Hello everyone, I am back!
I step away to deal with some real world stuff and a few supersizes I have coming up. I have been working on this from time to time and today I have an update (with pictures too ).
So lets talk about my latest discovery... Paper Crafting!
That's right you heard right, paper crafting, the art of folding and gluing paper shapes to create a three dimensional object. Here is a little back story to fill in. If you all recall I was last working on the CIWS gun for the destroyer project. I was doing some picture searching on Google for research and stumbled across a paper craft model of a CIWS cannon and it looked perfect for what I needed. I was like "I NEED THIS, WHERE DO I GET THIS!" It turns out it was a free download of a papercraft site. The model was in 1:40th scale. Being a math guy, I was able to find a upscale that looked right (not too small, not too big) when placed on the island bow and the stern gun placements. ( I will get pics of that when I update the destroyer project).
So this got me thinking "What else can I find in papercraft form?" A couple of mouse clicks in Google and BAMM! A whole new world of paper models was introduced to me. And I have to tell you, these models rival that of expensive plastic models in details. So, if you recall, I was thinking about buying a model of a 1:32 scale Hawkeye E-2C from a vacuum form mold from England (around $150). That didn't happen. INSTEAD... I found a papercraft model that was free to download. The model is a 1:68th scale from a Russian publisher. It turns out, this hobby is very big over in Europe. I down loaded the files and then upscale the images in Photoshop. I had to cut and paste and arrange some parts around to fit on the paper dimensions. The wings had to be printed on 11x17 card stock because of the wing size. Once that was done, I saved the new files on to a stick drive and head over to my local Office Depot to print them out. I did buy a pack of 100 weight card stock to bring to them. I figure it would be easier to provide them the card stock instead of buying theirs. I did get their 11x17 card stock as I could not find any packs to purchase locally. I took my newly printed sheets and headed home to promptly start cutting and gluing the pieces. Long story short, I was very pleased with the end result. Total cost $8.00
After the success of that project, I found a descent model of the MD-3 tractor. It was a 1:35 scale model. I upscale it to 1:17 scale to fit with modern Joe figures. I modified it so you can put a figure to "drive it". Later I would find other models that had rear attachments for this vehicle, one was a compressor, and the other was a firefighting unit.
Next I found some Aircraft Carrier deck accessories. I made a huffer, nitrogen unit and an oxygen tank.
My latest project is the A-6 Intruder. I wanted another plane that shared the deck with the F-14 Tomcat. This model was originally 1:48th scale and was re-scaled in Photoshop to 1:32 scale (the same as the Skystriker). I changed the cockpit from a duel seat to a single seat in order to accommodate a figure. This was the first time I tried to put in windows from scratch, so I am not really happy how it turned out, it will do for now. Total cost for the A-6 Intruder $3.00.
I do have some more deck accessories kits I can upscale and build, so there is more to come.
So, for those of you who are in need of a model of a type of plane or tank or building, or other accessories, I would recommend you look into papercraft as an alternative to plastic models or toys to fill in your dioramas. And the best part, if you mess up something, you can just reprint that page and continue where you left off.
That's it for today, until next time.