Crawler

[billy.leliveld]

I got this e-mail today, the guy has finaly finished !! after ten years, no wonder the thing is called the crawler
Another one to add to the"ultimate" list;

Dear modeler mates,

you are receiving this email because you to get informed when my 1/96 Crawler Transporter card model kit becomes available; for some of you, this might be already a very long time ago ;) . Also, please forgive when you get this email twice – this can happen when you contacted me several times with different email addresses.

I'm very happy to announce that after a development time of 10 years the Crawler Transporter 1/96 kit is finished and is currently in production at the printing company. It consists of more than 11,000 parts printed on various types of card stock, papers and transparent foils. Most sheets are printed double sided in offset technique with 5 colors (CMYK + Cool Gray 8).

The kit comes with a complete full colored building instruction of 48 pages in English (other languages will follow as downloadable PDF). Besides a little yarn, the kit contains all needed materials. Tools and glue, however, are not included ;)
The production is limited to 499 pieces worldwide, and each kit carries its own individual serial number. Foreseeable, the production will be finished by the mid of the oncoming week, and in principle is available from this day on.

A few months ago, crew members of C/T #2 came across my model, and their enthusiasm finally lead to an invitation to KSC including a visit of the Crawler, the Launch Pad and the Orbiter Processing Facility. It was not easy for them to get all those required permissions especially for a foreign citizen, and I feel very honored and grateful, and of course, very proud. It's a big dream coming true for me.
I'm telling you this because I will leave on 12th July 2010 to Miami, and return by the end of July from my trip to the USA. If you plan to order a kit and want it before I start my trip, please contact me ASAP at [email protected] . I then will manage that the kit will be sent to you directly from the printing company. The price of the kit is 130 EUR plus shipping costs.

How to order:
Please send me an email to [email protected], including your street address or where to ship the model. If you wish to have a certain kit serial number, please mention it. If the number is still available, I’m happy to send you this kit. I’m a private person, this means that I’m not sitting at the computer all of the time ;) – sometimes I’m on vacation or on emergency standby at the hospital. So please excuse when I do not react to your order instantly. However, once you receive the payment details you can be sure that I’m aware of your order and will process it as quick as possible.

You will get a PayPal bill in reply; once I received the payment confirmation from Paypal, I will pass on your details to the printing company, where the kits are stored, and they will send you the kit on the next working day.

Note that I cannot process orders until the end of July after the 11th July.

I know that my website is totally outdated - I have a very demanding job at the hospital and so I decided to spend my free time into the model rather than into Dreamweaver. However, when I'm back from my journey, the website will be completely renewed, also the work on the LUT will start immediately, and I swear it won't take another ten years to finish it.

I want to thank you all for your patience and your great enthusiasm for the project !

best greetings
Mischa Klement aka Cyana

MicroArtwork
Salzburg/Austria

[bagpiper]

That is a wonderful model. 10 years is a long time. he has my respect for having the patience to keep at it.

Cheers
Jim

[peter taft]

Great respect for a SUPERIOR design of this vehicle ;)

[dhanners]

At today's exchange rate, 130 Euros works out to a bit over $163, which I suppose is not a lot when you're dealing with a model this detailed and this well designed and with this many parts. Plus, you'd think that a model that's been under development for a decade or so will have all the bugs worked out of it.

So is she going to do an MLP? (And if so, an Apollo-era MLP or a shuttle-era? Given that there are no readily available 1/96th-scale shuttle stack kits out there, I doubt it would be the latter. I may have built one of the few shuttle stacks in that scale.)

I've been watching the development of this model since I first got into card modeling, and it is great to see that it's done. She's done a great job.

[Tapcho]

Got the same mail and my four long years on the waiting list are over. Now my order is in and I'm just waiting for confirmation. I'm under the impression that this is an Apollo-era project and at least I've heard rumors that there are plans to take this even further. Jippiii! More to come, yet something to wait for... and in the meanwhile 11.000 parts to cut and glue. :-D

[Ron40]

Tapcho,
I look forward to your build of this. If it is
anywhere close to your PBY build it will be
another masterpiece. Ron

[Tapcho]

Oh no! There's a misunderstanding here the PBY model I referred to in another build thread is not my creation. I went back to the original quote and read you comment there and realised I totally missed that one - otherwise I would have corrected it there. So I'm not that talented but eager enough to give this a good and a long try.

[Ron40]

Tapcho,
Maybe I was mistaken. I was referring to a PBY
build that was in plastic and had a complete scale
interior done on a Monogram 1:48th scale model.
Ron

[Gil]

Thanks for posting this Billy. I lost track of the design till now. Nice story to go along with the finishing of the model.

Ten years? There's hope yet...,

+Gil

[Tapcho]

@Ron: that's the model I posted on 'deckapes' PBY thread and it is not mine. This is the problem I face from time to time discussing in english I think I say something and the ones that a native with the language read it differently - my mistake all togehther. Maybe I should get back to the thred and let everybody know that the plastic model is not mine.
Anyhoo (borrowed this from 'bagpiper'), when I get this model in my hands I'll post kit review here if you want. And then start building it...

[airdave]

When you consider todays model prices ($100 to $200 is common for most higher end plastic kit)..its not that bad.

For a Paper Modeler the price initially seems like a lot, when you consider the price of most Card Models.
But if you factor in the cost of shipping (for a single model), the cost of paper(s), card and plastic sheet, ink and printing costs (including double sided printing) and the time and utilities costs involved in printing out model pages...it all adds up pretty fast.

Personally, although extremely impressed (I have stood beside that Crawler!) I would not pay $130 Euro for the kit unless it had the Apollo (or Shuttle) Spacecraft included.
But thats just me.

[SJPONeill]

I got the same email as Billy - it seems that many of us have been following progress on this beast for a long time...Mischa has done a great job designing AND producing this model. Considering what you get for 130 Euros in the plastic world, the price doesn't seem that unreasonable at all especially since it comes with pretty well all the necessary materials for the build less some thread.

Will have to see if I can fiddle the domestic finances to free up the cash for one of these before they run out...

[Mechanic]

At today's exchange rate, 130 Euros works out to a bit over $163, which I suppose is not a lot when you're dealing with a model this detailed and this well designed and with this many parts. Plus, you'd think that a model that's been under development for a decade or so will have all the bugs worked out of it.

So is she going to do an MLP? (And if so, an Apollo-era MLP or a shuttle-era? Given that there are no readily available 1/96th-scale shuttle stack kits out there, I doubt it would be the latter. I may have built one of the few shuttle stacks in that scale.)

I've been watching the development of this model since I first got into card modeling, and it is great to see that it's done. She's done a great job.


If you've ever gone to the Microartwork website, they've said the plan is to make the entire Saturn/Apollo stack, but I don't know if that's still the plan. I think this started out as a commercial venture with several people working on it, but I get the feeling that Cyana is the only one that's worked on it for a while now.

[Tapcho]

I got mine yesterday. Would you guys like to have a sneak peek what the kit looks like? I could take some photos and introduce the contents. It's by far a lot more than I expected or wished for - it might even be to much for me. :-) Cyana has done a mamoth of job creating this and I must say I'm proud owning one if I fail to start building this (and I haven't made up my mind yet). ;-)

[Ron40]

Tapcho,
Photo's of the kit would be greatly
appreciated. This kit appears to be
a masterpiece of design skill.....Ron

[SJPONeill]

I got mine yesterday. Would you guys like to have a sneak peek what the kit looks like? I could take some photos and introduce the contents. It's by far a lot more than I expected or wished for - it might even be to much for me. :-) Cyana has done a mamoth of job creating this and I must say I'm proud owning one if I fail to start building this (and I haven't made up my mind yet). ;-)

Oh, yes, please!! I'd love this model but not sure I can convince OC Home Comd that I deserve it, much as I think that Cyana deserves as many sales as possible for the time and effort invested in the development...would love to see what's in the 'box...

[Mechanic]

Oh, yes, please!! I'd love this model but not sure I can convince OC Home Comd that I deserve it, much as I think that Cyana deserves as many sales as possible for the time and effort invested in the development...would love to see what's in the 'box...


A couple of guys over at Kartonbau have recieved theirs and started a build thread.

I ordered mine and got my confirmation (#071/499), but I wasn't able to get it processed before the 11th so I won't be getting it until after the end of the month. I kind of did the "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" thing; "You want HOW MUCH for WHAT?!"

[Squirrel]

i still can't make myself pay that much for a model. i have never bought a paper model, and i certanly won't pay 80-plus for one. i am not saying it's not worth 80-plus, just that i won't be getting one.

[umtutsut]

It'll be very interesting to see how many of these kits actually get finished. The 11,000 parts are way more than anything I have or ever want to tackle at this stage in my plastic or card modeling "career."

Just curious: Does anyone else think a model of just the crawler -- without the MLP -- is kind of odd? I believe I read somewhere an MLP kit may be coming...but that would entail several thousand more parts! :eek: Just not for me, Mon....

Good luck to everyone starting theirs!

:cool: Les (Friendly Airplane Asylum & ex-NASA flack)

[dhanners]

Maybe Cyana figured it'll take people years to build the Crawler, and during that time, she can design, perfect and offer a model of the MLP, again with thousands of parts. And then the modeler can start over again....

The whole undertaking has kind of a Sisyphean aspect to it.

[umtutsut]

The whole undertaking has kind of a Sisyphean aspect to it.

Who you callin' a Sisyphus, David????? :p

Actually, most of the builds I've started feel that way....

:cool: Les (Friendly Airplane Asylum & ex-NASA flack)

[d3canyon]

Looks like Cyana is well on the way on the MLP kit.

There were reasons for taking a long time on the crawler, Like Correct info, missing info drawings and available time work on it.

I too have one and the detail is awesome, of course it will take time to build it, I'm practicing with the knife before I slice this one up.

I've gone to print shops to see what it would cost to make a copy of one of the sheets If I mess up, and they said with the thick paper and double print would be around $25 a sheet - which would come up to above $200 to reproduce it, not including the transparencies - nor the yellow card for railings - nor trying make a copy of the manual in color, another 15 to 20

Many are use to high production plastic kits with a medium to low price.. this is not your average kit here.

I can see why the detail is so important, Look at the others paper Crawler kits out there!

Daniel

[NYC Irishman]

Maybe Cyana figured it'll take people years to build the Crawler, and during that time, she can design, perfect and offer a model of the MLP, again with thousands of parts. And then the modeler can start over again....

The whole undertaking has kind of a Sisyphean aspect to it.

My grand kids will be building the LUT :)

[gert]

Hello,

May be we will have to look at it from another viewpoint:
Cyana made a complete private attempt to get something special done.
It took a long time but I think he undoubtly succeeded in doing so.
The model is one of a kind, the quality is superb, the description how to build the whole together is worth the money alone.

Will it be built? I don't know. I have one at home since a couple of weeks and am looking at it regulary, thinking that it might be one step too far for me.

But how about people that built the Bismarck ( > 5.000 pieces) or some other models from HMV or alike?

Hope to hear from someone who started building.

Greetings,

Gert Vlaanderen
Lunteren, the Netherlands

[desney]

hmmmmmm maybe if i'm 60 and retired...i'll give it some thought...now? i'll stick to 3 digit number of parts, thank you!

definitely a tremendous build to make but an equally wonderful kit to have, this kit will define the men from the boys :D

[billy.leliveld]

Hallo Gert,
Is it possible for you to post a picture of the kit? I'm dead curious, and thinking of getting one myself :D
Btw, I joined the Dutch Ipms, so see you in October, just an idea, how about starting a SIG papermodeling in the IPMS,or is that cursing in the church?

[Wilfried]

Hello Billy,

the kit is uitstekend, unbelievable ... take a look here:

Kartonbau.de - Alles rund um's Kartonmodell... | Bauberichte | "Crawler Transporter" / MICRO Artwork / 1:96 (http://kartonbau.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=23216)

and try this:

http://kartonbau.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=23215

With lovely greetings
the Wilfried

[gert]

Hello,

Even more info on:
www.microartwork.com (http://www.microartwork.com)

This is the original website from Cyana, the Austrian guy
who made the monster.

Hope to see some of you at ESM on October 30.
( See also Calendar)

Greetings,

Gert Vlaanderen