The Art of Paper Casting

[Paolo vanKossi]

Discussion thread for The Art of Paper Casting. If you would like to add a comment, click the Post Reply button.

[Thales]

That is a very cool idea. I had vaguely thought of casting parts, but I had never put enough effort into the thought to come up with something usable. Thanks for writing this up. I may have to try it soon.

[Stev0]

This method would be a good alternative to the petal method for such things as tank shells and propeller noses or just plain annoying surface sections that you cannot replicate due to their size and shape that are important like castings of gun mantlets.

Of course your going to be required to paint all the results but that's part of the game.

Very good article, thanks.

[airdave]

wow, this is very interesting!

the other day I was sitting working on a model and thinking about the construction of a nosecone for an aircraft model.

and on my table was a plastic "half" egg...half of a Kinder Chocolate/toy container.

and I imagined using white glue and wet paper squares to line the inside of the egg
and attempt to form a paper "nosecone" in this manner.
I realized I would need the exact size (and shape) of "mold" to make it worthwhile to a particular kit
and that the glue might take a very long time to dry.

but...would this work? do you need these other chemicals/ingredients to make a paper object like this?
if you are going to putty it smooth in the end, then does it matter that you make this fine "pulp" mixture, or would a paper-mache approach work just as well?

[lairdre]

I would like to hear about various ways of creating the molds and prototyping the part before casting. I suppose you could use the original part and use filler to make it look right and then make a mold of it.

Ron

[peter taft]

This is a dome i cast from paper for my Fireball XL5 model. It's still paper in the end, but smooth finishes require something like this. The Front of the SEAVIEW had lots of Joins which detracted from the model, this was overcome by making papiermache from paper dust from the paper shredder mixed with PVA adhesive... a bit messy, but for the smooth finish it was worth it.

[cdavenport]

Is there any advantage of making your own pulp instead of using commercially available Celluclay? Blended in a blender, it comes out creamy smooth with no effort.

[peter taft]

Originally Posted by cdavenport

Is there any advantage of making your own pulp instead of using commercially available Celluclay? Blended in a blender, it comes out creamy smooth with no effort.

I can't really say if it's an advantage or not because i haven't used any of the Celluclay... i guess it would cut down on time and possibly mess, but i have fun making my own stuff and at very little cost to me, and at the end of the day when the model is finished i can certainly sit back and think "i did that - and with my own product" I guess it's the love of the model making that drives us all on to do the best we can with what we have got, and not neccessarily getting products to help us get it 100%.

[jacberk]

Years ago model railroaders made streamlined passenger car bodies by layering tissue with shelac on a hand-carved waxed wooden form. Somewhat like fiberglass but with essentially paper and paint. Both on a solid form or inside a hollow form was used.

This was done before cheap plastic models became available when model railroaders had to make everything by hand themselves.

Jack

[peter taft]

Originally Posted by jacberk

Years ago model railroaders made streamlined passenger car bodies by layering tissue with shelac on a hand-carved waxed wooden form. Somewhat like fiberglass but with essentially paper and paint. Both on a solid form or inside a hollow form was used.

This was done before cheap plastic models became available when model railroaders had to make everything by hand themselves.

Jack

And all made with a lot of LOVE and PATIENCE