Atlas D in 1:240 scale printed on silver paper

[Willard11]

In the on-line Zoom and Google meetings, we talked about how some models lend themselves to be printed on silver paper. The best silver paper to use in an ink-jet printer is RedRiver metallic paper, but it is no longer available and the modelers that have it use it sparingly. I found some silver gift wrapping paper and tried printing on it with an ink-jet printer. The paper didn't absorbed ink and it pooled on the surface. I then tried it in a laser printer and the toner stuck to the surface.

The paper model I am printing out on the silver gift wrapping paper is:

Atlas Agena - Precision Paper, original 1:96

I am downsizing it to 1:240 scale and putting all the parts that need to be printed on the silver paper on one page and the other parts on another page to be printed on plain paper. I had to remove the shading and darken the edges of the silver parts. That took some time to get the pages ready to print on the laser printer.

The label on the silver gift wrapping paper got throw away when it was unwrapped from the store. It has silver on one side and 1” squares for cutting on the other side. I think it said heavyweight wrapping paper on the label but it is thinner than copy paper.

In the photos you can see the pages I printed out. They are a quarter size of an 8½ x 11 page about 4”x5”. I printed one plain paper copy of both pages to use as a control test build, then printed a silver page and plain paper page to test build the silver model. I am using the same building technique on both models to see how they differ using the silver paper. I have an extra silver paper in case I have to start over building it.

I am using the Precision Paper instructions for this test build. The final photos show the Main Tank front and back with the Main Tank Cylinder/Tapered Section Adapter glued to the top and the Forward Bulkhead glued under it. The Aft Bulkhead and Forward Bulkhead are glued on card stock beside the Main Tank cutouts.

I would be interested in reply postings from anyone who has built models out of silver gift wrapping paper. I am using the same Elmer's glue (PVA) on both models. The feel of the silver paper is different from the plain paper. Cutting it with scissors also has a different feel but it cuts without any issues so far.