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Old 09-06-2012, 01:08 PM
Ancient Modeler Ancient Modeler is offline
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Smile Hello from the "Ancient Modeler"

Don't let the term "Ancient Modeler" fool you !! ... I'm a newbie to the art of ship building, wood, card, paper, plastic or any other method. The term "Ancient Modeler" is a re-work of "The Ancient Mariner" for those of you who recall the saga of same. I'm just old. Period. Actually just a little old.

I hail from South Africa and have recently (last couple of days in fact) discovered the amazing art of working with paper/card to produce the most astonishing models !! I need somebody to guide me here. Do you purchase kits to make models from paper/card ?? or do you purchase plans and then provide your own paper/card to build the model ??

If you need to purchase kits, where can I find them, and what do they cost ??

I hope to enjoy my stay with this forum.
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Old 09-06-2012, 01:31 PM
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Vermin_King Vermin_King is offline
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You have come to the right place. Some folks purchase pre-printed templates, some use plans to build their own models, but most download templates from the internet and print them off at home, or take the files to a print shop.

Look around the model building posts on ships. Check out the design threads and look around the Found it on the Internet section.

By the way, a long, long time ago when I was in high school, my senior thesis in English was on Samuel Taylor Coleridge (hopefully I remember how to spell it) entitled 'A Search for Reason in Imagination'. It was eventually published, but I don't even remember where. Thanks for bringing back some very old memories.
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Old 09-06-2012, 01:35 PM
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Peter Walker Peter Walker is offline
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Welcome! I'm new too. There are many free plans all over the internet for whatever might strike your fancy. When I started I just did a search for "papercraft" on Google and it eventually led me to this place. There is also a download section on this site. Two of the commercial, pay for plans sites that I would personally recommend are fiddlersgreen.net and ecardmodels.com Hopefully we will both learn a lot in this adventure of card modeling.
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Old 09-06-2012, 02:59 PM
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Darwin Darwin is offline
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I agree with Peter's recommendations for commercial electronic (print yourself) kits, and would add www.bestpapermodels.com to it. Check out our links section for other sources to peruse and evaluate. If you wish to work with preprinted kits, I highly recommend Orlik
Orlik Model Kartonowy, Sklep internetowy. The kit prices are quite reasonable (one Polish Zloty is about 30 cents US), airmail postage from them (registered, no less) is comparable with postage handling costs from domestic sources (those few that are left), and delivery is usually no more than 10 days after making payment to them. Unlike most eastern European vendors, there is no language barrier problem, and the proprieter is great to work with. We also have a domestic kit distributor www.papermodelstore.com that appears to still be in business, although no updates have been made to his website in over a year. Welcome to our world of high-tech paper dolls.
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Old 09-07-2012, 12:17 AM
Ancient Modeler Ancient Modeler is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermin_King View Post
You have come to the right place. Some folks purchase pre-printed templates, some use plans to build their own models, but most download templates from the internet and print them off at home, or take the files to a print shop.

Look around the model building posts on ships. Check out the design threads and look around the Found it on the Internet section.

By the way, a long, long time ago when I was in high school, my senior thesis in English was on Samuel Taylor Coleridge (hopefully I remember how to spell it) entitled 'A Search for Reason in Imagination'. It was eventually published, but I don't even remember where. Thanks for bringing back some very old memories.
No problem !! ... Old memories belong to me (and you?), some good, some mediocre and some bad. I'm at the stage in my life where, every time a pretty girl walks by, my pacemaker opens the garage door !! (ouch) and to crown it all I bought a rocking chair the other day ... just can't get the darn thing to go !!

Thanks for the advice and I sure will look around the site. Just one small thing if you don't mind. If you print a set of plans on say card 1 or 2mm thick, how do you cut the patterns out ?? ... by hand ??

Take care and top of the morning to you !!
Ancient Modeler (Eugene)
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Old 09-07-2012, 12:30 AM
Ancient Modeler Ancient Modeler is offline
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Thanks for welcome note ....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Walker View Post
Welcome! I'm new too. There are many free plans all over the internet for whatever might strike your fancy. When I started I just did a search for "papercraft" on Google and it eventually led me to this place. There is also a download section on this site. Two of the commercial, pay for plans sites that I would personally recommend are fiddlersgreen.net and ecardmodels.com Hopefully we will both learn a lot in this adventure of card modeling.
Thank you Peter for a nice welcome. The same to you my good friend and may your days be long and pleasant in this forum and may you learn a few new tricks like I'm going to as well !!

Here's something for a starter. Where can you recommend I "shop" for either a kit or a full set of plans for HMS Victory at 1:92 Scale ?? Excluding that, once you have your printable files (file) do you have it printed on standard white or colored paper, or directly to card, say 1 to 2mm thick ??

Right, now you have your printed files on standard printer paper, either A4 or A3 sizes. Do you now transfer these printed files to card by gluing them to a suitable card thickness ?? Ok, whatever method is used, how do you cut out the intricate patterns ?? ... by hand ?? That could be disastrous me thinks !!

Thanks again Peter and top of the morning to you !!

Best regards.
Ancient Modeler (also known as Eugene)
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  #7  
Old 09-07-2012, 12:40 AM
Ancient Modeler Ancient Modeler is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darwin View Post
I agree with Peter's recommendations for commercial electronic (print yourself) kits, and would add www.bestpapermodels.com to it. Check out our links section for other sources to peruse and evaluate. If you wish to work with preprinted kits, I highly recommend Orlik
Orlik Model Kartonowy, Sklep internetowy. The kit prices are quite reasonable (one Polish Zloty is about 30 cents US), airmail postage from them (registered, no less) is comparable with postage handling costs from domestic sources (those few that are left), and delivery is usually no more than 10 days after making payment to them. Unlike most eastern European vendors, there is no language barrier problem, and the proprieter is great to work with. We also have a domestic kit distributor www.papermodelstore.com that appears to still be in business, although no updates have been made to his website in over a year. Welcome to our world of high-tech paper dolls.
Thanks for your warm welcome Darwin. Really appreciated. I have a good feeling about this forum and suspect that I could spend happy days and happy times here !! Thanks also for all the references and websites to visit.

Just a question. Once you have a set of plans, do you cut out the various shapes by hand ?? and, of course, how do you transfer the images to stiff card ?? I don't think my local print shop will print straight to card, but I can ask.

You gotta love it "high-tech paper dolls" !! So, let's play, whatya say !!

Take care and top of the morning to you !!

Best regards.
Ancient Modeler (also known as Eugene)
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  #8  
Old 09-07-2012, 01:37 AM
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Darwin Darwin is offline
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Eugene, one gets the thicker parts by printing onto the card, then laminating the cardstock to the appropriate thickness of cardboard. There have been several threads on the subject. Some of the guys use spray cement to bond the cardstock to the backing material. Some use gluesticks, others use rubber cement, others use white glue, etc. Whatever floats your boat, so to speak. My own preference is to use Ailenes Tacky Glue, vigorously roll the bubbles out with a 4-inch wide roller (like the ones you used to spread ink over the linoleum blocks back in elementry school crafts), then weight down the laminations with several books (like pressing flowers) overnight. Alas, once all is ready to cut out, it is done by hand. My preference is to rough-cut the parts out of the laminate using a pair of heavy shears or tinsnips, leaving about an eighth-inch or so of margin to the part outline, then fine-cut the part using a heavy-duty craft knife (the big honkin' Xacto handle that is machined from one-inch aluminum barstock) or a box cutter. Lots of small, controlled cuts are better than trying one sweeping cut that somehow manages to wander across the middle of the part. Or, if you are really, really lucky, you can find a set of laser-cut frames aftermarket parts for your model....not too likely for Shipyard-type kits, but sometimes one does get lucky....which is now defined as making it through the night without a pit stop.

ps Xacto makes a really nice egronomic box cutter for about $10, really worth it for easing the pain on the arthritic hands.
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  #9  
Old 09-07-2012, 07:30 AM
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Peter Walker Peter Walker is offline
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I'm not really sure if there is a model available of the HMS Victory but I do know there are a lot of ship builder's here on this forum that could point you in the right direction there. You might also want to check this site out as these guys may have plans they might be willing to share. HMS Victory Model Ship

I'm printing my model plans on regular Letter size card stock. The plans that are A4 I just downsize them to fit on my stock. They come out slightly smaller but it keeps everything to a uniform aspect ratio so things line up with no issue. I read somewhere that 120gsm which I think translates to 32# card stock is good for general card model use. The card stock I bought at the local hobby store doesn't have the weight listed so I'm not really sure what it is. I know some people will print on colored card stock to save on ink. For instance if you are making a yellow J-3 Cub you can use yellow card stock and print the plan out black and white so you get the lines but not yellow ink.

When I set my printer preferences I just tell it that I'm using "Other Specialized Paper" and it prints out very nicely. I was worried with an inkjet printer it would put out too much ink but I really like the way things are coming out. My printer has small ink cartridges so I know I will be buying ink more often than before I started this hobby. I'm almost tempted to just take the plans to a print shop and have them printed. The cost per page I think will be less than buying new cartridges. But that is something I will have to consider.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ancient Modeler View Post
Thank you Peter for a nice welcome. The same to you my good friend and may your days be long and pleasant in this forum and may you learn a few new tricks like I'm going to as well !!

Here's something for a starter. Where can you recommend I "shop" for either a kit or a full set of plans for HMS Victory at 1:92 Scale ?? Excluding that, once you have your printable files (file) do you have it printed on standard white or colored paper, or directly to card, say 1 to 2mm thick ??

Right, now you have your printed files on standard printer paper, either A4 or A3 sizes. Do you now transfer these printed files to card by gluing them to a suitable card thickness ?? Ok, whatever method is used, how do you cut out the intricate patterns ?? ... by hand ?? That could be disastrous me thinks !!

Thanks again Peter and top of the morning to you !!

Best regards.
Ancient Modeler (also known as Eugene)
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  #10  
Old 09-07-2012, 02:29 PM
Ancient Modeler Ancient Modeler is offline
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Thanks a lot you guys for all the useful advice. Appreciated. I'm going to spend a bit of time researching all my options. By the way Peter, I have managed to locate a set of plans for HMS Victory. I'm just not sure how to go about assembling the whole lot. I don't have assembly instructions.

Also, I have access to a casual friend in my immediate area who has a laser cutter for light work, ie. he can cut plywood, chipboard, masonite or supawood of thickness up to 5mm. So, if he's price is reasonable, I'm pretty sure with his existing software he could comfortably laser cut all my designs. I just have to check the cutting area he can address on the laser. I like the website you've referred me to Peter and I will take advantage of the information.

Thanks again and take care.

Best. Eugene.
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