Papercraft... what have you started

Papercraft... what have you started

Author
Discussion

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
I had been using a blunt blade - but I'll try a cocktail stick tomorrow. I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to end up binning the sides and redoing them though

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
blindswelledrat said:
When I was 4 or 5 we used to get those made out of plastic. I think they called them Airfix or something.
I might be wrong, but I think you can still buy them but it's too long ago to remember. I was 4 or 5, not sure if I mentioned that.
Anyway there was a kid in our village who was on welfare and couldn't afford them so used to use paper to make models.
We could have made a decent nickname out of his hobby but we just called him Toilet Paul because he smelled of piss.
Did I mentioned that we were about 5 at the time?
Paul now has a wife, kids and is totally fulfilled in life without resorting to "when I were a kid" stories on t'internet.

If your airfix kits come up to the standards of the stuff Dr_gn, EricMc and Perdu post on here regularly, theres a start a topic button so you can show us... Me, I'm happy plodding along learning how to do these paper kits during my lunch break, where liquid poly and an airbrush would be frowned upon

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
I ended up re-doing the sill sections.

the instructions are completely unclear, which lead to me mounting them upside down
Managed to remove them without too much issue, and re-printed that part.

Inner and outer sills attached, and canopy/rear-deck attached to sides... it's taking shape now.
The level of finish is not great, but it's improving - there are a couple of places I still need to flat the white edges down, and a couple of flaps that need a dab of PVA under to stick down.

By the time it's finished, it'll be at "OK"


Doc,
there are a couple of "gaps" in the seams, no doubt due to the complex jommetry, and my hamfistedness... i'm thinking about a thin strip of paper PVA'd inside to hide the hole - would this work?


shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
blindswelledrat said:
Fair point. With this in mind I decided to knuckle down and do some myself.
Sure you'll agree they are already on a par

That dog is amazing. So realistic. I think if i threw a bone, it would leap off the screen to fetch it.

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
Good job, That's a nice ship. My only niggle (and again, this is with the model designer, and not the modeller) is the central tower, and all the white card that is left once its built uo

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
blindswelledrat said:
Thank you. I labelled it Dog as artistic irony as I was aware it was so realistic as to be indistinguishable from the real thing which you often see lolloping on giant pear wood desks.
I was out for my morning run this morning... and spotted this.
I couldn't resist picking it up for your wonderful canine companion.


biggrin

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
Step 4 partially completed and step 5 started.
I completely scrapped the rear bumper assembly as I'd made a right pigs ear of it.
for reference, there is a raised lip above the bumper which is shaped like a mustache. It is 1mm tall and 1.5mm deep, and requires a radiused curve and a sharp fold - it is then slid into slits in the flat panel.. the first attempt just ended up looking like mush.

This is the second one.


There are multiple joins and folds that need to set before I can attach it to the main body assembty, so in the mean time, I started cutting and curling the bonnet and front wings. Lots of curvage, lots of tabs to cut out.



I've found a bic pen-lid tip (the bit that hooks over your shirt pocket) works well for scoring.

What is neat is the section of front wing behind the wheel-arch is clearly a thin area, so you fold it double thickness, and trim once glued.


shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
shortar53 said:
Step 4 partially completed and step 5 started.
I completely scrapped the rear bumper assembly as I'd made a right pigs ear of it.
for reference, there is a raised lip above the bumper which is shaped like a mustache. It is 1mm tall and 1.5mm deep, and requires a radiused curve and a sharp fold - it is then slid into slits in the flat panel.. the first attempt just ended up looking like mush.

This is the second one.


There are multiple joins and folds that need to set before I can attach it to the main body assembty, so in the mean time, I started cutting and curling the bonnet and front wings. Lots of curvage, lots of tabs to cut out.



I've found a bic pen-lid tip (the bit that hooks over your shirt pocket) works well for scoring.

What is neat is the section of front wing behind the wheel-arch is clearly a thin area, so you fold it double thickness, and trim once glued.
Scrap that. the rear bumper was still incorrect. I've managed to salvage the parts and rescue it.

These instructions are rotten. (that may be incorrect if you read japanese)
As a result, i'm only completing this model out of dogged determination. It's going to look a little rough once it's done - but the point is, I'm learning lessions each time I do a model. Hopefully I can get up to the standard of blindswelledrat with practice.

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Thursday 11th September 2014
quotequote all
Assembled the front bumper/splitter and left to set overnight.
Bonnet and wings attached and start made on air intake for roof.


Once the glue has set on those wings (I'm glueing it in sections as the wings are >2mm thick at the point above the wheelarch and will bend and deform if I try and complete in one section)

It is possible to line up the body with the front section and get something resembling a car at this point.

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Thursday 11th September 2014
quotequote all

It's resembling a car now...
very surprised the front assembly fitted so smoothly, but it did.
air-intake to affix,
Rear wing, wing mirrors undertray and wheels left to do

I'm thinking about what to do next. I'm worried that my level of skill is still too low to attempt the detailed superbike, so I may try one of Yamaha's other motorbikes - I may just have an issue with how the creator of the NSX designed it - the transporter and car went together really easily though.
I don't know if it was the unclear instructions (it definitely was for the rear section) on this one or the way the parts went together


shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Friday 12th September 2014
quotequote all
A little progress, and the end is in sight.




Undertray is under construction - there are some box sections, and the shift to card is helping with that

Only wheels and wing mirrors left. I suspect the wheels will be a bit of a bugger.


shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Saturday 13th September 2014
quotequote all
perdu said:
This does look rather nice and having seen your one I think if I were making one of these I'd probably buy some A4 photopaper to use for printing it.

It comes in packets of several sheets of smooth glossy card which would look fabulous on that car.

I've used it before to print instrument panels on my models
Thanks for the compliments
I've thought about photo paper (decent thickness, shiny finish) but I suspect it may have it's own positives and negatives. The Epson website does appear to have used glossy card for their demo pieces

The card I used does appear to leach some of the ink out if you touch a printed area after applying glue in the proximity, and photo paper may be better for that
I also suspect the gremlin of "cracking" the ink on folds / scores (i've tried scoring the inside, and the outside of a curve with the same result) will appear on photo paper too

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Monday 15th September 2014
quotequote all
Finished.



overall, I'm happy with the process as a learning experience, and given my lack of experience in papercraft, it's come out OK.

There were some bits that were more problematic than others, the instructions could have been clearer and there were some weak areas in the model - the rear bumper is not a particularly well modelled, documented or constructed section, but the front bodyshell went together nicely considering how complex the bodyshape is.


Anyway, Next on the production line (because I'm still not confident enough to try the bike at 30 sheets of card )

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
perdu said:
You've every reason to be pleased with this one

Simply smashing in the nicest of possible ways

I will be looking forwards to the next

I'm getting strangely attracted to having a dabble too

thumbup


Any way, nice car!
Thanks.
Give it a go - it's strangely therapeutic.
I ended up viewing the NSX as a learning exercise from early on. The front half is way better that the back end, but I think that the front is slightly less complex to build (and you build it later)

Slowly Slowly Catchee Monkey is the way to go though. If I got any glue on the printed surface then touched it - the ink would come off on my finger. Better to stop, let the mis-applied glue set and re-do.

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
Thanks, I think maybe I'm being a little harsh on myself

Made a start on the Formula NIPPON racer, no improvement in the instructions. Google translate fails to read the PDF as it's a page of embedded images, rather than text.
Step one


Leads to this...



Which is the inside of the wheel well for the rear of the car. My lack of Japanese doesn't help, but I think that it would benefit from a "completed" view of the part too, maybe even from a couple of angles. There is a black finish on the bottom of the part, which is somewhat counter intuitive, and part a3L faces downwards with the end section mountain-folded back on itself to present a section of black upwards - there are also 12 tabs which go through the verticals, 6 on each side.
Part a4L has a serpentine curve at the front, which is less than 2mm wide all the way along, Part a5L was less than 1mm wide at one point and needed a reinforcing shim behind it.
Step 1b and c are attaching "facings" to the white top section.

I need to create another (mirrored) one of these for the right hand side of the model - but now I've figured out how it's supposed to go together it should be easier.

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
quotequote all
That F1 car is awesome. Really well put together - how long is it? looks massive

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
quotequote all
Crikey, that's gonna be a "challenge" to store.

Both rear undertray sections completed.


I'm not sure how visible the top sections are going to be - there are a from white gaps between the facing pieces, despite me lining the edges in black. I'll probably run a thin brush down there with some black paint if it's visible on final construction.

shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all

rear suspension wishbones added - these are made from doubled card, for strength presumably, and to get detail on both sides.

work started on main tub - this section is 17cm long, for reverence.


shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
quotequote all

Main tub progressing.
The air intake above the driver's hear is proving to be awkward, it's a 2mm wide horseshoe shape that hase an inner and outer skin attached to it. getting the curvature of the skins correct and forming it without making a total mess is a test of my patience.


shortar53

Original Poster:

548 posts

279 months

Thursday 25th September 2014
quotequote all


Main tub 90% complete... The air intake above the drivers head was a pain, but I'm pretty happy with how its turned out - and the drivers seat was a challenge, bending the seat back smoothly through about 200 degrees. The separate seatbelts are a nice touch.

You can't see them unless you're looking right inside the sidepods but the radiators are mounted too