Paint mask question

[amadlinger]

Hi all,

I am finishing up the lettering on my 1.5" scale Tidewater tank car and have run into a roadblock of sorts: some of the markings on the car need to be about 1/8" tall, using a very specific font. Connie Miracle has supplied all of the vinyl paint masks for the rest of the lettering and logo on the car, and it looks really great! But the smallest text size that she can produce in vinyl is 1/4" tall. I tried to make that size work, but it just looks really awkward no matter what I do. I have called two other vinyl shops in my area (New Jersey), both of whom can also only go to a 1/4" high minimum.

Does anyone have any ideas for how I can reproduce 1/8" tall text for the car? Is there some place out there that can cut vinyl smaller than 1/4"? Is there some other paint mask material that could be used?

I should mention that I do not want to use stick-on letters or decals...I want the lettering to be painted onto the car. And I have a PDF of exactly what I want.

Sincerely,
Adam

[Fender]

My suggestion would be to paint an area of the car the color of the letters, then apply dry transfers. Then spray over the letters with the car color and remove the dry tranfers.

[makinsmoke]

You could have decals made.

Or possibly find the right size decals, but you'd have a reverse issue.

If you make your own you could make the outside of the letters the part you want to use, and throw away the middle.

One other idea is to look for dry transfers at Hobby Lobby or the like. They come on a sheet and are just punched out of the material.

Pop out the letter and wa-la, you have a paint mask.

They typically come in very limited fonts, and are not to Connie's detail, but could work.
Brian

[FLtenwheeler]

Hi Adam

What do you need? I can do 1/8" lettering. Sometimes even smaller. It depends on the font.

Tim

[amadlinger]

Hi all,

Thanks for the quick replies! Attached is what I'm going for (the smaller text block with the tank specs).

Tim, do you think that font is manageable? For reference, on the model, the larger of the texts shown here is 1/4" high and the distance between the band and the rivet line is 2-5/8".

Also, I recall an artist once telling me about Frisket paper, a light-weight, tacky film used in airbrushing (or so the internet tells me). Would that be of any use in this application? In case it matters, I should mention that I am using Klass Kote 2-part epoxy paint, http://www.klasskote.com/

Sincerely,
Adam

[Kevin_S]

Adam, another trick with small paint mask is to have the cut the mask but tell them not to weed out the background. Apply the paint mask as a whole then weed out the background. I have done this method before with much success.
-Kevin S.

[jcfx]

I'd forget about frisket paper since you using a solvent type paint, it will soak thru and bond.
There is a water based liquid masking that I've used with auto lacquers called Spraylat - Sign Strip :

http://www.ppg.com/coatings/matthewspai ... -final.pdf

Cuts very easy with a hobby knife or scalpel when dry , and stands up to lacquer, I'd think that it would work
with the paint you're using.

1/8th " tall letters would probably be better done as water slide decals with a setting solution
used afterwards . I can't see how you would cut letters that small out of any kind of frisket material.

[FLtenwheeler]

1/8th " tall letters would probably be better done as water slide decals with a setting solution
used afterwards . I can't see how you would cut letters that small out of any kind of frisket material.

Here are some pictures of the paint mask with 1/8” lettering. The font is one I made using Chicago North Western drawings. For reference the bridges and thin lines are 0.008” wide on most of the lettering. The lower case “O” is only 0.004”

I use a Premium Swiss Grade 3C Tweezers for weeding. You can find them for around $35.00. The first pair I had, was giving to me by an eye surgeon. It was a higher grade, but I can not afford $100.00 for a pair of Tweezers.

I use 1 Shot Lettering Enamels for my lettering. When applying paint through a computer-generated or hand cut mask, always remove the masking material once the paint "tacks" (usually about 15-20 minutes), but before it dries.

Tim

[Steve Bratina]

At our local hobby shop, they have solid white or clear decal sheets. You use your computer and printer to make what you need, trim out the letters and apply. Finish with solvaset and dullcote.

[jcfx]

Here are some pictures of the paint mask with 1/8” lettering. The font is one I made using Chicago North Western drawings. For reference the bridges and thin lines are 0.008” wide on most of the lettering. The lower case “O” is only 0.004”

I use a Premium Swiss Grade 3C Tweezers for weeding. You can find them for around $35.00. The first pair I had, was giving to me by an eye surgeon. It was a higher grade, but I can not afford $100.00 for a pair of Tweezers.

I use 1 Shot Lettering Enamels for my lettering. When applying paint through a computer-generated or hand cut mask, always remove the masking material once the paint "tacks" (usually about 15-20 minutes), but before it dries.

Tim

Tim that's some impressive crazy small work, and it's all hand cut ?

[FLtenwheeler]

Here are some pictures of the paint mask with 1/8” lettering. The font is one I made using Chicago North Western drawings. For reference the bridges and thin lines are 0.008” wide on most of the lettering. The lower case “O” is only 0.004”

I use a Premium Swiss Grade 3C Tweezers for weeding. You can find them for around $35.00. The first pair I had, was giving to me by an eye surgeon. It was a higher grade, but I can not afford $100.00 for a pair of Tweezers.

I use 1 Shot Lettering Enamels for my lettering. When applying paint through a computer-generated or hand cut mask, always remove the masking material once the paint "tacks" (usually about 15-20 minutes), but before it dries.

Tim

Tim that's some impressive crazy small work, and it's all hand cut ?

No, I am not that good. I have a Summa T750 tangential cutter. But it is still a lot of work to get it to cut that small.

Tim

[amadlinger]

Hi all,

Tim showed what the paint masks looked like, now here's what the final product looks like. The lettering came out really, really well in my book and I couldn't be happier. 1/8" tall lettering is indeed possible! And working with the masks was an absolute breeze. If anything, the smaller letters were actually easier to do than the main logo on the car. As I mentioned before, I used Klass Kote paint and shot it using a Badger 150 airbrush. Per Tim's suggestion, I removed the masks once the paint started to get tacky, but before it had dried.

I'm very glad I held out for the smaller lettering and didn't just go with the 1/4" high paint masks for the small text, which would have looked out of place. For reference, the "BUILT 6-23" text is 1/4" tall. A big THANK YOU to Tim for helping out with this project!

Sincerely,
Adam