ianober

My Feedback: (12)

I was fiddling with my F-18 tonight putting some Flite Metal type panels on it and was complaining about how much of a pain it was to cut out shapes of the panels accurately, especially circles. So I thought, hey, I have a vinyl cutter so why not throw some of this stuff in there and have it do the job for me and man did it work a treat!! I know not everyone has a vinyl cutter but though I would post it anyways, just in case.

Ruizmilton

My Feedback: (29)

Ian:

I have done the same on several jets, yet, what I do is put some alum tape oversize over a panel and then use the panel lines to trim the tape, if there are any contour lines under the tape, I scribe them with a smooth edge, makes the tape look real, not "taped over", I use it for inspection panels, fuel caps, naca/ram air intakes etc. it works wonders for scale appeareance...

Another trick to make aluminum tape smooth is to use a warm monokote iron to remove wrinkles if they occur...

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

Can you sand away the pinch roller marks left on the flite metal? I don't know if you could do every panel this way. Can you estimate how much time you save doing it this way verses just masking and cutting the material directly on the fuselage panel like shown in the guide?

turboratt

just get your wife a crik cut machine as a present
then you can use it too lol
thas what i did for some lettering

zbo2

i have a gerber 15" and 30".....they are handy for some hobby related things.......but expensive if you're not making money doing lettering.... [8D]

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

I bought my own cutter about a year ago for my own use, and the machine was cheap and works just fine. Cutterpros.com. I think I paid 400 bucks for it from ebay. I am just happy that both of my kids use to work and run a graphics design shop. so my daugter does the art work for me. here are a few samples I made with the cheap cutter.

one is a banner I just made and have to make 10 more, and the other is my Skymaster hawk, and all decals were cut on my cheap Cutterpros.com machine. again my daughter did all the art work and my son laid up the material.........


Mark

zbo2

very nice...........just goes to show you ya don't need the 4500.00 dollar machines for hobby use....lol and that's probably most of the differance........longevity.

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

well, yes my machine does a nice job cutting the vinyl, but if it was to be used all day everyday, I am not sure how it would hold up in the long run, it might, as we have cut alot of vinyl here and all I had to do is change needles.....

Mark

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

The machine I have cost me less than $500 as well, I got my on eBay as well. It would save a good amount of time if you were doing a lot of panels that's for sure. The one panel took me about 5 minutes to draw up and cut out. The rollers marks came out quite well when I burnished the piece down to the plane so I don't think they will be an issue. This is something that for was more about accuracy for me than time. I just didn't like having panels that were not symmetrical and lop sided. A bit anal but hey it works and its a lot less work.

dubd

Cool idea Ian. I'm asking the Wifey for a cutter for Christmas.

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

I have the same machine as the OP of this thread and I use it daily for work, it's held up great over nearly 4 years so far. Only downside to cutting things like flite metal is it kills the blades really fast, same as chrome or any metallic vinyl. They're great machines though!

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Yeah, thats the only down side to it that I can think of is it goes through blades fast.

Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

The real way to do it cheap is you buy the machine and sell it for 80% of the purchase price once you are done.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

No way Ron!! I will never sell my vinyl cutter, its one of the coolest things I have in my garage!!

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

I have to agree, I will never sell my machine either..............

Mark

Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

Darn and I was looking for getting one at 20% off

oistein

My Feedback: (1)

Interesting news to me that these cutters are so reasonably priced. Is it easy to get low tack vinyl for them to be used as paint masks?

Thanks a lot guys!

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Vinyl is pretty easy to get here in the states, not sure about Europe but I am sure you can get it easily too. The prices are not that bad at all!! Man, my vinyl cutter is now half the price it used to be!!!

[link]http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-28-Vinyl-Cutter-Sign-Cutting-Plotter-USB-24-25-34_W0QQitemZ270483856385QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Defa ultDomain_0?hash=item3efa181c01[/link]

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

There is specific paint masking vinyl. Do NOT use regular sign vinyl, low tack or otherwise, the solvents in paints will cause the glue to stick everywhere leaving you a huge mess. The paint masking vinyl is a little thicker, but goes around curves a bit nicer, it also has a matte finish so paint doesn't run quite so easily and doesn't build up on the edge as badly. But most importantly, the glue will not stay behind anywhere near as badly as regular sign vinyl.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

What brand and model of masking vinyl do you use Jeremy?

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

http://www.signwarehouse.com/

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

I use the white paint mask vinyl from Avery, I think it's A1828S.

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

love my stika vinyl plotter, had it about 6yrs now, use it weekly.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Sweet Jeremy, I think I have tried that stuff before but will have to check it out again. All the other vinyl stuff I use is Avery though.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Ian - I have some paint mask for the Stika - if I recall correctly mine may be blue. You are welcome to come down and grab some if you want to experiment with it.