I had several ideas of vinyl sticker that I wanted to put on my truck to show that I’m an RV-8 guy. I couldn’t find one online that I liked so I researched how to make one. What I came up with was buying a Silhoutte Cameo cutter. This device looks like a regular computer printer but has a blade instead if ink.
This cutter will cut anything from vinyl to fabric and paper. So I found a online store that had a RV-8 sticker that I wanted to start with (I bought a set from them at $15 so I could use the design just for me rather than just copying them, I think that’s the right thing to do!). The software that comes with the cutter is pretty awesome and allows for a lot to be done. So I bout some good outdoor vinyl from H&H Sign online store in silver to match my truck. After playing around this is the final product, a little bigger than the ones I bought and has my reserved tail number cut out too!
So what else could I do, well I have made templates of possible avionics that I want and cut them from black card stock so that I can mix and match them on a full size layout of the instrument panel.
Then I learned that they also do print and cut. What you do is design within their software and print on a regular printer. Then you bring it back to their cutter and based on some registration marks it printed it cuts it out perfectly!
I made a life size cutout of the panel out of foam board and painted it a satin gray that I’m contemplating for a final color. Now I have a board and avionics outlines to try different ideas.
I have to tell you I’m a geek at heart and toys like this make me happy! I have created a few stickers and I’m working on designs for my RV-8 paint scheme. Here is the second that I made for my daughter Ellie as she is 8 and now in competitive gymnastics!
Here is one that I made for the girlfriend as her youngest is in his first year in the NAVY.
So now I’m playing around with making labels for my instrument panel and switches. I have found a few settings that make a nice label especially in such a small font. I will work on these and perfect it I hope. The vinyl I’m using is Oracal 651, and has a 5-8 year outdoor life span. This stuff sticks real well!
The one on the left is gloss and the right satin. More to come!
