Scale model stencils with a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter. 

In the beginning, I mentioned German insignia which makes no sense in context. The reason is that I was cutting decals for both a P-40 and a BF-109 at the same time and planned on including both in the video, but ended up editing out all of the parts of cutting the German aircraft crosses (Balkenkreuz) to cut down the length of the video as it would be redundant.

The bit about first spraying the base coat over the mask to "seal" the edges against color bleed is an excellent one, and I haven't heard it elsewhere, so thank you!

Great tutorial. And I really liked the Grateful Dead reference . Lol 😎💙

By far the best demo I've seen regarding the use of stencils and masks to apply insignias to aircraft models. Excellent tips as well. Nice work!

I purchased my first set of Masks form a guy on Large Scale Models forum. The first thing he said when instructing me on how to use them was. Never do White first. Always do the base color on the mask (Blue for the Insignia.) Then Align the white mask and paint it. Otherwise you always get that Halo effect. YOur painting method and colors look perfect!

I spray the colour of the model your painting first very lightly just to seal the edges then the white works every time and no block colours showing through. 😊👍

Instead, I drew reference lines on the mask based on the model instructions. After painting the circle, I lined up the star with my drawn reference lines.

The method I've settled on is to paint the national markings over my primer layer, carefully cover them with an overlay stencil to protect the finished marking, then paint the rest of the the paint scheme. I've managed to avoid the halo effect using this method, although it does require you to cut the additional cover stencil. In cases where I want the underlying camo scheme to ghost through (to replicate markings hastily applied in the field) I place the stencil, apply a clear coat to seal the edges, then paint the markings to the desired opacity. You need to have more than one tool in your toolbox.

I’m not sure about starting with a darker color first...a tip for not getting the white halo is this...once you have the white mask positioned, lay a ring of rolled tackit around the edge. Get it close to the border of the original circle mask. This will keep the border of the white a bit fuzzy...this technique is essentially the same the people use when they want softer edges in their camo. So, now you have a white background with a soft edge that doesn’t go quite to the edge of the mask. Put down your star mask and paint the blue...you shouldn’t have the white halo. The process is a bit more involved but it will eliminate the white edge and it allows me to keep from painting a light color over a dark one...I always try to move from lighter to darker colors.

Nice tutorial and great results 👍🏼

Nice work Rick!

It is far better to paint the white background at the very beginning, then the camo scheme masked with a full circle, and finally the navy blue star. White tends to be very thick if required to be truly opaque on any dark colour. Nice tutorial anyway!

My way to avoid your problem is to paint insignia (or whatever I want to paint using masks) first, and camo later. I case of P-40 I would prime the model firs, paint dark blue area where insignias should go first. Then I would put mask down to protect dark blue part of the roundel. Next step would be to paint white stripe. Once that is dry I would mask it, so painted insignia is protected. I would then paint overspray with thin layer of primer again and paint the camouflage. Once all is painted and masks are removed, you have nice insignias without any white borders. Masking this way is easier as well.

Excellent work. Just found your channel and LOVE the P40(my favorite plane of the war)…nice work on that check board tail also.

These are great machines to have. Along with stencils, I make camouflage and mottle templates when ever I need them as well.

Just started looking into getting the portrait 2, this is very timely👍

G'day Rick. I wondered what Cameo cutter settings you used for the Tamiya masking sheets? I have a Cameo 4 and haven't tried it with the Tamiya sheets yet, but it looks good. Regarding alignment of the USAAF stars with the panel lines, use pen/pencil index lines at the top of the star arms on the circle surrounds to place them correctly. The Tamiya masking sheets should take pencil alignment marks better than Orafol vinyl. I hope this all makes sense.

Thanks!

Still better than I will ever be able to do. 👍

You are a lot heavy with the white paint if you want gonna have it around center and light around the edges you would add that Is that white outer ring

Hey! Great video and result! Would you mind sharing your cut settings for the cameo 4? Id really appreciate it!

To avoid the white edge just do the opposite. Blue first and after the white.

Great video, thank you. How are you finding these on Wikipedia? I'm not having any luck.

Hi Rick. What settings u use for cutting the Tamiya tape? Yours look good.

What did you build your models out of?.????

Military markings are rarely perfect. You made me nervous moving the airbrush around doing a voice over.

I love this vid but…. I may have to stick with decals because i have no idea what you are talking about in the beginning of the vid . Something about programs?? Ugh.