new tips and tricks

A short time ago, I talked about plasticizing paper. It’s turned out to be very useful, especially for very small parts. I hope you give it a try.

Later this month Dave and I will be in Amhearst / Springfield, MA. Last year this show was very good for us. This year we get to be more involved and are giving 2 seminars on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. Kind of a tips and tricks live. I want to share more ideas about building in paper and It’s my intention to offer some useful insight every week. Some of the new railcar kits we want to offer will have more curved surfaces so we will be developing new techniques to deal with that. I have been curious about “paper casting”. It’s nothing new but applied to our hobby, it might be interesting. If folks are interested, I might also share tips for using Photoshop. As I was preparing my presentation, it occurred to me that an interesting product might be a backdrop making tool. More on that later.

One thing I have noticed is that even some of the best builders could benefit from using more layers. Here’s what I have been doing lately. My printer will not feed 100lb paper (I think the rollers are worn) so I have been gluing an extra sheet of card to the back of the printed sheet before doing any cutting. this is great for trim details. For walls you need to be sure to add thickness parts after you do any folds since the thicker paper will not fold well. My brother has had very good results using thinner paper with more layers. The thinner paper allows sharper folds. He’s been building some amazingly small critters lately using this method.

We’d like to hear your tips and tricks. What have you discovered wile building in paper.

I’m going to talk about folds and tabs in another post.

Comments

[Gael]

I'm working on the "SILVER CITY, NV" mine shed kit in HO. I use 65 lb. cardstock from Staples, and although light-weight, I've come up with a few ideas to compensate. The 65 lb. paper is easy to cut, which is an advantage. I often laminate several strips of cardstock on the inside of walls, etc. to add strength and heft to the structure. Also, I decided to give wood bracing a try, namely coffee stir sticks, glued flat to the interior bracing sheet that come with the kit. The brace sheets are nice and stiff with the added coffee stir sticks, and I made sure they were flat by placing a heavy weight on the sticks as the glue dried. I'll be installing the braces tonight to see how it all works out, but I'm sure it'll do the trick, and stiffen up the structure. Also, I discovered a great tool for cutting, an aluminum ruler sold by Staples that has a comfortable, up-raised ridge running the length of the ruler, for easy holding. The up-raised ridge keeps fingers away from the Exacto blade, as you slide it along the rulers edge. Also, I use Aileen's tacky glue, as my adhesive of choice. It will warp the paper, but not if you use weights on the part after gluing.

[Dave]

Geal, I've heard of Aileen's but never used it. I'm curious about your bracing. I'd live to see the results.

I know some one was trying to locate the prototype of the mine shed on Google earth. I did a search and got close but there wasn't a close up available. It's actually not in Silver city but in Virginia city just off the V&T (Virginia and Truckee)end of the line.
There are a lot of similar buildings though and taking a look at the area will give you a feel for it.

[Dave]

I've posted a couple of the original photos of the mine shed in the blog page

[Gael]

Thom, I might be the guy you're referring to using Google Earth to locate the mine shed. I did locate the shed, and yes, discovered it is in Virginia City, not Silver City, NV. I used one of your images which showed a mansard-style building in the background, which turned out to be the Fourth Ward school located in Virginia City. Using the 4th Ward school location, I tracked down the mine shed. It is located on "F" St., and Google Earth has "street-level views" going down "F" St., and past the mine shed, which confirmed that I had located the correct building. The Google Earth street-level views gave me information on the "F" St. side of the shed, and gave me information on the correct location, and size of a window on that side (west side). I also discovered that the small attached shed is larger than the way the model is configued, and is completely covered in corrugated metal, not wood, as in the kit. There are 2 corrugated metal-covered windows on the gabel above the attached shed roof, and a stove pipe is also located on the west side ("F" St.) of the roof, with 2x4 (?) foot holds going up the roof to the stove pipe. I'm scratch-building my model with these changes, and will have photos in a few days. The coffee stir sticks glued to the interior bracing worked out very well. Aileen's is a thick white glue, you can probably find it on the web. I use it on all my models. Gael

[Dave]

Geal, I'm happy you were able to locate it. I'm going to jump back on GE and see if I can as well.
When I did my photos the back shed did have wood. I'm looking forward to seeing your pix. Sounds like your doing a real bang up job on it.

[Gael]

Thom, One of the interesting things about doing models of real buildings that still exist, is that using different sets of photos taken over a period of years may reveal changes to that building, such as the wood vs. corrugated metal on the small attached shed you mentioned. I believe the GE street-level photos along "F" St. are 2009 vintage. Google Earth is another "tool" modelers should avail themsevles of, especially if they're modeling a current building. But, even if the building no longer exists, you can get an idea of the topography, vegetation, drainage, and perhaps even see the outlines of the buildings foundation. I've used GE on several prototype buildings, and there is good information to be gleaned, and perhaps it'll help add something to the model you're working on! GE sure beats driving several hours to go look at a building you're modeling, if you can use GE's "street-level views", if available.

[Brent]

Thom:
I don't know about others but I'd be THRILLED with anything and everything you'd care to post about using Photoshop as another "modeling tool." I know so little about it that I don't even know what questions to pose - but I know enough about it to perceive that, with a little guidance from an accomplisherd user, it has huge potential for model work.