ridinframe Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 If you have someone with a cricut cutting machine, i realized they can be use to cut custom vinyl letters for the sides of your race/drag cars.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Yessir! They're great for that - but the vinyl is often too thick to be in scale, and doesn't always react well to clear coat. What I like to do is use a masking material like Oramask 815 on the same machine to cut custom paint masks and airbrush whatever lettering or graphics you come up with instead: Full step by step here (or in the current MCM!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 The more I see what people are doing with these things, the more I think I need one. It's apparent flexibility in cutting lettering and masks is incredible. Judging by Jim's example above, the possibilities seem endless. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCRWDRVR Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 I used a cutter like that for my stencil for my 39, I have a build in the worked I plan to use it for lettering for my first time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Has anyone tried to cut BMF with one of these? I have a stock car project, and the door numbers have a chromy look. Been scratching my head how to replicate them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Bainford said: Has anyone tried to cut BMF with one of these? I have a stock car project, and the door numbers have a chromy look. Been scratching my head how to replicate them. Yes sir - have tried…haven’t succeeded. The BMF tears too easily to be easily transferred from the sheet to the car. Cutting it isn’t super easy with the cutter either, for the same reasons For mirror-y stuff I would either cut a mask and shoot Molotow (or Alclad, but then you need to add a black layer first) or get some CHEAP signwriter’s chrome vinyl. Cheap stuff is best because the worse the quality, the thinner (and this more in-scale) it is… I’ve been messing with a technique to use one of these machines to lay down gold and silver leaf, but I haven’t figured it out yet…I had an entire day of failures last weekend trying to figure it out but I have some new ideas for this coming weekend that I’m excited to try… Edited March 11, 2022 by CabDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straightliner59 Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 3 hours ago, CabDriver said: Yes sir - have tried…haven’t succeeded. The BMF tears too easily to be easily transferred from the sheet to the car. Cutting it isn’t super easy with the cutter either, for the same reasons For mirror-y stuff I would either cut a mask and shoot Molotow (or Alclad, but then you need to add a black layer first) or get some CHEAP signwriter’s chrome vinyl. Cheap stuff is best because the worse the quality, the thinner (and this more in-scale) it is… I’ve been messing with a technique to use one of these machines to lay down gold and silver leaf, but I haven’t figured it out yet…I had an entire day of failures last weekend trying to figure it out but I have some new ideas for this coming weekend that I’m excited to try… What gold/silver leaf are you using? The stuff I have uses a liquid adhesive that could be applied "through" a mask. Then, the leaf could be applied over that. I have a couple of different kinds, here. One is applied to a Mylar sheet, and is a solid (bright) gold. The other is super-thin metal flakes of various colors, that are dropped onto the adhesive, pressed in, then the excess is rubbed off. I plan to attempt it with my Cricut--which, after nearly five years, I finally hooked up and turned on, last Saturday! I agree with you--the chrome vinyl is excellent for mirrors! I will really begin exploring (no pun intended) what the Cricut will do, pretty soon! I remember when they were first introduced, when only their proprietary could be used--my then girlfriend bought one for scrapbooking. I told her that, if they would ever make it so that you could use your own artwork to program it, they would open up an entirely new market, for themselves. I'm very excited to test its limitations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 12 hours ago, CabDriver said: Yes sir - have tried…haven’t succeeded. The BMF tears too easily to be easily transferred from the sheet to the car. Cutting it isn’t super easy with the cutter either, for the same reasons For mirror-y stuff I would either cut a mask and shoot Molotow (or Alclad, but then you need to add a black layer first) or get some CHEAP signwriter’s chrome vinyl. Cheap stuff is best because the worse the quality, the thinner (and this more in-scale) it is… I’ve been messing with a technique to use one of these machines to lay down gold and silver leaf, but I haven’t figured it out yet…I had an entire day of failures last weekend trying to figure it out but I have some new ideas for this coming weekend that I’m excited to try… Cheers, Jim. I figured that might be the case. That chrome like stuff offered by Hasegawa, which some report to be a bit 'vinyl-like', might be better suited. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 21 hours ago, Straightliner59 said: What gold/silver leaf are you using? The stuff I have uses a liquid adhesive that could be applied "through" a mask. Then, the leaf could be applied over that. I have a couple of different kinds, here. One is applied to a Mylar sheet, and is a solid (bright) gold. The other is super-thin metal flakes of various colors, that are dropped onto the adhesive, pressed in, then the excess is rubbed off. I plan to attempt it with my Cricut--which, after nearly five years, I finally hooked up and turned on, last Saturday! I agree with you--the chrome vinyl is excellent for mirrors! I will really begin exploring (no pun intended) what the Cricut will do, pretty soon! I remember when they were first introduced, when only their proprietary could be used--my then girlfriend bought one for scrapbooking. I told her that, if they would ever make it so that you could use your own artwork to program it, they would open up an entirely new market, for themselves. I'm very excited to test its limitations! I’ll be REALLY interested to see how you get on with this project - you’re basically doing the same experiments as I am right now! I picked up various different colors and thicknesses of leaf from Amazon…I‘m trying to do basically what you described - use a stencil to lay down the adhesive (or Elmers, or clear paint, or whatever) and then lay the leaf over that. I think I’ve got a good technique down for larger lettering (say, 1/2” or above in this case) but I’m really trying to figure out if I can make the same technique work for MUCH smaller lettering (more like 1/8”). My backup plan, and one I use for painting too, is to do the process backwards…lay down a larger piece of leaf before paint, then clear coat to protect it, mask over THAT and spray the body color and remove the masks. Haven’t specifically tried that yet, but I do that pretty often with paint instead of leaf so I’m pretty confident it would work ok. 11 hours ago, Bainford said: Cheers, Jim. I figured that might be the case. That chrome like stuff offered by Hasegawa, which some report to be a bit 'vinyl-like', might be better suited. I bet it would, yes!! I should pick some up to experiment with! Will report back as/if/when I get around to it 🤪 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straightliner59 Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 2 hours ago, CabDriver said: I’ll be REALLY interested to see how you get on with this project - you’re basically doing the same experiments as I am right now! I picked up various different colors and thicknesses of leaf from Amazon…I‘m trying to do basically what you described - use a stencil to lay down the adhesive (or Elmers, or clear paint, or whatever) and then lay the leaf over that. I think I’ve got a good technique down for larger lettering (say, 1/2” or above in this case) but I’m really trying to figure out if I can make the same technique work for MUCH smaller lettering (more like 1/8”). My backup plan, and one I use for painting too, is to do the process backwards…lay down a larger piece of leaf before paint, then clear coat to protect it, mask over THAT and spray the body color and remove the masks. Haven’t specifically tried that yet, but I do that pretty often with paint instead of leaf so I’m pretty confident it would work ok. I did this, back in the '00s. I hand cut the stencil from contact paper, and brushed on the adhesive ("size" is apparently the technical term). Mine is Speedball "Mona Lisa" brand. I don't have a photo of the bottle of flakes--they're in an old plastic sandwich picks bottle--so, I reckon one of my friends gave them to me. Anyway, here is the metal flake over the size, on a Revell '34 Ford snapper (it's one of my favorite kits!). I'll use One-Shot to outline the numbers. Next time I use it, I will try to reduce the flakes, in size... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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