I've been wanting to do this for a while, but since I also wanted to do a video of the process it took a long time to get to it. The video still isn't done, though but I have it all shot. Just need to edit it. in the meantime:

Imperial Shuttle Front by Jay Adan, on Flickr

Imperial Shuttle - Rear by Jay Adan, on Flickr

drool. Awesome.

Very impressive

Very impressive

Would you say, MOST impressive?

That looks frickin' great, sir!

Nicely done! The airbrushing is subtle and yet very well executed. It looks elegant and almost majestic.

I must say that I'm really pleased with this one myself.

You should be... She's beautiful!

Man... started flipping through some of your other stuff... MOST impressive!

its very nice although i think very dark green for the cockpit canopy would work better than blue, blue seems to make it look a bit toy like and 'small'.

Just my thoughts, awesome all the same.

Now that's a thing of beauty sir.

Where is the imoicon with the jaw hitting the floor? That is great.

I am aroused.

That is awesome, how did you do the emblem on the sail.. hand paint or decal.. I decal a lot as my hand isn't good enough for that kind of work..

A - freaking - mazing.

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

This looks killer.

Nice! That's one of the two best shuttle repaints I've seen.

Thanks for all of the kind words. It's really nice when a plan comes together and this one really came together for me.

To answer the main question: The symbol is not free-hand. I'm getting better with free-handing, but I'm not there yet by a long shot. No, the truth is that a while back I picked up a Silhouette Portrait specifically to cut masks and stencils (and the occasional thin piece of plastic for scratchbuild projects) and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite tools in the shop.

I recently used it to cut tiny masks for camouflage on my Dropzone Commander models (10mm scale). My experiments have shown me that it's not quite up to the task of 8pt fonts, but other than that it can do a lot.

I'll have a video up by the end of the week (fingers crossed).

That's some impressive work!

Now that's some **** fine custard

Thanks for all of the kind words. It's really nice when a plan comes together and this one really came together for me.

To answer the main question: The symbol is not free-hand. I'm getting better with free-handing, but I'm not there yet by a long shot. No, the truth is that a while back I picked up a Silhouette Portrait specifically to cut masks and stencils (and the occasional thin piece of plastic for scratchbuild projects) and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite tools in the shop.

I recently used it to cut tiny masks for camouflage on my Dropzone Commander models (10mm scale). My experiments have shown me that it's not quite up to the task of 8pt fonts, but other than that it can do a lot.

I'll have a video up by the end of the week (fingers crossed).

Now you've really got my attention. That Silhouette Portrait machine seems like something I would like myself. Could you perhaps describe more in detail how it works?

Thanks for all of the kind words. It's really nice when a plan comes together and this one really came together for me.

To answer the main question: The symbol is not free-hand. I'm getting better with free-handing, but I'm not there yet by a long shot. No, the truth is that a while back I picked up a Silhouette Portrait specifically to cut masks and stencils (and the occasional thin piece of plastic for scratchbuild projects) and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite tools in the shop.

I recently used it to cut tiny masks for camouflage on my Dropzone Commander models (10mm scale). My experiments have shown me that it's not quite up to the task of 8pt fonts, but other than that it can do a lot.

I'll have a video up by the end of the week (fingers crossed).

Now you've really got my attention. That Silhouette Portrait machine seems like something I would like myself. Could you perhaps describe more in detail how it works?

Absolutely. Think of it as a small desktop printer (plotter, actually) that has a cutting blade instead of a print head. It comes with a very decent piece of software that you can use to draw patterns that it will then cut. You can even import images and have it trace them which is how I made this mask. The thing is marketed to arts and crafts people who like to do things like scrapbooking but I think it is a fantastic tool for our hobby.

For a more detailed look at it, check out this video -

Thanks for all of the kind words. It's really nice when a plan comes together and this one really came together for me.

To answer the main question: The symbol is not free-hand. I'm getting better with free-handing, but I'm not there yet by a long shot. No, the truth is that a while back I picked up a Silhouette Portrait specifically to cut masks and stencils (and the occasional thin piece of plastic for scratchbuild projects) and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite tools in the shop.

I recently used it to cut tiny masks for camouflage on my Dropzone Commander models (10mm scale). My experiments have shown me that it's not quite up to the task of 8pt fonts, but other than that it can do a lot.

I'll have a video up by the end of the week (fingers crossed).

Now you've really got my attention. That Silhouette Portrait machine seems like something I would like myself. Could you perhaps describe more in detail how it works?

Absolutely. Think of it as a small desktop printer (plotter, actually) that has a cutting blade instead of a print head. It comes with a very decent piece of software that you can use to draw patterns that it will then cut. You can even import images and have it trace them which is how I made this mask. The thing is marketed to arts and crafts people who like to do things like scrapbooking but I think it is a fantastic tool for our hobby.

For a more detailed look at it, check out this video -

I so want one of these I can think of so many things I could use it for

That shuttle looks amazing!

I so want one of these I can think of so many things I could use it for

And this is where I was about 2 years ago. I spent about a year and a half really wanting it but putting it off. Even once I got it I didn't start using it on projects right away. I mostly just experimented with its capabilities. Frankly, I thought that I would end up using it mostly for cutting plastic for scratchbuild project with cutting masks being a happy alternate use. That turned out to be completely backward for me.

^{Nice Paint Job}