Hi folks,

Apologies if this has already been discussed, but I had a look through and couldn't see anything.

Has anyone used, or seen use of this Craft Robo thing?

http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/about.html

There's an ad in MAM this month from Airbrushes.com saying that it can be used to cut stensils for roundels etc, which sounds frankly too good to be true, as I'd love to be able to do this successfully. It's expensive (£179 + vat), and my concern really is that it can cut things small enough (ie roundels, stensils etc for 1:72 scale).

Any comments would be appreciated. Cheers, Nick

Hi Nick!

I don't knwo if this has been discussed before but you are right this seems too good to be true! I made some Google search and couldn't find a price for this machine. But if it does what it is supposed to do it would be indeed a very interesting tool for modellers.

I hope someone can give us more informations about this product. Anyway thanks for the heads up!

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc,

I've been scouting round for prices too. Airbrushes.com have it for £264, but graphicsdirect.co.uk have it for £179 + vat (£210). Either way it's a pretty big investment!

I've airbrushed national marking on a 1/48 Corsair before and the results we really great because you can make them look really faded, but I'd need this to work for markings and stencils at 1/72 for it to be worth the money.

I guess I could just email them and see what they say, maybe there's a minimum point size for lettering...

Cheers, Nick

Try the manufacturer's website. (Takes 30 seconds to find with Googol.)

http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/about.html

There is a brochure to download (two pages pdf ). There are two machines (A4 & A3 sizes). The smallest letter size is about 5mm depending on the font. Accuracy is 0.05mm. The site shows what sort of things it was really designed/intended for.

I already linked the manufacturers site in my first post, and I can't find anywhere in their documentation where it states smallest cutting diameter. Airbrushes.com advertised it in Model Aircraft Monthly as a tool for cutting masks for "markings, lettering, camouflage". Anyway I've emailed them so hopefully they'll be able to tell me.

It's in the brochure under standard specifications. It is available as a pdf file that you have to download - 5.6 Mb. For some reason Adobe Reader required Japanese fonts for it although there does not seem to be any Japanese characters in the brochure. Jap fonts was between 20 and 30 Mb I think.

Ah right I have it now.

There's actually a part in one of the other brochures, I think it's the Quick Application Guide, where they've cut out the letters "John Smith" and stuck them on a clear plastic file. The solid "o" in the centre of the "o" in "John" has to be smaller than the central red circle of a 1:72 RAF roundel, so it looks like it can do really small circles.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Nick!

Will you buy one?

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc,

Yes I think I will, although not right away as my wife would kill me! October or November. I'm building a U-Boat for my dad for christmas at the moment and I won't get a chance to get back onto my aircraft for a few weeks yet. Plus I want to hear back from Airbrushes.com about the product and ideally I'd like to see it in action. But it looks to be ideal.

Have you used stencils before? The Fi Storch you built, this could work well for those large letters on the wings.

Anyway, I'll certainly report back whe I get more info.

Cheers, Nick

Hi again Nick!

I must say I'm tempted... but I also think my wife would kill me! Maybe I can convince her I will purchase it to do scrapbooking!

Jean-Luc