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Asking for advice on which cutter to buy


bushande

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Hello gentlemen,

 

I'm popping over from the LSP forum where I received info of that fine forum after I tried to find out about the whatishwats regarding paintmasks.

The idea of a dedicated forum on a topic that still seems relatively young in the modelling world at such an early stage is actually a pretty good one and I am hoping to gather some help and insight over time even though I still won't be able to contribute much myself at the moment being an absolute beginner.

 

As indicated I am still absolutely new to the topic and tried to gather some first insights into the whole matter. So now I am standing before the decision most of you sttod before as well .... i.e. which cutter to buy.

 

My main modelling topic are modern military aircraft and at least currently mainly US Navy jets with the one or other more exotic bird throughn inbetween in 1/32 and 1/48.

The major aspect for my buying decision is hence how small can an affordable cutting machine do. Many markings would involve the intricate squadron insignia and I think the max I would hope for a cutting machine to be able to do are the little BuNo serial numbers of modern jets. These serial numbers are in 1/32 about 3mm high and 2mm wide and the thickness of each letter would be about 1mm. I guess that would be the max. performance that I would be eyeing for. I suppose little crew names on the canopy rail and stencils are still way off the scale in terms of detailed cuts but I sure would hope that the small serial numbers in 1/32 would be possible.

 

Cany anyone here give me some hint whether models like the Silhouette cameo or the Silhouette portrait would be able to do such small cuts or if I would have to invest even more cash for higher end machines?

 

I cannot afford buying too sophisticated machines so currently I am hopping back and forth between Cameo and Portrait models. I sure hope at least one of them would be able to cut that small. What else besides the cutter would I have to consider in terms of hardware and additional stuff. Do additional blades and also extra cutting mats make sense?

 

Many thanks in advance for any good advice and happy to be on board.

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Welcome aboard, sir!

 

:default_post1:

 

It's ironic that even though I run the site, I'm no expert at mask cutting myself! That's partly why I created the site, I guess. That said, I personally use a Silhouette Portrait, and find it fine for my needs. I don't think the Cameo is capable of cutting any finer or smaller, but rather, it can handle larger material sizes, and a wider variety of them I believe. I don't have any additional blades or cutting mats, and just use the supplied free version of the Silhouette Studio software.

 

I went with the Portrait partly because it was cheaper, partly because it has a much smaller footprint, and partly because reviews suggested it was perfectly fine for my needs when compared with the Cameo. So, the Portrait would be my suggestion!

 

Kev

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Hello bushande.  The sizes that you are talking about are absolutely right on the limit with what is possible for I think any cutting machine, 3 to 4mm is the smallest that I’ve cut in 7 years of using my Silhouette machine.  It can cope slightly better with more square letters and numbers like “T”, “E”, “1”, “4”, “7” etc but any number involving a curve or “centres” cause problems, with "B" and “8” possibly being the most demanding and “S” being challenging. I always cut multiples of these small areas so that I can pick the best.

 

iDgJPf.jpg

 

This is a Spitfire that I did some years ago when I was fairly new to masking making, the letters are 3 to 4mm high.  You can judge for yourself which work better than others, and experience has shown me how to improve some of the less than satisfactory parts here.  Hope this helps a little.

Max

Edited by Mozart
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Many many thanks for the getback gentlemen,

that is already very valuable information. The protrait is just for quite a few of the reasons you all stated also my current primary option. That it cuts about as fine as the cameo is an important bit of info for me.

 

Now I just need to find out, if it really cuts fine enough.

 

I'll just go ahead and make a jump for the portrait and see how it works.

Many thanks for all the good comments.

Edited by bushande
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I think I may have mentioned that I was considering a purchase.  After reading this and other threads here and on LSP, and after vacillating between the Cameo 4 and the Portrait 3, I've gone for the latter.  It looks like it will do what I need it to, it's smaller, and I wasn't sure the extra features and facilities on the Cameo were worth the price difference.  Looking forward to trying a few masks.

 

Thanks for all the helpful advice. 👍

Edited by MikeC
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  • 1 month later...

Oh my! I tried it out now (still need to process the images of the final model so will need some time for pictures) but .... this thing is awesome! I practically did a whole 1/32 Tomcat without any decals! The Portrait can do letters down to less than a mm thickness and less than two mm hight. If you are familiar with modern US Navy lettering you might grasp what it can do but I did masks for things as tiny as the little aircraft type letters above the already small BuNo and I also was able to cut the small "danger / jet intake" letters within the warning stripes of the intake trunks, heck even the small "no step" markings are possible. Granted applying that small stuff to the model is an aweful hassle and takes a lot of time, a magnifier and a steady hand but it pays off in the end.

 

I'm sooooooo happy I made the jump. 200 bugs well invested. As soon as I'm fully done I'll show some images.

Edited by bushande
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