Paper vs Plastic

[Dracumel]

The big advantage is definitely lower price. That's why i turned into paper.

[Jim Nunn]

I only do paper and have for the last 15 years or so. For me it is challenge. There is nothing to compare in plastic to making 2400 + parts to just build the track links on an armor model. The title of a book I saw in a hobby shop many years said it all "How to Assemble a Plastic Model". Paper modeling is about making a model.

As too which are more realistic hands down plastic is the winner or to put another way my reference standard is could this pass for plastic. I also compete with plastics and win but I also think that a paper modelers skill level has to higher that a plastics modeler to be able to compete

Jim Nunn

[at6]

I mainly build in plastic and don't buy too many kits anymore due to my 500 kit inventory. I'm just getting into paper modeling as a "newby". One of my coworkers on the job builds paper kits which gives us more in common than work. Besides, I can take a paper model out to my inlaw's place and work on one therefor something to do.

[southwestforests]

I'm not sure what to say. This might ramble a bit.

Started off way back at 6 years old with plastic models and stick and tissue planes like my Dad and Granddad. Part of the lack of paper modeling was a lack of knowledge of what was out there. In school years built some paper freelance spaceships. And then after reaching the having my own money to buy magazines stage, I always enjoyed looking a paper model ads in the model magazines but for some reason didn't order even though I'd highlighted all the ads.

Through the years it was mostly plastic kits and stick and tissue planes with the occasional cardstock and balsa model rocket. And eventually scratchbuilding in plastic and wood.

Got started building paper buildings for miniatures games. Don't game any more. Do have a stack of paper building book-kits in HO scale (1:87) from Dover and Schiffer but haven't started any yet. Do have image in my heaod of them all built and on shelves and/or a model railroad layout or modular section of one, so who knows ...

Am building several mixed-media buildings in G (1:24) and O (1:48) scales to my own designs or scaled up from HO plastic models. Have some Gn15 rolling stock started in cardboard, balsa wood, and paper; and a couple canal boats along with them.
Am also building several mixed-media freelance sci-fi spacecraft and structures.
Both of the above are happening very slowly. But they are happening, and that's what counts.

Back to the kits from Dover and Schiffer, at this point I am paranoid about the ink fading over time and the model losing esthetically.
And in the intervening years my health crashed and there are problems with both the movement of the hands and the ability to focus and concentrate.
The amount of hand-work in folding now raises much, oh, what's a good word, apprehension?

I like paper; I like wood; I want to do more of it. And, hey, with a name like Forrest Scott Wood I have to use wood and wood-fiber products, right!

[southwestforests]

Originally Posted by Dracumel

... which constructions are more realistic to the public?

There seem to be a couple different ways to be "realistic".
It is possible to create a realistic atmosphere in a person's experience without having precisely-detailed realism in the models.
But then, at times it is the exacting detail which creates that atmosphere.

"Realism" is actually a bit nebulous and varies with each individual who is perceiving the realism.

[paper hollywood]

I think card models can sometimes go beyond realism in a way. For instance I think a model based on a comic book or animated cartoon looks more appropriate with black outlines and flatter colors. A paper model can be kind of 3D of version of 2D art.

Wade

[Retired_for_now]

Build what you like - it's the model not the material. Obviously, we're focussed on paper here but it's not a religion (obsession maybe ...).

For what it's worth, for me paper eliminates the need to paint and apply decals - both tasks I can't do worth a darn. And the graphics you end up with are limited only by your patience and the resolution of your printer.

Yogi

[Zathros]

Originally Posted by Jim Nunn

I only do paper and have for the last 15 years or so. For me it is challenge. There is nothing to compare in plastic to making 2400 + parts to just build the track links on an armor model. The title of a book I saw in a hobby shop many years said it all "How to Assemble a Plastic Model". Paper modeling is about making a model.

As too which are more realistic hands down plastic is the winner or to put another way my reference standard is could this pass for plastic. I also compete with plastics and win but I also think that a paper modelers skill level has to higher that a plastics modeler to be able to compete

Jim Nunn

If the only paper models you ever saw were Jim Nunn's, then paper beats plastic, period!

[NimitzFan]

I found myself constantly "kit-bashing" plastic models to customize them. It got tiring after a while. Then I realized that what I was doing was "industrial art." I always want my models to look "real, lived in." For example, I always put figures on my ships and display them as waterline models.

Then I found paper models and the tremendous range available blew my mind. There are more free paper ship models than there are commercially available plastic ones - unless you count resin models as "plastic." When you include the commercially available paper/card ships - you've totally blown plastic/resin away. Further, there is a much wider spectrum of choices available. For example, our own CT Ertz has already made more ACW models than exist in plastic/resin - and he's still designing. In another example, the only two models available anywhere of German disguised merchant ship raiders from WW2 are both only available in paper - KM Stier and KM Atlantis (from Wilhelmshaven and JSC respectively).

So for someone like me - paper is the only way to go.

True, I dig into my vast store of plastic parts to customize things from time to time. All my masts are plastic - and if needed I have a draw plate that can resize them smaller and smaller. I find my figures on eBay - architectural modeling figures of various scales. They are easy to customize with my dremel and a cinch to paint.

I'm exploring photo-etch but have never gotten anything decent from my efforts there so far. It seems to take a steadier hand than mine.

[Dracumel]

Well all your answers were interesting but i have the impression (maybe i am mistaken) that plastic is more "spreaded" around the globe. With bigger number of people work with it, groups, official organisations per country (Ipms) etc. Here in my country i have meet VERY few people who work with paper models. There are 3 forums for plastic modeling but none for paper. Can we say plastic "prevailed"? (I dont know how thing are in America for e.g, but looks like more organisation (groups of people) exists in plastic "industry". Whats your view?

- I stopped plastic kits because of money. I now turn into paper modeling.