Vintage Toy Military Models - Decoupages

[Don Boose]

Last July, B-Manic started a thread entitled “Vintage Decoupages” that presented antique paper toys. Many other modelers, including (not surprisingly) Pat Craft, Chris Walas, The Vermin King, Major Charles Davenport, Charles Walker, and others have participated in this thread, sharing models and information on sources.
http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/found-internet/952-vintage-decoupages.html

Since my earliest memory of paper models are of Rigbys that appeared in Pittsburgh newspapers during Wordd War II, and a little shadow box diorama of a flying boat over the ocean as seen from the cabin of another airplane that my mother built for me while my Dad was on his way to Okinawa (in my memory it is a spectacular model), I was very much interested in this thread and the models.

Chris Walas and Major D both sent me some examples of models that they had cleaned up and over the past months, I have been working on them.

Image 1 shows the models that Chris sent me, including a very brightly colored toy armored car, which he also produced in subdued colors. Image 2 shows some of the models that Major D sent, including the delightful shadow box diorama of Zeppelins over Paris that several of you have built.

I tried to build these toys as carefully as I could, using the same techniques that I use on other models. In the future, I will show the results in this thread.

Don

[Don Boose]

This delightful model has been built by Major D (http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/found-internet/952-vintage-decoupages-5.html Post#46) and by at least one other person, but I can’t find the other thread.

These images show my version under construction and completed.

More later,

Don

[KCStephens]

Outstanding!!! Beautiful job, Don, I love it!

[Pat_craft]

One of my favorite vintage papermodels ! Wel done Don !!

I'm frusrated, those times I have no time to build this sort of model...

[Tim Crowe]

A lovely picture / model from a bygone era

Tim

[Tapcho]

Very fine model Don. It portrays finely the innocence of the time and of the parisians in midst of an deadly air rade, the spectacular play is followed and watched closely from the roofs and balconies despite the evident danger. More pictures here.

BR Tappi

[rockpaperscissor]

Superb! I wish there were more shadowboxes out there.

[Don Boose]

Thanks for the feedback Kevin, Don, Pat, Tim, and Tappi.

And thanks to Tappi for the additional resources that help to put the shadow box in the context of its time and show the juxtaposition of the dangerous reality of Paris under attack with the defiant humor of the model.

Don

[JohnO]

Hi Don,
Quick question about Neocolor crayons. Do you wet them after applying? I have found the color can pick up on fingers and get where you don't want it It does go on great tho.
John O

[Don Boose]

Hi John -

I sharpen the Neocolor II crayons to a point and normally use them dry to color edges.

I take your point about the color getting on your fingers. Sometimes, I will purposely rub my finger across the newly-colored edge to force the pigment into the grain of the paper and lock it in place. If I use the Neocolor II crayon to color a larger area, I rub it with a tissue to spread the color and insure it adheres to the paper.

Sometimes, to get into tiny areas, or to cover broader areas, I rub a wet brush along the crayon and use the brush to apply the color. I also save the shavings in a watercolor pallette and melt 'em down with a few drops of water so that I can use the pigment as a sort of gouache. I can't show this to you now, because I am working in the reading room of the Military History Institute, but I will snap a few photos tonight.

Incidentally, although I used dark and light gray Neocolor II crayons to darken most of the long edges of the shadow box, I used a dark gray Faber Castell PITT artist brush pen to apply color along the edges where I had cut out the complex shapes.

My intention is to use this thread to show my work on other vintage paper military toys and to explain and show my tools and techniques in the process. It will be pretty rudimentary stuff to the many highly skilled and experienced members of the forum, but might provide a few ideas to newcomers and folks like me who are perpetual duffers.

Don