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Made in us
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy





South Carolina

I picked up my first airbrush today and I was wondering if anyone could give me some info on where to get stencils or how to make them?

"Nothing good can ever come from staying with normal people." -Harry McDougal (Outlaw Star)
"Hey, I don't make the rules, I just twist them to my purpose." -Celia (Order Of The Stick) 
   
Made in au
Oberstleutnant






Perth, West Australia

The recently kickstarted and now available at retail Anarchy stencils are really good. Nice range of patterns, high quality materials.
   
Made in gb
Secretive Dark Angels Veteran



UK - Warwickshire

Make them yourself.

You will need a good knife, extra blades for the knife. Maybe a printer, and some thing to make the stencil out of.

You can just use paper, its fine for a quick one off stencil, but certainly will not go through more than a few uses maximum.

I've had success using acetate sheets, you can get printable ones too, but theyre clear... so you could lay one over a print out if your interested in tracing a printed design for ease.
To make them tacky (if you desire them to be) for sticking down to the target area temporarily. You want to use somethign called 'repositional spray adhesive' 3M make one, a few other brands do too, but more often than not you will find permanent spray glue... this is not what we want.

Also patience... cutting a stencil by hand, especially at our tiny scale, is a fine art. Do one good one... thats all you need so take your time with cutting. You could invest in a fancy cutting machine too but that might get steep quickly.

Alternatively seek premade ones such as the ones linked above.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/06/05 04:35:54


'Ain't nothing crazy about me but my brain. Right brain? Riight! No not you right brain! Right left brain? Right!... Okay then lets do this!! 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Will second the make them yourself...

And will add - don't forget about laser cutting services. Saves on the upfront plotter costs and allows you to use some handy materials:

http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/show-material/143-silicone-clear#main-image

I make most my permanent stencils out of silicone right now. Not dirt cheap, but extremely flexible. Easy to position as well. Shapes are pretty easy to deal with and you can get the size you want without much effort.

You can also do them in PETG for even cheaper.

And also add - scale model sources (thousands of stencils available) and things like finger nail art stencils. There is no shortage of small sized stencils for everything from simple shapes to complex designs that are readily available for anyone who spends a short amount of time looking for them.
   
Made in gb
Stealthy Grot Snipa





Id say start with making your own

I made mine with acetate sheets, a black UHP pen and a x-acto knife. I'd say small stuff can be quite a pain and you need to be careful with the cutting. Also obviously, the more complex the design the harder it is to cut

in terms of buying stencils, I have bought a few to use, problems ive found is that yes they are good, but always majorly over priced for what they are. a thin plastic sheet cut by a laser...... and all of a sudden that 50p sheet is now £20..... because it had some of the material cut away from it...... yar..

in general, there like £20 for a pack of some small stencils, at the cost of three packs i could build a A3 laser cutter myself (but then i do electronics so my sorta thing). At a little bit more I could buy a stencil cutter/plotter. From then on the cost is worth it if your gona make more stencils in the future.

Do some research and find whats the best option for you But id definitely say give making your own ago, acetate sheets are cheap enough that you haven't lost out if you hate it.


Favourite Game: When your Warboss on bike wrecks 3 vehicles simply by HoW - especially when his bike is a custom monowheel.

 
   
 
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