Need to cut film

Folks,

In an effort to dress up my unpainted RV-8 a bit to tide me over until I can afford a paint job, I've purchased some of the 3M film used for warpping and I'd like to cut it into perfect squares so I can add some go fast checker board to the tail.

Any ideas on a good way to go about this? Do the packaging/printing/mailing stores have equipment that could do this in an accurate and clean way? Looking for any suggestion that would work and is quick and painless.

Also, you guys with wrapping experience, will individual squares adhere well enough and not come off?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Just to Clarify.......

CheckerBoards have nothing to do with "Speed".
CheckerBoards make the airplane aerobatic!

Whether anybody will cut the squares is but one half of the question. The other half is... can you install them perfectly? I suspect the answer to that second half makes the first half of the question moot.

Might I suggest you lay out your pattern using knifeless tape, then cut the vinyl in situ? Much more likely to have a satisfactory result.

I've been using a silhouette cameo vinyl cutting machine for small things, been a great tool. It can do things 1' wide and 10' long. May waste a fair bit of vinyl but it would be a way of getting everything perfectly lined up.

Alex

old skool

...hey, you're a homebuilder, right?

straight edge, razor knife, weed, pre-mask, done.

sadly, a LOT of silly videos online, not much good info.

I guess I'll have to start a vinyl application series for builders/pilots.

basically, mark out the size of squares you want, cut thru the vinyl, but not the backing paper ( a little practice, sharp blade, not so hard)
then weed out ( remove) every other square.

now to apply all in one big sheet, you need some wide, low-tack masking tape, commonly called pre-mask, or application tape.
it doesn't have to be the full width of your job, you can buy a 12" roll, and overlap it an inch or two.

lay over and squeegee ( burnish) down onto your squares, then position on the panel/aircraft surface.
Tape in place, then peel back the backing paper, and squeegee onto the surface.
remove app. tape.
admire your amazing new skills......

( or, perhaps, replace a little square or two that wrinkled over a rivet or seam...... you DID save a few of those 100 squares you weeded out, right?)

Pm or call me if I can be of more help.
...or if you know where there's a nice Glastar for sale.

A paper cutter maybe? A good way to get perfect squares?

This is what I would use. I used these at several design firms. Now the wrap guys seem to use just a safety one sided razor blade. My nephew does film and tint, he uses a razor blade, no handle.

[URL=http://s1078.photobucket.com/user/tpdusa/media/57445-1101-2-2ww-m.jpg.html][/URL]

I used knifeless tape on the most part for the rest of my plane but do yourself a favor, go to a sign shop and have them create a checkerboard sheet for you. I did this to create a mask to paint the checks on my rudder. Then on my flaps, the vinyl mask looked so good, I just left it! You can specify the size of square you want and the size of sheet to cover whatever part. When you lay it on, all the squares stay in place and it comes out perfect. I cant imagine the time it will take to cut all the squares and try to get them lined up!

For model airplanes, I would always make a template.....you could make out of aluminum. Try your best to make as square as you possibly can. Then, cover base surface with the lighter color (fully)....then apply the squares you cut with the template of the darker material on top of the base. Use the template to help with the first row spacing....then touch the tips of each square as you build rows. Bigger checks work, and look better in my opinion. When in doubt, go bigger, not smaller. A design that has 3 rows of checks looks great in my opinion.

I agree with what others have said regarding the challenges of lining everything up, but I like this style of paper cutter for making straight cuts, use all the time for various projects:

https://www.amazon.com/JIELISI-Cutt...5633&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=paper+cutter&psc=1

That's the way I did mine. I used a chopper. Like the ones from art class.
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/6259254771488801672?lsf=seller:7933,store:1792624893546996293&prds=oid:7429622802125645366&q=paper+cutter&hl=en-us&ei=XWHuWLmwFKupjwSomKWICA&lsft=cm_mmcLA-_-Google-LIA-_-797770269-_-452121-VQ6-189752612344-VQ16-m-VQ17-pla-VQ18-local-+VQ20-73462265929-VQ21-2167&lsft=gclid:CjwKEAjwoLfHBRD_jLW93remyAQSJABIygGpKLiB7WwTCcqT_CtMuAe-5vrg4cr6JTWsOf5giTVvgRoCqonw_wcB