has anyone tried the consumer craft cutters?
My better half has hinted around at getting a craft cutter to start a scrap book for our grandchild and I started doing some research. There is few out there.
Cricut, Silhouette SD, Xyron wishblade, Craftwell Ecraft and the list goes on.
Behind every great gift there is a motive . I would be able to us it as well . Win Win.
Anyway hoping to make this a Xmas gift and need some input from the Pro's.

I saw something called the crikuter..something like that...

flyboy_fx wrote:I saw something called the crikuter..something like that...

I was curious about that a well...
Already posted, but not many responses.
Cricut Cutter

There are lots of vinyl cut machines out there. Some are better than other I hear, but mostly I think the cost goes up for the size of vinyl and the speed that that can cut as well? Not too sure... I don't own one and my sister sold hers a while ago before I was trying to offer sets to members who were interested. So now no access to my own or family so I go to a sign shop that cuts them for me.

I'm not sure on the smaller specialty crickets etc. The ones I've seen only cut pre-designed shapes via a cartridge. Have yet to find a cartridge with swastika designs available lol. I've had my plotter about a year now and even though I have cut stencils by hand for almost 30 years I'll never go back to that, unless my machine crashes...

It looks like I am going to try the Silhouette SD $199.00
TKO is looks like it will do exactly what your having done.
I will let everyone know how it works. Wish me luck.

Things you can do with the Silhouette SD:

•cut images
•design your own die cuts
•change the sizes of your images
•Use the negative image of your cutting for a different look
•cut out text for layouts, projects, decorations etc.
•cut out mini boxes
•create your own lace paper
•cut out perfect circles
•cut out scalloped shapes for stamping or matting
•cut out vinyl wall art
•cut out any digital brush or design
•cut magnet sheets
•cut you own custom envelopes
•use cut vinyl shapes to create masks for etching glass
•create you own masks for paint and ink
•draw shapes with a marker
•create decorations
•create custom embellishments
•pierce a design for stitching
•optical sensor will allow you to print and cut die-cuts perfectly
•create table decorations and party favors

Yup that one should work just fine for you.

pizzaguy wrote:It looks like I am going to try the Silhouette SD $199.00
TKO is looks like it will do exactly what your having done.
I will let everyone know how it works. Wish me luck.

Things you can do with the Silhouette SD:

•cut images
•design your own die cuts
•change the sizes of your images
•Use the negative image of your cutting for a different look
•cut out text for layouts, projects, decorations etc.
•cut out mini boxes
•create your own lace paper
•cut out perfect circles
•cut out scalloped shapes for stamping or matting
•cut out vinyl wall art
•cut out any digital brush or design
•cut magnet sheets
•cut you own custom envelopes
•use cut vinyl shapes to create masks for etching glass
•create you own masks for paint and ink
•draw shapes with a marker
•create decorations
•create custom embellishments
•pierce a design for stitching
•optical sensor will allow you to print and cut die-cuts perfectly
•create table decorations and party favors

where did you find this at? I'm thinking of one for 1/35 mask, for windows, wheels(mostly) and maybe try it for camo templates.