I have no luck with glossy photo paper

[lepercan]

Try semi-gloss brochure paper
Lep

[ashevilleangler]

I agree with lepercan on the brochure paper. It's the only paper I ever use. It's a mid-weight paper, maybe equivalent to 40-50 lb stock. Thin enough for really small models and easily laminated for bigger ones. And with a glossy overcoat it can shine or with a dull coat take on a matt finish.

Available online at the Royal Brites store:

Inkjet Paper Royal Brites - Brochure Paper by TheRoyalstore.com

Usual disclaimers apply.

We buy the 500 sheet box cause the wife prints business brochures by the gross.

Cecil

[BARX2]

Originally Posted by lepercan

Try semi-gloss brochure paper
Lep

I'll give it a try. I didn't even know it existed. Is it like card stock but with a shiny surface?

[Nazgul]

I have only one occasion where I dared photo paper. I didn't have a printer at home so I printed the model from a colour lab (More specifically, this is where we Sri Lankans print our photos from. Exclusively) I don't know the thickness of the paper. However, the prints came out great and I had no problems with running colours or anything.One tip on scoring- Score on the reverse side of the paper. And use a sharp blade. A little tricky but punch a few holes through with a fine pin and you will see where exactly where you should be scoring. With smaller parts, I found it easier to just peel off a few layers of paper from the reverse side.The resulting model is one of my favorite models EVER. The Williams Formula 1 car (follow the link on my signature for some pics) I hope you won't give up on photo paper. It adds so much to a model!Good luck

[BARX2]

Originally Posted by Cecil.Severs

I agree with lepercan on the brochure paper. It's the only paper I ever use. It's a mid-weight paper, maybe equivalent to 40-50 lb stock. Thin enough for really small models and easily laminated for bigger ones. And with a glossy overcoat it can shine or with a dull coat take on a matt finish.

Available online at the Royal Brites store:

Inkjet Paper Royal Brites - Brochure Paper by TheRoyalstore.com

Usual disclaimers apply.

We buy the 500 sheet box cause the wife prints business brochures by the gross.

Cecil

Tonight I bought a pack of the HP glossy brochure paper - 48 pound - and printed it in photo mode. The colors actually look better than they did on the photo paper and the sharpness is back. Thanks to everyone who recommended the brochure paper. I had never heard of it. Looks like it will make a great model.

[PixelOz]

I have had problems too trying to do models in some cheap photo paper brands. My observations from this were that after printing at the moment of scoring even using a ball stylus to do the scoring carefully it became a mess quickly cause the coating that precisely made the paper glossy was very brittle and cracked and peeled off very easily so it became useless.

The issue seems to be that some coatings that are precisely what makes the paper glossy prevent the ink from been absorbed more deeply into the paper and they also crack sometimes making the ink come off completely in some areas. When you use flat (matte) paper the inkjet ink penetrates the paper deeper into the fibers which causes far less trouble with scoring.

Despite this I have seen some people successfuly build paper models in glossy paper and my guess is that some of them have found some of them that do not suffer that much from cracking and/or allow the ink to penetrate a bit deeper into the paper.

So the issue maybe to experiment with different brands until you find one that works. Cause that can be a wee bit of an expensive proposition I suggest that you ask other paper modelers to see if some of them have had more success with some particular brands of photo paper that they can recommend to you.

Maybe you could start a thread with some sort of request from other modelers for suggestions for this. Sort of like your own survey to find recommendations in this respect from other modelers. That could be useful for anybody in the forum.

Also this issue of the ink cracking and peeling off is something that I found with some laser printer toners too. Not all laser printers are good for paper modeling for this reason. When I build the prototype of my cartoon Ford 32-33 paper model I printed the parts in a black and white laser and I ran into this issue but with far less severity than what happened to me with the glossy photo paper.

The thing is again that inkjet ink goes a wee bit deeper into the fiber of the paper than toner does cause toner is heated and fused to the surface of the paper/cardstock instead.

Now, I printed a Cessna paper model once in a Tektronix (now Xerox) color laser and assemble it and did it without much of a problem so I guess that there are toners and there are toners and some are somewhat problematic too.

In a somewhat related subject I also have had several problems with HP printers too. We have a multi-function networking ink-jet recent model at home (one that says that it has fade resistant inks in the specifications) and I printed some parts in it as a test and I left them inside my bedroom (away from sunlight) but despite this I noticed that the color faded very quickly in just a few months and very badly.

HP ink-jet printers are these days touted as having fade resistant inks but the company that started to have this feature first was Epson and HP came with these years after Epson printers started to have fade resistant inks so I think that Epson is ahead of them in this area. The second company that I saw coming out with fade resistant inkjets was Canon but Epson was way ahead of all of them in this area.

Some printer companies say that their fade resistant ink is better with their own specific brand of papers so that may have affected the results too but I don't trust this that much cause it's possible that they say this to sell their own papers and there is another reason too for this belief so read what I'm writing next.

I have had several Epson printers and I had two that had fade resistant inks and I printed some stuff in papers that are not Epson whatsoever and that was several years ago and the ink is still intact. One important thing is that images that were printed and then stored afterward (such as storing them inside an envelope or a folder) do not count because when you place them in a place where they are not hit by the light they will last far, far longer than when they are placed outside and exposed to it. I have placed printouts from very old inkjets (that didn't have fade resistant inks) inside some envelopes and they have lasted a long, long time, they only started to fade after several years but exposing them to the light is another story.

The bigest cause of fading is ultraviolet light. Visible spectrum light causes it but to a far, far less degree than UV light (a very small percent). Some think that it is visible light but it is not so using UV resistant window film or a display case built with UV resistant acrylic (there is regular acrylic and UV resistant acrylic and the second just cost a wee bit more than the first) will help preserve the colors of paper models a lot.

Particularly one good example of fade resistance was a few small full color stickers that I created by using regular envelope labels (generic type) which I cut afterward with a scissor and which I placed on some of my computer cases and I did this with my Epson C82 printer several years ago and those stickers are still there and still have the color intact.

So I personally recommend these printers for paper modeling better than HP printers, that doesn't mean that they are perfect, no inkjet printer is without issues but I have had several of them and they have given me far less trouble than any other brand.

[bigbenn]

Hi,
I have a Samsung CLP-510 colour laser printer, which I bought some years ago. I have never had any trouble with the inks, which are fused onto the photocopy paper which I use.
The only problem I have had with my Samsung was with my upgrading computers, all 32 bit but from IDE to 32 bit SATA which are generally a lot faster.
SATA PC's are incompatible, generally with IDE hardware and vice versa.
In fact, I had to purchase an obsolete IDE computer for $40 to run my Samsung laser printer and a scanner, because neither were accepted by my SATA PC's and I was not prepared to throw away my Samsung Laser Printer which cost around $1,500 without trying all of my options first on what seemed to be incompatibility issues with my SATA PC's.
Richard BigBenn

[cMags]

Richard, SATA (Serial ATA) vs. IDE (also known as Parallel ATA) only describes different hard drive technology. It should have no bearing on support of your printer. The only thing I could see about a new computer that supports SATA is that it may not have an old style Parallel Port (completely unrelated to IDE/Parallel ATA other than in age) that an older printer may need. You should however, be able to either find a Parallel Port to USB adapter for your printer, or a Parallel Port dongle to connect to a motherboard header if the board supports it, or a PCI add-on card for a Parallel Port. Then of course you'd simply need the drivers. Other options include a wired or wireless print server (small box that connects to your network and your printer, obviating the need for the printer to be connected directly to one computer), or having a dedicated PC as your print server (as you have now).

Anyway, back on topic, I think I'll have to check out some of this brochure paper myself - sounds good. Some of the models I've been building are getting to the point where 65lb is too thick for the small parts...