Pearls of Wisdom

[Miles Linnabery]

Dear Fellow paper modelers:
New Year New thread, Point out the tricks, you might help some one.
Tip one: Start the truck, car, buss etc. with the Wheels First!!!! get the repitive boring stuff done first then do the fun stuff. I must have 4 or 6 or so cars and trucks in a pile in the basement with the bodies and one wheel done.
May this spark other pearls,
MILES

[Ohnhai]

POW #2:

When edging parts with a felt pen, come to the part from the non printed side so when you inevitably slip and drag the pen nib across the surface you only mark the back of the piece and not the printed front.......

[vbsargent]

If you use a straight edge for cutting (I don't- 15 years of pre computer graphic design developed that skill)- beware of plastic ons! The knife will dig in and cut the straight edge or ride up right into your hand.

[RickTNRebel]

If you have to make paper tubes, as in gun barrels, landing gear struts, etc, use a screw, a bolt or a threaded rod as the mandrel. Coat it with wax, a dry lube or a mold release. Wind and glue your tube to the correct o.d. and when it's dry, just screw it off of the mandrel! To make curved paper tubes, as in a roll cage or an exhaust system, form a wound spring into the shape you need and then proceed as if you were making it on a threaded rod...once dry you can "screw" the spring out and your curved tube will hold it's shape.

[Don Boose]

These are useful tips. Your initial advice about building wheels first is very sound, Miles. I believe in that advice heart and soul, and some day I will actually do it.

I promise.

Don

[SCEtoAUX]

A utility knife blade is useful in making short folds. Line the edge of the blade up with the fold line and make the fold. Used blades are better since they are usually not as sharp as new blades and most likely will not have any protective oil on them.

Making wheels with the tread as a long strip that has the triangular glue tabs, and disks for the outer and inner part of the tire. Cut out the tread and close the loop. Cut out the tire disks and use the hole left in the card stock to trace two more disks on some scrap card stock. They will be just slighly smaller in diameter than the tire disks. Make a hole in the middle of one of the disks then bend the glue tabs on the tread and insert the disk with the hole to the inside of the tread loop and glue to the backside of the glue tabs. The disk will serve as a backer and support for the glue tabs and keep them at a nice 90° angle to the tread. Insert the other disk and reach inside using the hole in the first disk to apply pressure to the back of the second disk so the glue tabs will adhere. You will then have a nice solid tread loop on which to attach the outside and inside part of the tire.

[SJPONeill]

Before using a felt pen or similar for edge marking, do a test shot on a scrap piece of the same paper as the part to make sure that it will not bleed through onto the printed side - if it does, you might try sealing the part using a spray sealer once it has been cut out or using an alternative like water colour pencils...

[elliott]

These tips are so good I thought the thread deserved a bump to see if some more "pearls" could be collected.

<bump>