Kevin Futter

Another question for you guys: would you prefer a separate category for things like code letters and serial numbers, or just include them in the relevant National Insignia categories? I'm leaning towards the latter personally, as otherwise we'd probably have to have a whole bunch of subcategories under Codes & Serials, probably with hardly anything in them. But, I thought I'd throw it out to you guys for some input before committing.

Kev

5 hours ago, D Bellis said:

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

Right. Me too!

Kev

Thanks for your impressions, Max. We've just had a new member join who is a Cricut user, so I'm hoping he'll share his experiences and perspectives on the brand. I'd also like for us to be able to publish some hardware reviews and evaluations at some point.

Kev

Welcome aboard, Richard!

Kev

Welcome, Håkan!

Great to have you here, mate. Looks like we have quite a few members who don't have the gear yet, but are planning to.

Kev

Welcome aboard, Ray!

Kev

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

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

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

OK @Thomas Lund, I think I've added screenshot thumbnails to all your uploads now. Let me know if I've missed any!

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

Superb, Brian! HK Models kit, if I remember correctly?

Kev

Cool!

Kev

Can you add an explanation for this one, Brian? I can tell from the category that they're WW2 RAF codes and serials, but I'm not sure for what.

Kev

Nice one, Brian. I need to update the submission form to include kit and scale details when they're appropriate. Just not sure if we'll be able to retrospectively apply that data.

Kev

Welcome aboard, Kevin!

Kev

Welcome aboard, Denzil!

Great to see some creative applications of the technology! Looking forward to seeing what else you've got up your sleeve.

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

Welcome aboard!

Kev

3 minutes ago, D Bellis said:

Yes, and those should be labeled with the scale and kit they are designed to fit. 

 

I'd also suggest having a sticky post in each category with some sort of index for the files available in that category. That approach is common on gamer and R/C airplane forums (probably many others, too) with user-uploaded content, and it really helps other users find what they're looking for without digging through 500+ pages of topics/posts.

 

D

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

Welcome aboard, Mike!

Great to have you here.

Kev

I originally built this model some time in the early '90s, after just getting back into the hobby from a long layoff. In 2007, I decided to rebuild it rather than toss it out, and can actually present before and after photos!

Here it is as originally built and painted, prior to being disassembled for the rebuild (apologies for the crappy photo):

And after several months' work, which featured lots of scratchbuilding and a complete rescribe, here's the renovated result:

Needless to say, all the markings, save for the tail number and a few stencils, were painted on using hand-cut masks (this was long before consumer-level craft cutters had become commonplace). Still one of my most enjoyable builds!

Kev

Howdy folks,

I've just created a new section in the forums called Models, under which there is a new forum called Gallery:

https://www.scalemodelpaintmasks.com/index.php?/forum/17-gallery/

The purpose of this new section is to have a place where you guys can show off the fruits of your masking labours. Generally speaking, the models should have some relevance to the core purpose of this site, so bear that in mind. If we get enough submissions, I may consider creating genre-based subcategories.

But for now, have fun - and show us your builds!

Kev

If you've painted a model using paint masks, this forum is the place to show them off! It can be masks you've cut yourself, either manually or using a cutter, or they could be from a commercial mask set you bought. Just include a brief explanation for the benefit of your readers.

Note that you can't upload your model photos directly to the forums, and will have to link them from a third-party image host, such as Imgur or ImageShack.

I look forward to seeing all your fantastic builds!

Kev

@Out2gtcha Brian, I've just added screenshots to your uploaded files. @Thomas Lund Thomas, I'll try to get some done for your uploads in the next round.

Kev