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I had always planned on picking up a cutter, and now I have a very good reason to 🙂 Hope to contribute here once I'm up n running, open to machine suggestions also, drop yours below!

One of the areas I'd like to explore here is the ability of the various software packages used in mask production to convert to other formats used by other packages. For example, are there converter utilities for the Sihouette Studio format, or even DXF? Can someone who uses a Cricut machine download one of Brian's files, and convert it to a Cricut-compatible format for use with their machine? What formats do the various software packages support natively? I think answering these and similar questions here in the forums could provide great value to the community. Eventually I'd like to establish an FAQ section, where modellers can get their common questions answered quickly and easily. Kev

Excellent! Welcome aboard, D. I've yet to put together some instructions on how it all works, but hope to at some stage. The familiar-looking forum software is a bit of a trap, however, as all the file management stuff is done in the Downloads section (available from the main navigation menu above, sandwiched between Forums and Calendar). The site will grow and evolve over time, and community direction will be a big part of shaping that evolution. Kev

husband, father, Balloon Ground Crew, RFS Volunteer, AvGeek, Model builder, Aviation/Astrophotographer Mmmm🤔 Yeah, I think will about some it.

Howdy everyone, another LSPer here! I'm an aircraft mechanic during the day, and after seeing the results guys were getting with paint masks, I thought I could apply the technique to full sized aircraft. The shop I worked at did a lot of high end avionics upgrades, and the need for unique stencils and placards allowed me to convince the boss to buy a Cameo III for that purpose. Since It was my idea, I got tasked with learning and putting it to use. Here are a few results. This is a circuit breaker panel from a Cessna 172 An entire brand new panel for a Piper Commanche 400

Long time LSP member and modeler here. While I've not yet entered the world of custom masks, aside from some Montex store bought goodies, I anxiously look forward to learning more, and most certainly will benefit from some custom stuff, in the hopefully not too distant future. Kevin

Hi everyone! Also LSP member and thinks masks are interesting. Have plans to get a plotter, but that might be a bit into the future. Cheers, Håkan

Once I get it figured out, I'll definitely be sharing whatever I come up with. D

Right. Me too! Kev

Silhouette is the market leader and I believe offers the most flexibility and range. Another popular brand is Cricut; I have no personal experience with these but users on the Facebook group about mask cutting give the impression that they are not as well suited to the tasks that we as modellers require. Max

Negotiating the forums here wil come with familiarity and time. I was referring more to the whole drawing masks thing that I'm still a total neophyte at doing. 😉 D

Welcome aboard, Rainer! Great to have you here. As it happens, I've never made paint masks either, despite owning a Silhouette Portrait for nearly 2 years now! I'm here to learn, too. Kev

Hello People, Good to be here, and I can see a few familiar names from the LSP forums. I'm relatively new to using masks, although I've dabbled in the past. I don't have a cutter (one day perhaps), but I'm fortunate to have a friend in my IPMS branch who does, and he's done me a set for a Spitfire in RAAF markings that I'm working on at the moment. Lots to learn, looking forward to it.

I'm not familiar with the Silhouette cutters, but I'd be quite surprised, if the software couldn't read EPS-files. EPS is pretty much a standard file format in the graphics industry (however, PDF is more popular nowadays ... ). All the vector graphics programs like Illustrator or CorelDraw or what have you support EPS, so I think it should be a good choice here as well. Cheers Rainer

OK folks, I've added a new subcategory for canopy masks under the Aircraft parent category, and also added new optional fields to the submission form for Scale and Intended Kit. These two fields only need to be filled in if they're relevant for the mask files you're uploading. Kev

I'd love to see more paint masks for airliners generally. I know that they can be a bit tricky in 1/144 scale, but there are plenty of larger subjects around that could benefit from the technology I reckon. Kev

Welcome aboard, Kevin! Kev

After that, I played around with different designs, making some stickers for various applications. Stickers on my car Laptop I've since moved on from that job, so I'll be buying a Cameo IV to cut the masks for the 1/32 ME110 thats half built on my bench! Super excited to see what you guys all come up with 😁 Denzil

Welcome aboard! Kev

The Downloads section is organised based on the assigned categories, and works quite differently to the Forums section (i.e., you can't make posts there, only comments and reviews on uploads). If any single category gets too big, then we can break it into more specific subcategories. But we're a long way from having to worry about that just yet. What you see here in the forums under Scale Model Paint Masks is merely a set of automated notification posts - every time a new file is uploaded to the Downloads section, a corresponding notification is automatically posted to the forums. So you can track what's new using the forums, but for searching or browsing the catalogue of available files, you'd use the Downloads section. Kev