MikeC

On 7/16/2026 at 9:43 PM, Mozart said:

... I’d highly recommend Cricut transfer sheets for aligning the masks accurately. The “Tamiya” tape sheets are very expensive in comparison to Oramask and I find less forgiving to cut, but that could just be me.

Max

Seconded on the Cricut transfer tape.

Re the Tamiya sheets: I must confess I saw the pack I've got on sale, and bought said pack out of curiosity to try it. It's OK, as I said above, but perhaps is more expensive than other materials: I've not done the maths, I confess.

Hi John,

Welcome aboard.

Sadly, I'm another Instagram non-user, so can't see your work either.

Mike

I use Artool Ultra Mask, which is similar to Oramask, but some say a little less tacky. It is available on a roll or in packs of A4 sheets. I've also tried the Tamiya sheets. Plus points: The Tamiya sheets work, and have a printed grid to aid alignment. The downside is that it is not particularly transparent, which in some circumstances can make placing and alignment more difficult.

Hi Rudy,

Welcome aboard. Tinkering and experimenting is just what I did when I got into making masks. It's interesting to work out exactly what you can do. Have fun.

Hi Daniel, welcome aboard.

Hi, welcome to our small corner of the online modelling world.

Hi Francis,

Welcome to the forum. As Mozart says, there are no daft questions, so ask away. We've all gone through the initial stage, and for me anyway, it was a process of trial, error and learning, not least when I couldn't get my Portrait 3 to work, and eventually found I was loading the material (Artool Ultra Mask for me) in slightly the wrong place!

Another familiar name: hi Jonners, good to see you here. Welcome aboard.

Hi Pete, welcome.

Thanks Kev. Hopefully not an attempted attack, another instance of the outbreak of modelling site hacking (eg LSM) which seems to have broken out lately.

It's always well to remember that whilst there were and are official standards for fonts, they were not always followed. Unit codes during WW II were generally painted on at unit level, and there was a degree of variation. For example, on a Lancaster I'm doing (LL845/WS:L of IX(B) Sqn) the stroke ends on the "S" are cut off at an angle. Without wishing to seem to promote my own product thread, it does allow any modification needed.

I daresay that those who know more about drawing software and file formats than I do can come up with other methods, and that's as it should be.

Hello and welcome from the UK.

Hi, and welcome to the Dark Side wonderful world of masking.

I the "lo-tack" version of the Silhouette cutting mat, which for some reason they don't include with the cutter. I got mine from the UK supplier where I bought my Portrait 3, I'm not sure where you'd get one in Canada but I assume they would be available.

Hola y bienvenido. 👋

I don't have a Phantom, but I did need to cut some plastic sheet. I remembered this, and hoped you'd included the relevant settings: you had.

So thank you! (I don't know where the emojis have gone, they don't seem to work, so please imagine a smiling thumbs-up.)

On 1/30/2026 at 11:48 AM, PinehillJoe said:

Well done! What tips can you offer when painting roundels? How do you ensure the next stencil you apply is centered, simply use the Mk I Eyeball?

Thanks.

Basically, work from the centre out. What I've come to after reading a few "how-tos" and getting it wrong a few times since this model is to:

Weed out the entire roundel, leaving only the surround in place on the model.

Paint the entire roundel white (assuming a red/white/blue roundel)..

Put the entire roundel mask back apart from the red centre: spray that red.

Leaving the white, mask the red centre. Some folk make a separate centre circle slightly bigger than the red, or use liquid mask, to make sure the red/white demarcation is covered.

Remove the mask where the blue will be, and spray that.

Voila, one roundel.

Using transfer tape helps to keep the mask elements in line, but it is mainly eyeballed.

On 12/31/2025 at 9:05 PM, denders said:

I've been using Artool Ultramask. It is very similar to 810.

I use this too, it works for my purposes. But one small point: the product name is two words, "Ultra Mask". I'm sorry to correct you, I'm not trying to be pedantic, but it's caught me out before, wondering why I can't find any "Ultramask" online.

Bonjour Pascal, bienvenue.

Hi, and welcome aboard.

I would have expected better (using Portrait 3 with Artool Ultra Mask), but most of the solutions have been mentioned already. As a last resort you could try superimposing two masks with the imperfections in a different place, so the net result is a circle. Other than that, post-spray touch-up with a brush is not ideal, but could be acceptable.

Hi, welcome aboard.

Well hello, welcome aboard. You'll find quite a few names from LSP here. Do you use the same "handle" there, or something different?

aboard, there are a few here who are also on BM, and if you ever frequent LSP (I assume you've at least looked it over, given the scales you mention) you'll also find some familiar "handles".

Hi, welcome aboard 👋 . I'm a mere yoof, I'm afraid - by the time I started Airfix kits were 2 bob.

Spitfire Tr-9-G-CCCA.studio3

I debated whether to put this in "Military" or "Civil", but decided that as the aircraft has a Civilian registration it's probably more appropriate here. If that's incorrect, please let me know.

This is an alternative scheme for the Airfix Tr9 two-seat Spitfire. In fact, it is the boxtop option (Irish Air Corps no 161) at a later point in its existence. It wore this scheme from about 2009-2010 for a few years, but now flies wearing its original serial number, PV202, and the codes "JW". The full history can be found here under that number: http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p094.html

A good set of photos of this bird by various photographers at various points in its career can be found on ABPic and no doubt on other sites. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/search?registration=G-CCCA&date_taken=&information=&tag_fields=%5B%5D

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