Vintage Toy Military Models - Decoupages

[Don Boose]

Phil, Old Buddy - You should be able to find it. It looks like a Corsair. (Mustang Canopy question)

John - I do not scribe with a knife blade, but I have a knife-like scribing tool that I fabricated based on the information in Eric Sayer Peterson's Card Modeling, Winona, MN: Caltrop Publishing, 1994. It is a #11 blade that I dullified by running it over a grinding wheel and then inserted into a length of 3/8" dowel with a rounded end that also serves as a tool for rolling paper and burnishing compound curves. For years, it was my primary tool for scoring lines and I still use it as such from time to time, although I now do most of my scribing with a Kemper needle (Kemper Straight Needle - BLICK art materials).

The home-made scriber is also handy as a device for prying dried glue out of the V-8 bottle top that I use as a glue pallette and as an impromptu screw driver and pry bar.

Two other simple and useful hand-made tools that I find indispensible are:

A needle inserted into a 3/16 dowel with the other end sanded to a wedge shape. Useful for poking holes, picking up small pieces, applying glue, and helping to squish down small areas being glued.

And a length of 3/16 dowel with a wedge shape on one end and a flat surface on the other. Useful for rolling paper tubes, squishing, forming, and shaping.

Images below. I am embrangled in grading papers and running an on-line forum and STILL haven't taken the photos of the use of Neocolor II. Will try to do that tonight, as well as showing you the completed Toy Tank No. 1 and the beginning of the construction of TT No.2.

Don

[cdavenport]

My scriber is an old fashioned BIC pen. I removed the ink tube and cleaned out the remaining ink from the roller ball head. The roller ball makes for effortless and precise scribing.

[Gerald43]

Vielen Dank Don!
Aber Dein Deutsch ist besser als mein Englisch!

[Don Boose]

Lots of folks get good results from empty ball pens, Major D. I guess we all get used to what we work with, but it's always good to hear what other folks are using and how. And to try new techniques.

Gern geschehen, Gerald. Ich bin noch auf der Suche für den Link.

Meanwhile, here are some images of the completed Toy Tank Mk. I (the third image shows the one major and difficult modification that I made) and the beginning of Toy Tank Mk. II.

Don

[Gerald43]

Sehr Schön gebaut! Gratulation!

[KCStephens]

Masterfully done...Look forward to round two!

[Don Boose]

Many thanks, Kevin. This is very basic stuff compared to your work, but it allows for a little model building at a time when work is keeping me occupied and gives me a chance to work on my hand skills without risking an important model. Eventually, I will get back to the Carden Loyd, the Flymodel M3 light tank, and the other models, but with these I can maintain a presence in the Forum, albeit at the novice level.

I hope to take a break from grading papers later and continue with Mk. II.

Don

[Don Boose]

The gun provided for this tank is entirely flat. While that would have a certain vintage charm, I decided to roll my own. First step was to color some paper using a Neocolor II crayon, rubbing the pigment with a tissue to even out the color and to push the pigment dust into the paper (Image 1, below). You can see the parts for the two-dimensional version.

In the next image, I am on a roll. Turret parts in the background.

3: 75mm HVAT gun with muzzle weight and trunnion band on the factory floor of Conodoguinet Heavy Industries (Toy Tank Division).

4: Tank gun, turret parts, hull, tracks, and partially-assembled sponsons.

5-7: Measuring twice and cutting and folding once because the two sides of the track assembly didn't quite match up.

8. One of the primary uses of the Neocolor II crayon: covering up white edges and construction lines (on non-toy tanks, this gives something of the appearance of painted metal).

9-11: Completion of the turret.

12-14: Factory-fresh Mk. II and a shot of the Mk. II with its predecessor and stable mate.

15: Hanging out with the grown ups: the Toy Tanks Mk. I and II on display at the 2011 International Paper Modeler's Convention.

More later,

Don

[B-Manic]

The toy tanks look great Don. The Neocolor II looks interesting.

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Douglas. I am indebted to you for starting the vintage decoupages thread. It has certaining sparked a lot of interest in these models. Chris Walas is on the qui vive for the website for these tanks and for the violently-colored armored car, which will be the next to appear here. I also have (in addition to the Zeppelins sur les toits de Paris shadow box) several more toy tanks and other vehicles and soldier flats courtesy of Major Charles Davenport.

Later, I am going to say more about the Neocolor II crayons. Alan Wheeler introduced me to them and I find them very useful (and given my skill level, it helps that they can cover up a multitude of poor craftmanship sins). They don't work for everything. I still find the need of Pitt artist brush pens and other materials for coloring edges and weathering, but they are a versatile medium.

I have a few more toy tanks to build and present, but eventually, I will get back Alberto's T1E1, Vickers Medium I, and Zio's Carden Loyd.

Don