My 1st vinyl cutter assisted paint job (17+ pics)

[EKron]

Hi! Finally got some time to try a paint job with my new vinyl cutter. Thanks go out to the guys that suggested the Oracal 810 paint mask as it worked superbly and really helped speed things up. It took me a bit to trust that it wasn't going to bleed but now I can't wait to get started on the three 450 canopies I'm going to do next.

I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to use my new vinyl cutter and started out just playing around and experimenting thinking I'd probably have to start over at some point but one thing led to the next and suddenly I was ready to shoot the clear coat. Not being one bound by convention, I more or less did my own thing so it may be a little funky but at least it is unique.

I started out with a new Fusano or Canomod canopy for a T-rex 550, don't remember which, and chopped some major holes in the top to keep my ESC and motor cool. It took a surprising amount of time to get these relatively even. The whole bottom side was reshaped too. I added a layer of some strategically placed fiberglass reinforcement inside and filled in the mounting holes drilled for a T-rex then marked and cut my own.



Tossing some plastic up on my bench and hanging a few extra lights, the "paint shop" was open for business. I use an old junk canopy for testing stuff. A simple PVC mount that isn't glued lets me change the angle of what's being held. Inside the canopy, I have a PVC tee with a piece of foam through it wrapped with duct tape sticky side out.



With some plotter cut shapes combined with regular fine line tape, the major sections were masked off.



A few months ago, I had purchased some mini stencils that I never had the chance to use. I scanned them into my computer then used CorelDraw to convert them to vector and sent the design off to the plotter. It took a ton of weeding the paint mask and it was tricky as hell to apply but after laying down the base color, an under layer of the detail, a mist coat of color and then the final detail and another mist coat of color , when I started peeling off the mask, I was most pleased with the result.





So I covered that all up and shot the primary body colors, Auto Air sparkelescent Electric Green to iridescent brite yellow to florescent pink, then shaded the top shape. With some holes courtesy of the plotter, things started to get funky.





Was a bit nervous the Oracal mask could handle solvent based paint but shot the holes with X-otic Colors purple pearl then shaded with some white. The Oracal didn't flinch.



So then I moved to the bottom section without much of a clue what to do. Decided to try painting some numbers and again was impressed what a nice crisp job the Oracal mask could do.



So I shot the last element except for the top with a gradient then cut another mask with the plotter. Then I shot a reverse gradient with different colors, masked it over and did the shading. It came out great, I think?





For the top cockpit area, I cut a honeycomb mask and laid down some heavy metallic aluminum. I then finished it up with a mixed color of blue and black over the whole thing. The honeycomb pattern is kind of subtle unless viewed straight on.

Satisfied, more or less, I moved outside to shoot the clear. I have been using Advantage High Solids urethane 545 and activator and got to use my new mini touch up gun for the first time. With an initial mist coat and 10 to 15 minutes for it to flash, I followed up with three wet coats with the same flash time between each.

Then I cut some screen for the holes. I secured it with little dots of stick epoxy and hope it holds. Wasn't sure what else to do.

So finally, here's how it ended up. Couldn't really get any good pics with my phone but here you go.











It was fun and I learned a lot. It's kind of a mismatch of ideas and I had a few screw ups but I get better with each one and my new vinyl cutter has opened up a lot of possibilities. I can't believe how much time one of these takes and can't grasp how the guys that do this professionally make any money at it? Not that this is is my aspiration - it'd probably work out to two bucks an hour at my speed?

--Elisabeth

[Superfast]

That circuit board section looks awesome! Very nice canopy!

[helihead85]

Awesome work!

[KSHeli]

Hey Elisabeth,

Very impressive paint job, keep it up. Can't wait to see what else you come up with.

[dleaser]

Very nice work. Keep playing, it really feels good when you lay the last coat of clear and see the paint in all its glory.

Don

[wacojoe]

Nice work! I to am new at airbrushing. Just starting out really. Been watching a ton of videos and learning a lot. I just bought a Silhouette Cameo cutter. So I can make my own stencils and masking.

I was wondering what cutter you were using?

[joyd69]

Real nice...................

[chuteopn]

Awesome job Elisabeth. Very creative thinking. Love the circuit board. Never in a million yrs would have thought of that. Fits well.
Love the touch on the struts also !

[EKron]

Thanks, everyone!

I worked on another one all weekend completely unlike anything I've ever seen before but seem to have run out of inspiration so will let it sit and walk by it a few days until it strikes me what to do next. Sure like working on the 550 size canopies more than the 450 size.

Originally Posted by wacojoe

Nice work! I to am new at airbrushing. Just starting out really. Been watching a ton of videos and learning a lot. I just bought a Silhouette Cameo cutter. So I can make my own stencils and masking.

I was wondering what cutter you were using?

The Cameo is what I'm using too and so far it has exceeded my expectations. If I was limited to just using the Studio software with it though I doubt I'd be as happy. Everything I've cut so far I've first created in the CorelDRAW suite, exported to a .dxf then imported into Studio. There is a plug-in from Silhouette for CorelDRAW but it is worthless.

I'd recommend using Oracal 810 for your masking. It comes in 15" rolls that are punched but it's easy enough to cut them down to size. I cut 5 or 6 foot lengths off the roll then cut off the tractor feed holes which leaves me a 2" strip of scrap that comes in handy for general masking. Previously, I've done all my masking with tape but being able to cover a large section with a chunk of the Oracal is so much faster.

When using fine line tape and masking tape for an element, it is usually necessary to trim the masking tape to half the width of the fine line tape. I was concerned the Oracal 810 would bleed or not stick when doing this or be hard to cut with a blade but I haven't had any problems. Inevitably, you will still need some masking tape and there is nothing better I've found other than yellow 3M automotive refinishing tape. If you have an automotive paint supply store where you live, by all means pay them a visit. Take money!

--Elisabeth

[buckers]

Elisabeth, great job. I've just bought a Cameo to use alongside my Roland Stikas. It will cut really small letters. In fact I bought it just to cut 3mm capitals for one job, and it's the best cutter I have for detail work.

Just out of interest, what is the finish around the triangular area that contains the purple balls? Its width is prob 3mm and it looks like metallic vinyl. Intirgued !!

Regards
Phil

[EKron]

Originally Posted by buckers

Elisabeth, great job. I've just bought a Cameo to use alongside my Roland Stikas. It will cut really small letters. In fact I bought it just to cut 3mm capitals for one job, and it's the best cutter I have for detail work.

Just out of interest, what is the finish around the triangular area that contains the purple balls? Its width is prob 3mm and it looks like metallic vinyl. Intirgued !!

Regards
Phil

Good eye! It is a metallic vinyl. It's reflective/holographic material like used for blade decals. I'm not sure I like it but thought I'd give it a try. I've also made a bunch of blade decals too.



A lot of places sell vinyl by the yard or foot and I have a good sampling of most everything I might want to use. Some stuff is only available in or its more economical to buy 24" widths but I have a 6' metal straight edge so it's easy enough to split the 2 foot vinyl in half. Some of the suppliers I've used are: justforcrafters.com, signsplusbanners.com, hhsignsupply.com, procutters.com, and a few others. I'm also geared up to make small signs if needed which is a service I've offered to my customers so all of this is going down as a business expense.






--Elisabeth

[buckers]

Sweet. So I'm presuming you've trimmed it down to say 3mm wide lengths, then just applied it like fineline tape, and cleared over it at some stage?

[EKron]

Originally Posted by buckers

Sweet. So I'm presuming you've trimmed it down to say 3mm wide lengths, then just applied it like fineline tape, and cleared over it at some stage?

No, actually I cut it on the Cameo. The vinyl isn't too bendy and it hasn't been cleared.



It was an afterthought and like I said, I wasn't sure I'd like it. That, plus I haven't seen what happens when I shoot my clear, which is pretty hot chemically, over vinyl. Next batch of clear I do mix up, I'll test it over a few types of vinyl but have read here that it isn't such a good idea and that it may react with the adhesive on the vinyl? If it does work, I'll need to figure how many coats of clear it takes to bury it.

The clearcoat and activator I'm using is $50 bucks a quart, I have to shoot it outside, wear a real cartridge type respirator and for cleanup the only thing that will cut it is urethane reducer at $27 bucks a gallon so it is kind of spendy to play with.

After seeing it done in another thread here, I did pimp my radio to slightly beyond tacky with a metallic red vinyl. For the switch area I used an inkjet printable vinyl that I clearcoated with Krylon acrylic clear from a rattlecan that didn't have any problems so maybe urethane clear might work too?

(don't laugh!)






--Elisabeth

[buckers]

Lot of work gone on there Elisabeth. Mucho praise

As for clear coating over vinyl, the only time I do it is if I have to !! ie I need to put on holographic vinyl or something that just can't be sprayed. You need to go very light and avoid antagonising the glue, and also stopping the vinyl from expanding and wrinking, which seems to be the biggest problem. When you've mastered all that (and I've not!!), you're in the ball park of Jens Munser, and his F1 helmets. If only......................

[airbrushjohn]

that canopy looks amazing! you have way more patience than i ever will!

[SteveNunez]

I'm a full time professional airbrush artist and I commend you on the job, well done......lots of effort and the results look great!
Thumbs up!

Steve
www.stevenunez.com

[EKron]

Originally Posted by SteveNunez

I'm a full time professional airbrush artist and I commend you on the job, well done......lots of effort and the results look great!
Thumbs up!

Steve
www.stevenunez.com

Wow! That's quite a compliment. Thank you!

I've looked at your site and am blown away. Talk about impressive - geez! I see you have a 93 Mark Marquez... I'm getting set to do a 93MM helicopter canopy as we speak. Still toying around with ideas and layout and getting ready to cut some masks.



--Elisabeth

[NinjaPlease]

Nice work Elisabeth! Very impressive airbrush skills

[WI_Hedgehog]

Excellent job! All your machines are one-offs, this is no different, other than more complex than the previous!

[EKron]

Originally Posted by NinjaPlease

Nice work Elisabeth! Very impressive airbrush skills

Originally Posted by bhkrause

Excellent job! All your machines are one-offs, this is no different, other than more complex than the previous!

Thank you!

I have recently just finally finished the one I sketched out two posts above and will be posting that one up later this evening. I showed it to guys at the field this weekend and they thought it was cool but this one was more of a project than a paint job. You'll see!

--Elisabeth