Vinyl Stencils for Airbrushing

[aacmckay]

Hey guys, I'm currently painting up a race car with rattle cans. I'm wanting to do the racing stripes and numbers with paint instead of the kit decals. I already have my base coat of paint down. I went to hand cut some tape with an exacto knife and I'm really not happy with the masks I made. Too inconsistent.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience using a vinyl plotter to cut masks for airbrushing and rattle can painting. Looking at what's inexpensive in that world and it appears that something like the cricut could do the job.

However I do have concerns as to whether the vinyl will mar the paint below, and whether it'll do a decent job of masking so that I don't get bleed through.

Any advice or comments would definitely be appreciated!

 

[CDW]

What you could do, and I've had success with it, is buy some of those stick on letter / number sets from a stationers in the design you want/like.

Take out the characters you want to use and then use the empty space as a template. It will stick as well as the letters do so you should just de-tacky it a bit with a finger.

Worth a try on a spare bit to see if it meets up to your expectations ... like I said its worked for me in the past.

 

[aacmckay]

What you could do, and I've had success with it, is buy some of those stick on letter / number sets from a stationers in the design you want/like.Take out the characters you want to use and then use the empty space as a template. It will stick as well as the letters do so you should just de-tacky it a bit with a finger.

Worth a try on a spare bit to see if it meets up to your expectations ... like I said its worked for me in the past.

Yeah that definitely sounds worth a shot. I have a specific font in mind that I wanted to use but I wonder if I could find something similar. Actually because of the colours I painted the colour for the numbers and stripes first and then will be painting the main colour for the body over top of it. So I do just need the numbers and not the outline of the numbers.

 

[aacmckay]

Well quick search around local stores and online. No readily available vinyl stickers the size I want (0.6" high). I did buy some vinyl sheets and tried cutting my own stencils, unfortunately, as you can see from the photos, they're no where near as accurately cut as I would like. I can't transfer the lines to the vinyl directly, so I'm cutting the pattern with a piece of paper above the vinyl. I think that's leading to my problems. Anyways, off to the office store to find either labels for my laser printer or carbon paper to trace onto the back of the vinyl. I will get something figured out, cause I'm stubborn!

View attachment 68038

View attachment 68039

 

[cutandfold]

I have access to a big vinyl printer-cutter.

I have been working with computer cut vinyl for years.

(I airbrush for a living)

I regularly use paint mask vinyl...its not clear, but its a low tack, high qaulty vinyl that cuts like any sign material.

Its used for sand blasting, painting, etc.

Sometimes, I am at home, and need some quick handmade stencils.

Heres a trick I have used for making handcut stencils...

you need:

-some clear low tack sticky material...(I keep a roll of laminate plastic) clear laminate sheets work, just don't heat them up.

-a piece of clean clear glass (got an old picture frame?)

-a paper printout of the lettering, graphics, artwork, etc at the correct size.

1. clean the glass perfectly and then lay down your sticky clear material onto the topside of the glass.

-try not to press the material down too hard on to the glass (you want to peel it off easily)

2. place the glass over your printout (and tape in place if you want.)

3. now you can handcut your stencil material with your craft knife using the artwork underneath.

4. when you are done, carefully peel up the material and transfer to the object. You might have to separate

the stencil into parts to fit to curved surfaces, and fill in any gaps with tape.

 

[aacmckay]

Thanks cutandfold! The idea of using clear vinyl and a piece of glass over artwork is a great one! I don't think it's going to help out with this project however some future builds that I'll likely do, that trick will work awesome!

I ended up ordering vinyl letters from a local office store that should work for this project. I'm going to run an experiment on some styrene sheets I have laying around, and then if all works out paint the body for the car in the same manner. I will update on my progress when that is complete.

 

[aacmckay]

Vinyl letters are in from the office supply store FINALLY! Hoping to get back at that model this weekend and get the paint-job wrapped up I just have to quickly test with some spare styrene to make sure they mask appropriately, aren't affected by solvents, and don't tear, mark, or mar up the paint below. Will post updates as to how the experiment went.

 

[krow113]

I hope your vinyl letters work.

If not drop me a pm , I do custom masks for modellers.

I have a 30" cutter and use the mask described earlier in the thread.

Good luck!

 

[aacmckay]

Thanks krow113. I'll let you know if I need anything. So far looking good.

I did have an issue with the vinyl leaving a residue on the paint. However it looks like Goo Gone managed to lift it without affecting the paint! Hoping to get that model finished up in the next week now. Will post my test paint job and the final car when I'm done!

 

[krow113]

For passive residue removal , use the vinyl or tape on itself ,'dabbing' the residue with the sticky side.

 

[aacmckay]

Okay so here's an update to this experiment.

So for the numbers, as I mentioned I ordered precut vinyl letters from a office supply store. They're okay, but not great. Either cut with a hot stamp or laser as the edges are quite rough and it is especially noticeable on the smaller letters.

For other lines I used vinyl sheets for making vinyl designs on walls in your house from a local art supply store. I also had some laser printer labels printing designs on to.

Step one was to create the hand cut vinyl pieces. I scanned the decals and printed the shape of the decals I wanted out on the laser printer labels:

Scanned and printed labels:

View attachment 71012


Vinyl Sheet:

View attachment 71014


Labels on the back of the Vinyl sheet:

View attachment 71013


I then cut the pattern out using my trust x-acto knife.

Here's a picture of the model with the vinyl stickers applied:

View attachment 71015


Unfortunately I didn't take one with the numbers applied as well. From there just my usual process of painting. Vinyl is a bit thick so once the stickers were removed there was a ridge on all the paint lines. Took the goo gone to the model to clean up any residue. From there I wet sanded around the lines from 3200 grit up to 12000 grit micro mesh. Did a fantastic job of taking the edges down to a point where clear coat can cover up the rest:

View attachment 71016


Here's a shot of the final results. It's definitely not perfect but this is still a learning process for me. My story is that this is a well worn race car! So a little bit of paint bleed and over sanding in a couple of spots just adds to the wear look. I think a couple of more models and I should have this down to a process that I can get a very accurate and clean paint job.

View attachment 71017


View attachment 71018


View attachment 71019


As I said not perfect. But I think I can refine the whole process moving forward.

- Andrew

 

[eddiesolo]

Okay so here's an update to this experiment.So for the numbers, as I mentioned I ordered precut vinyl letters from a office supply store. They're okay, but not great. Either cut with a hot stamp or laser as the edges are quite rough and it is especially noticeable on the smaller letters.

For other lines I used vinyl sheets for making vinyl designs on walls in your house from a local art supply store. I also had some laser printer labels printing designs on to.

Step one was to create the hand cut vinyl pieces. I scanned the decals and printed the shape of the decals I wanted out on the laser printer labels:

Scanned and printed labels:

View attachment 70233

Vinyl Sheet:

View attachment 70235

Labels on the back of the Vinyl sheet:

View attachment 70234

I then cut the pattern out using my trust x-acto knife.

Here's a picture of the model with the vinyl stickers applied:

View attachment 70236

Unfortunately I didn't take one with the numbers applied as well. From there just my usual process of painting. Vinyl is a bit thick so once the stickers were removed there was a ridge on all the paint lines. Took the goo gone to the model to clean up any residue. From there I wet sanded around the lines from 3200 grit up to 12000 grit micro mesh. Did a fantastic job of taking the edges down to a point where clear coat can cover up the rest:

View attachment 70237

Here's a shot of the final results. It's definitely not perfect but this is still a learning process for me. My story is that this is a well worn race car! So a little bit of paint bleed and over sanding in a couple of spots just adds to the wear look. I think a couple of more models and I should have this down to a process that I can get a very accurate and clean paint job.

View attachment 70238

View attachment 70239

View attachment 70240

As I said not perfect. But I think I can refine the whole process moving forward.

- Andrew

Hi Andrew, I think they look superb mate. The Mini is really looking the dogs-dangly-bits.

Si

 

[aacmckay]

Thanks Si! Wish I could say it was 100% intentional, but I'm just going to run with it since it's turning out that way.

 

[eddiesolo]

Thanks Si! Wish I could say it was 100% intentional, but I'm just going to run with it since it's turning out that way.

Intentional or not, it worked and your spot on to run with it...looks superb.

Si

 

[cryton 5]

some nice work