MaskFX and Stencilis

MaskFX from Critical Mass Games

So I mentioned MaskFX and Stencilis in my last post, and I wanted to give them a little show case as I think these are going to be quite useful in my model painting. First up is MaskFX.

MaskFX is made by Critical Mass Games, a small company in the UK. It's a mask, so if you're unfamiliar with the term, it means that instead of a stencil that you hold over the model to paint an image and block the rest of the model, it's something you place on the model to block out an area from getting paint while the rest of it does.

It's a sticker sheet with little camouflage shapes that you place on the model. I bought the digi-camo version, but they also have hex-digi, amoeba, splinter, and stripe patterns. They offer them in 28 and 15mm versions. I have in my picture the 15mm version that I plan on using on my UCM models for Dropzone Commander. Critical Mass Games has been nice enough to have a series of YouTube videos that show how the product looks as well. Here's the one for the digi-camo.




The second product was actually a Kickstarter I helped fund called Stencilis by Wargames Bakery, another small company out of the UK. (Why does it seem most minis related companies originate in the UK?) They had previously Kickstarted a product called Basius. I funded the level that gave me 10 Stencilis and here are the ones I got:

 So here I have (left to right, top to bottom): Spartan Helmets, Radiation symbols, Hazard stripes, Lightning Bolts, Omega, and Arrows (or tactical symbols, wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

And lastly: Campground symbol (aka Lambda), Skull and crossbones, blood drop, and skulls.

These are a silicone material, flexible, and if you want, you can even cut out the symbols for a smaller piece to handle which may be handy for the really small ones. They wash up easily afterward as well as paint has a hard time sticking to the silicone. They're laser cut so the edges are nice and sharp. Not cut you sharp, obviously. Haven't used them yet, but I plan on posting results when I do. In the mean time they're not up for sale yet to the general public, but should be at some point. The manufacturer's page for Stencilis has some great info and the current symbol range to date. So I'll leave you with another video:



So this is something folks may want to keep an eye out for.