Happy fathers day

How fortunate to be a dad. A day to kick back have the kids visit and build a model or two.

I havent ranted about paper being such a great modeling matereial in a wile but it really struck me this morning how great a fresh clean, unblemished material it is. I just don’t get why anyone would want to mess with that grainy, splinterey, often stained and warped wood stuff or that souless, vile petrochemical product called plastic.

Ahhhh, pure clean paper.

Thom

Comments

[Galen]

From a very recent article in the Washington Post:

"Styrene, which is used to make those ubiquitous white foam coffee cups, food containers and many other products, is probably a human carcinogen, the federal government declared Friday."

Link to the full article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/formaldehyde-styrene-among-substances-deemed-carcinogens-or-likely-to-cause-cancer/2011/06/10/AG1K3LPH_story.html

Makes paper look even better! I don't think the average model railroader is in danger, but perhaps I will wear nitrile gloves the next time I work with styrene...lol...

[Russ Venlos]

To be honest I am not sure the best path is to knock styrene.

Styrene works, so does paper. Both have a place in any modeler's supply.

I think that there are places where Styrene is better suited then paper, just as there are places where paper is better suited then Styrene.

Sometimes wood is the best answer.

Remember that your mind is like a parachute, It's not much good if it's not open.

[Galen]

Whoa, hang on there! I'm not knocking styrene, just poking fun. I use styrene often in kitbashing and scratchbuilding. I doubt wood and paper will give you cancer, however. And in all honesty I doubt what little styrene we modelers use would either. It just seemed like a timely article in light of Thom's comment.

I mix media all the time - wood, paper, cardstock, styrene, brass, etc. See my recent articles in the Model Railroad Hobbyist on weathering wood, and most recently on using bread clips for duplicating detail parts.

But I do agree with Thom's post. And I'll be working on another article soon, involving paper structures...

Galen

[Dave]

Plastic is evil, paper is good :)

Seriously I just like the challenge of creating something in paper that many people would not expect. Have you seen the 1/25th scale big boy being built from paper. every nut bolt and hose. All paper and cardboard. It's the challenge as well as the belief that paper is the better model material. This is fun people.
Thom