Plasticizing paper

This is a technique I’ve been aware of for some time, but only recently had the opportunity to try.  On the recent coal skip build, some of the thin metal frame and braces where just too fragile to work with. Right now I am building a couple of HOn30 tankcars and I’m testing plasticising the ends of the tank.

Here’s what I know so far.

By coating the part, (I’ve only done it from the back so far), in CA and letting it cure fully, the paper completely changes its charecter.  It does not seem to curl as it dries.  It does get slightly thicker.  I understand that most modelers use the thin CA, but I’ve only had the med. gap filling available and it seems to work fine.  The CA spreds out nicely by itself.  You can spread it out, if you do it imediatly or as you apply it.  DO NOT try to spread it even a few seconds after coating.  It will develope ridges, but if you don’t touch it, it will be glass smooth.  My recomendation is one even coat, from the back.

At this point, forget about using any tabs, they are never going to fold, I’m specifically talking about the tank car ends here.  I dont imagine this would be useful for wide pieces like walls, but window frames and such might work.  The CA seems to have no ill effects on the ink.  The resulting material is extremely tough.  Unlike plastic that is cut very thin, it doesen’t curl.  You will not be able to use markers to touch up edges, as there is no longer any place for the ink to soak into.  Ink, and I suspect some paints, just slide off.  CA dries crystal clear and shiny if you use more that one coat.  Single coats do seep into the paper and are not shiny, leaving the paper texture mostly intact.  Three coats turns it to glass.

At this point, it is closer to fiberglass then either paper or plastic.  Cut it, drill it, sand it.

I still have to see if this will take dull coat, thought it worked fine with the coal loader.  I’ll keep you up to date.

new ad

We would like your thoughts about our new ad that will be appearing in various magazines.

New textures

We have recently been asked to offer a couple of new textures that would be similar to what our respected competitor, Paper Creek offers.   Specifically the tar papers.  We have until now, purposefully, stayed away from doing so.  We respect their product and want it to continue.  To be straight forward, we have seen several new competitors in the paper model world, even Walther’s.  Most of them don’t make a product that we feel reflects the quality image that we are trying to establish with our careful attention to image quality and design.  Paper Creek has made great kits until their recent suspension of business.  We sincerely hope they return to the market.  We have made an effort to approach them to see if there is a way we could help to keep their product available but have received no reply.
Long story short, we have added several new textures, specifically roofing materials, that are similar to what is no longer available from PC.  We will also be offering western style buildings to fill out a line begun by our western store.
We feel this is a fair action and hope you all will agree.  Let us know your thoughts.

Grass roots marketing.

I want to thank everyone who gets excited about paper kits and talks it up and shows the results to friends and colleagues.

Every time some one of you display your work, it helps spread the word.  To a little company like ours, (that can rarely afford advertising), that means a lot.

Sales are down for most everyone but it does hit us hard because the product is rather low cost which translates into low profit.  I could blame it on the economy.  That’s surely a part of it, but I sense that it’s also that we need to reach a deeper pool of people.  We are going to make an effort to reach more folks by offering more seminars and demonstrations in the coming year.

I’m also hoping to get our products into other manufacturers kits.  I just did an interior for RS Laser and others are looking to use our roofing.

This issue only raises it’s head because my other work in the graphic arts and animation, design world is also depressed.  This last year has been devastating for the art crowd.  Most of my contemporaries have had little or no work.  Clever Models has saved my bacon from time to time to the detriment of the company, IE lack of advertising and travel funds.

So it’s dig in and get people to talk about Clever Models and how much you enjoy them.  I know this is preaching to the choir, the group that reads this blog consistently is already doing that and I thank you.