Has anyone here any experience using stencil cutters? By stencil cutter I don't mean an Xacto knife or hot knife and cutting mat. I mean one of the machines like a Brother ScanNCut SDX125E or one of the lower cost laser cutters/engravers on the market.

I find myself in preference of making stencils to allow painting insignias, divisional symbols and the like instead of decals and using an Xacto knife has already grown old and is limiting....and a painted anything almost always appears better (and potentially more durable) than a decal.

Thoughts?

Jerry

Using a Laser Cutter on my CNC to cut the yellow Tamiya Masking Tape stuck on a plate of Glass is how I made the Spray Masks for my King Tiger ( the 204 ) , Pershing ( the Star ) and E-100 ( the 404 & Cross ).
Works quite well for stuff of that size but anything much smaller like the serial lettering on the Pershing will be too small too comfortable work with as the Masking Tape does have a tendency to be "fuzzy" around the cutting edges 🤔
The heat of the Laser will also weaken the glue as will the reapplication from one surface to another soo... yea. It may work for you and it may not 😉

Hey, Jerry, doesn't Rad Schuart have something for that? I seem to remember him making stencils and I think he's been doing it for quite some time now. I haven't seen him around here for a while but I think he's still pretty active at rctw.

Oramask 813 is what I use to make stencils for my helicopters and warbirds on my vinyl cutter, I assume it would work the same for you guys