Tutorials

Hello, fellas ! Here's how I create masks with my Silhouette Cameo for my example of W.Nr for 1/32 German aircraft. Of course, it also works for letters. I noticed that the masks featuring numbers with an inner recess (0, 4, 6, 8 and 9) were torn. The cause was that the Cameo's blade passed too close (the numbers are really very small) to both the outer contour and to cut the recesses. To solve this problem, here's what I do: 1-I select the "text" function in the left-hand column and on the right I choose the font and also the size of the text so that it's as large as possible while still fitting entirely within the Studio window : …

I came across this interesting playlist of ten videos today: Great for beginners since he covers all the basics .... plus some. There are "alternate" ways to do many tasks in Studio other than as shown in this series (of course). For example, instead of Copy and then Paste, merely click on object, then press Alt key to drag a copy to a new location. That feature is particularly handy to place and cut a new copy of an object close to the original -- saves material. Gene K

How do I create a canopy mask set from scratch? Scan drawing and size it to scale? How do you account for the curvature of the real canopy? Any tutorials out there?

I thought I'd drop this in here. It's how I separated the markings masks for my Hellcat project. All the markings on the Hellcat are painted. F6F-3 Hellcat [Trumpeter] - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes The 00 masks were made using the typeface USN Stencil, AmarilloUSAF, or USAF Code. The reference photos seemed to be closer to AmarilloUSAF and sized appropriately. The stripe on the tail was Tamiya tape. And of course, the national markings were masks created in Silhouette Studio. I also created canopy masks. There aren't any decals on the hellcat model. I used AutoCAD to create these masks, exported a dxf file w…

View File Stars & Bars - 1/32 P-51D At Kev's request, I'm re-posting this content from Large Scale Planes. It shows in some detail how I used the attached cutter file to paint a simple insignia on my 1:32 P-51D. I started by making a cutter file in the software that comes with the Silhouette Cameo machine. I did this by scanning the decal sheet and tracing over it, although for something as common as the US fighter plane insignia you could find a vector art file or pre-existing cutter file many places on line. I made my own because I wanted to tweak them a touch for my planned painting process. I made the…

I'm building the Silver Wings 1/32 scale Tiger Moth, specifically this aircraft: since it was flown by my father in 1943 during his pilot training is S Rhodesia. It presents a few problems for masking, most notably the chequerboard band on the rear fuselage (just visible behind the strut) and the large, rather unorthodox "35" on the fuselage. To do the chequered band I wrapped some thin masking tape around the fuselage having decided that a scale 4mm was about right for each square, and there are three columns. So the forward and rear masking tapes were 12mm apart. The taper on the fuselage is the tricky bit because clearly the "circ…

Working with a Cameo 4 and I managed to get a set of masks cut (using Oramask 810). I had to guess at the material I was cutting and chose Vinyl-Matte... It seemed to work well. There's so many questions I have about doing artwork for cutting. I use Adobe Illustrator but I have not yet invested in the upgraded Silouette software (that's about to change though). Are there instructions on how to design artwork, how to set up the roll feed, and why the damn machine always throws out way more material out the back than I need (using the rear cutter)? I had to rewind the roll and cut only what I needed from said roll with a pair of scissors...not the neatest cut by far s…

Can someone who have successfully used silhouette studios software to make masks please supply us with a step by step guide as to how to even draw a simple line, import a scan of a decal sheet to use as background, maybe even use the trace feature etc that do not SKIP 90% of the steps involved. I see a lot of tutorials that do not even get anywhere near explaining what button to push, what mouseclick does what. "You just do this and that, I am too lazy to explain the 4000 houres of cursing, blood-curdling frustration and screaming at the screen, or I just enjoy knowing that someone else is having to go through all that before they can even draw a simple shape" …

Ok... this may be considered to be a shameless plug of my YouTube channel; but it is actually a tutorial 😄 Hope you find it useful 😉

I've done the nose of my Lightning this afternoon so recorded the masking sequence that I followed. This isn't the only way of doing it, there are shortcuts when transferring the mask to the transfer piece for instance but this is how I did this particular one today: Firstly I prepared an "empty" mask, a negative one if you like just to get its position right and to spray the background white areas ready for the roundel and the chequerboard: Then I took my transfer piece and placed it over the mask, carefully lifting it from its backing sheet onto the transfer piece. This is fiddly and needs care: …

No, I'm not trying to blaspheme, but you can make the thinnest decals in the world this way. There are circumstances where masking the surface of your model is simply not going to work as I discovered during my SBD build HERE. So, keep this idea in you bag of tricks for future reference. You will need a quality clear decal film like the one available from Microscale and LACQUER paints. Assuming you have your Oramask 810 masks ready get started by painting your decals. Make extras! Carefully sliced through the clear film only leaving a small area to grip with my clamping tweezers. Do not cut the decal paper close because as you pul…

Over on LSP I'm doing a Dragon Bf110G-4, the extract in the link shows a less-than-successful attempt at doing the Hakenkreuze on the fins, and thanks to Quang and his expertise, the easier way....also shown below for a quick ref.: Hope it helps, it's certainly the best way that I've "found" of doing these tricky symbols. Max

Here are the settings I use when cutting Oramask 810. NOTE: Since this picture was made I've increased the speed to 6. Perhaps it could be set at a higher speed but that's your decision. OVERCUT simply extends the corner cuts beyond the apex and guarantees the corners are sharp and the mask pieces separate completely.

This a tutorial how to rescale your items its the way i do it i hope it helps: feel free to corect it i am not a pro 🙂 Https://www.scalemodel.gr/scale.pdf

I've been doing the serial numbers for my Lightning this morning so here's the way that I went about it, but firstly a reminder of the main tools: I scanned the decal sheet that came with the kit and put the image into my photographs folder. then dragged the image into the Silhouette drawing area, scaling the image to a convenient size and clicking "send to back" (top tool bar) so that I could draw over it. I'm doing XS901, so I could trace the X and S and the 9. I started with the 9. The centre looked circular to me so I selected the line/circle tool and drew the inner. I copied this and enlarged it for the outer co…

A small addition to the earlier "tutorial", this time cutting plastic instead of vinyl. For my Lightning I needed to make two ventral fins from 30 thou plastic card. Accurate scale drawings were part of Echelon's instructions, so I scanned these: ....saved the scan to my photo album then dragged the image onto the Silhouette screen: the drawing again being scaled to a workable size. Then the fin was traced, the only slightly tricky bit (not really!) was the curve. When you click on the drawing tool icon, one of the options given is to draw a curve. Select this, click your mouse at the starting point then makes series …

One of the skills, perhaps considerations might be a more accurate word that I’ve learned over the years that I’ve been using my cutter, is how to efficiently draw the designs. My favourite “buttons” on the top tool bar are “copy” (Ctrl +C), “paste” (Ctrl +V), “Object” - the drop down menu enables a mirror or flip function, and “Group/Ungroup” (Ctrl+Shift) which enables you to select drawn lines/shapes and group them as one entity. Being familiar with these few keys gives you the ability to be able to draw shapes quickly and accurately and to make the best use of the design software. I am by no means whatsoever claiming to be an expert with these things, more a f…