It did not go well...

As an aside, some of us are exploring the use of CNC vinyl cutters such as the Cricut as reasonably priced stencil cutters for making masks.  I am still learning the ins and outs of programming the machine, and doing the cad work with stencils and resist masks for PE in mind.  The object is to do these things ourselves without having to farm the stuff out.  No success yet (but not putting that much time in), but they sure look promising.  These machines are ordinarily used for scrapbooking and other crafts.

Of course, it would not help with the problem in the original post, but I am convinced that we will soon be making our own masks!

Thanks, Don. Route62 has had his cutter for a while. His recently finished F-102 has some of the markings masks made with his cutter. I don't know the manufacturer but he's quite impressed with it. I have a couple of builds coming up that have recessed panel lines that I think will lend themselves to painted markings.

This is the thrread regarding Route62's F-102 build:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/178366.aspx

The way you went about painting the insignia was fine and will work. But, once the stencil in down spray the edges with clear gloss paint and follow that up with the color of choice. This will prevent any bleeding and give you the sharp edge you are looking for. The kit looks really good by the way and the insignias look realistic when painted. Well done.

BK

Yeah, Brandon. After putting the masks down, I burnished them with a toothpick to make sure they were adhered to the surface. After that I sprayed each one with a clear coat, Testors Dullcote. To no avail. I'm disappointed but not deterred. I'll try again on a future build. Getting ready to paint the rocket tips red right now.

Actually they look more good than bad.

Try spraying them the masked color.

From the two pics posted, I see two good looking insignias.  Who's to say that perhaps out in extreme conditions that fading and wear and tear had not occurred.  Maybe, the markings were applied haphazadly out in the field of battle. They look good to me!

Extreme accuracy to the most minute detail is stressful becuase we want to make it look 100% as close as possible to the actual plane, sometimes it's not going to happen.  It only takes away from the pleasure of building a model.

I posted my own dilemma about such a topic as it applies to me, and the reponses were very good to the positive. I am currently building a 1/72nd scale F-84G Thunderjet, and I can tell you and this time in my modeling life, I am very happy with the results.  It won't win any contest, but I like it.  All the imperfections just give me reason to come up with a story as to what my F-84 has gone thru in it's service life.  Happy modeling!

Thanks, y'all, for your positive input. I certainly appreciate it. I've already sprayed the dark sea blue over the white areas. Tomorrow the airplane gets a coat of Pledge and Monday begins the decal process.

I kind of like them. I enlarged your pictures and they look good.

I cut the masks using a Cameo 3 machine.  In talking with Frank about the raised detail we were concerned that this would happen but Frank decided it was worth a try.  I bought the machine December of last year and have only really got into it in the last 2 months.  I am still experimenting with materials to cut masks out of.

For the stars and bars on Franks Hellcat, I used a flexible thin matt vinyl hoping it would conform to the raised detail.  The vinyl is similar to frisket, just a little thinner.  I agree the results are not bad for a first go.

I ordered a thinner vinyl that comes from the sign making world that they use for creating stencils when they need to deal with complex curves and irregular shapes.  My hope is this will do a better job.  

These machines are amazing and I am still just scratching the surface with what I can do with them.  I also cut parts for another friend the other day out of thin sheet styrene.  So now I also have a mini parts mill with the same machine!

I'm using Oramask 810 on my Cameo and getting good results.

I don't think that the results are too bad, sometimes things go well and others are big teaching moments. I have the Shiloutte machine and am looking for material to buy to cut the masks.