Tonight I printed out a paper model of a SU-27 in Chinese markings. I printed it out onto 67 pound white card-stock. This is a fairly simple model with only about 30 parts or so. It has two sheets of parts and one (somewhat sparse) instructions. Now I need to do a lot of cutting, scoring, folding, and gluing.
For those interested, these the the tools of the trade for cardstock modeling. A cutting board, a metal ruler and a "dead" pen (ie no ink left) to score the folds, tweezers, Fiskars craft scissors and an exacto knife for cutting out the parts. various pencils and felt pens to colour in the edges of the paper, and those springy things you use to hang laundry. They are used to hold parts together while the glue dries.
The red plastic lid is used for the glue and I normally use toothpicks to dip into the glue; that way you can place very small amounts of glue onto precise spots.
All in all I find this a much Much cheaper hobby than plastic and just as satisfying. The real great part is that since these models are all downloadable and printable, if you mess up you can just print out another and start again!
I am working on an Orion spacecraft model that can be downloaded from NASA. There are an amazing number of free spacecraft models and they fill a gap since I have not seen a lot of plastic or die-cast models along those lines.
Link to the download page for the model. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Orion_Model.html
I would not say paper models are "easier" than plastic, they just provide a different set of challenges. The one thing I really did not like about plastic models was painting and decaling. Paper models (for the most part) don't require that.
Yeah, there are some really great sites out there with just tons of free models. "Real space" (as opposed to SciFi) was what got me into paper models. I found some great models of the Mercury Redstone, The Atlas, the Saturn 1b and a bunch of others.
Some paper models are easier than others. I tend to shy away from the ones that have 100s of tiny parts to cut out. But I am with you- I was always rotten at painting plastic models. Paper models are already painted. And I can even use Photoshop to repaint them if I want.
I got busy doing other things and did not get as much done with the SU-27 as I had hoped last night. I did get all the parts cut and the edges colored in using a regular pencil so the white would not show.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftalk.consimworld.com%2FWebX%3F233%40%40.1dcfc422%2F17072%21enclosure%3D.1ddbece7&hash=959fb2c836254dcb8653afbd1ebbf34fe8ae74aa)
Then I got most of the individual parts folded and glued up. Here is what it looks like so far, with some parts glued and others just laid out to see how they fit before gluing. This is a fairly simple model from Fiddlers Green. It was created back in the 90's without the aid of any digital tools, so its somewhat cartoonish. But once it is done it should give a fair impression of a SU-27. I am hoping to get it finished up tonight. The missiles and model stand may take one more night.
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The SU-27 didnt turn out as well as I had hoped. I will probably end up recycling it.
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^I'd be pretty happy with that!
I really need to get a cutting board like that.
I think the SU-27 looks pretty good!
Yeah that self-healing cutting mat is an essential bit of tech. for paper modellers. When I first started I was using old magazines I was planning on recycling. I quickly ran out.
Do you do most of your cutting with scissors or the knife? What determines which tool you use? I have been using various size scissors (include the teeny scissors in my small swiss army knife) for most of my cutting.
I use a small set of fiskars craft scissors for most of the cutting. Sometimes I will cut with an xacto knife with a #11 blade. But the xacto doesnt cut a curve well so its pretty much a strait line only sort of tool. I use that for small cuts and the scissors for larger cutting and curves.
Tim,
I am trying to figure out how to deal with what appear to be two-sided pieces. Do you glue the two sheets together and then cut or cut the pieces first and then glue? I tried the former but am about ready to go with the latter.
Looks more like a MiG-29 from the top, other than the tail boom.
The 29 is a gorgeous aircraft.
DoctorQuest:
I usually cut first then fold and glue two sided parts unless they are very small. Either way, about half the time I will end up with parts that need a bit of trimming up and white edges to deal with. I would then touch-up the edges with either a magic marker, coloured pencils, or a tiny amount of paint.