Digital Die Cutting Machines and Model Building?

[hooknladderno1]

Are any of you using any of these machines for cutting out decals or styrene?  I would appreciate it if the administrators could "Pin" the subject.  If that is not feasible,  I can post a link to a Facebook group.   There are a variety of machines out there and each has it's merits and draw backs...  I would like to start a discussion to share questions, answers and experiences on how to best use these machine to benefit our hobby.  Three of the main manufacturers are Cricut, Silhouette and Brother.  If you are not familiar with them, there are several videos on YouTube that introduce, compare, and explain their uses and features.  Unfortunately, there are only a handful that discuss it's uses in modeling.  Of the videos that exist, most are over a year old.  Please feel free to share your experiences!  Thank you!

David

[peteski]

On the model railroad forum I frequent, some member use them for cutting out model building kits from thin sheet styrene.  They even use the cutter to engrave brick pattern.

[Foxer]

I've used my wife's Silhouette Cameo a few times and it works well on decals and thin plastic.

 I needed to make a dash panel for a TR4A build that had subtle curves and wood texture. I first scanned the resin dash board and used that for the outline in Photoshop. I then added some scanned wood and instruments. I printed a photo of  the scanned wood with instruments to photo paper and used my wife's Silhouette Cameo cutter to cut the outline out. It took a couple days of figuring out how it works and the best way. I used the Print and Cut method ... printed and cut from the Silhouette.

This was the shape I needed to cut ...

Final result

 

Edited January 10, 2018 by Foxer

[Slomoslam]

That’s pretty slick

[crazyjim]

Very cool.  I see some people on MCM use those machines for cutting layers of styrene to make frame rails.

[LDO]

I hope this is not considered a hijack, but what about laser cutters? I may get access to one soon. I wonder if anyone would want parts cut from sheet styrene? One application I have in mind is the box/shelter on the back of an old military truck. The Opel Blitz was used as a mobile communication van and ambulance, among other things. You can buy a kit of the radio truck in the standard armor scale of 1/35, but I'm thinking of making one for the 1/24 flatbed kit. There are lots if thins that can be made from flat sheet. Even more when flat sheets are glued together...or soldered. I'm thinking of brass frame rails in 1/8 scale. Imagine a C or box-section frame for a Big Deuce lowboy, or a stretched nose for a V-12 engine.

[Casey]

I could see this being very handy for cutting vinyl paint masks, similar to the flamed masks Testors used to offer. Might be really helpful for hood and trunk 'skunk' stripes on Chevelles, Camaro, etc., especially where uneven surfaces are involved.

It sounds like the Cricut Explore Air 2 has both cutting and scoring tools, which would be very handy for making things like flanged, C-channel shaped framerails where you want everything to be made from one piece for strength and ease of 'assembly' (i.e. folding the flanges 90* and gluing the seam). Lots of possibilities, but not a slam dunk right out of the box I suspect.

[Impalow]

Check out page 2 of this... I have a silhouette cameo and use it for almost everything.