Paper or plastic?

[Tim Nolan]

In the process of making a body for my Martian Spider 2 project, I've been using the "Jeff Miller Method" of creating it in paper first.

I had started hacking it out of sheet plastic, but after a few not so happy attempts at getting what I wanted, I switched to paper instead of wasting styrene at 3 bucks a sheet.

I've done this a bit in the past, but it really is a better way to do it when your making an entire body from scratch. Thanks for the inspiration Jeff!

[fredmellini]

Although I have this mental(and I use the word carefully) image of cut up notebook and colored construction paper (wrinkled) with duct tape and bubble gum holding it together (with hairs sticking out of it along with floor crud);D ;D ;D!!!.....................How about some pictures!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

[stevielewis]

Sounds like an interesting way of scratch building, Tim. Ida never thunk of using paper first. Good luck and let us know your progress on the body. ;D

[Tim Nolan]

Yikes........

[TheMadModeler]

I use index cards for mock up. Also thin cardboard.
Sometimes cardboard will just stay in the finished build.
Like now I'm using it for the roof of a Boot Hill..

BiLL..

[Wardster]

Questions: who is Jeff Miller; and what did he do, project-wise? I'd like to check it out if possible. Got links?

Comments: yes, paper is often good for mock-up purposes. Like Tim said: sheet plastic is way too expensive to waste, early on in the "just figuring stuff out" phases of projects. (At least for me!)

Suggestions: Next time you go to Wal-Mart, look through their office supply department. You should find lots of reams of paper: some plain, some in color, etc. Amongst all that they sell "card stock" in reams. It's thicker and stiffer 8.5" x 11" paper, and it's very handy to have around. (About $5 for 300 sheets, I think.)

If you have model boxes you're about to toss out, think again: you may find that the thick "paper" they're made of is also handy! (I saw a Radio Controlled submarine guy's multi-part web article, where he used that in place of thin, stiff materials like sheet brass or the better grades of thin woods. This was for a hull that he was scratchbuilding: he needed cross-sections he could glue onto slices of foam, to have "sand to here" indications. Anyway, this inventive guy covered the model box cardboard in super glue, to stiffen each of them up. He could then sand each of them to size, perfectly, without having to deal with scissors-cutting!)

You guys may also want to check out some of the cheaper rolls of masking tape. They will vary, of course, but some won't stick as well as others ... which can be a good thing, at times. And some are so thin that you can see pencil marks right through them! I find that useful for making quickee templates: just slap some of the tape against, say, a window opening: trace the outline -- if you trace it on the sticky side, it won't hurt anything -- and then peel it off. Stick it down on some sheet plastic or whatever, and it will stick to it ... but you'll still be able to see the traced lines.

I read in a 1:1 car magazine once that fiberglass resin won't stick very well to masking tape. I've since used the heck out of that idea, but with super glue and dyed baking soda. I use the tape to make a temporary "mold wall," right on one or more parts that I'm modifying -- say, for filling a big hole in a body panel, that I wished wasn't there -- and then pour in the baking soda. The tape helps the baking soda stay in place, and super glue hardens instantly, when you drip it onto the baking soda. (Or vice-versa.)

Ah, the things you learn when the nearest hobby shop's in the next state; 100 miles away! ;-)

Apologies offered, if I'm nerding out and/or being way too chatty!?

[Tim Nolan]

Actually, I guess I ws thinking of Scott Colmer, although I think Jeff may have done this too! Jeff has built some oustanding models, a few of which are in our Gallery here!
www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/mint_condition.html

www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/tymeless_t.html

This is Scott's "in-progress", made of paper:

public.fotki.com/Scottcolmer/on_the_bench-1/

[Dr. Kerry]

showcarnut said:

I don't build anything from scratch.....


I know where I scratch (and I refuse to build anything from that)

Ahh yeah!! I think that's better left alone!!

[Wardster]

Pretty darn cool, Tim. Thanks much! I checked those out, and book-marked the latter one for more thorough perusal, later. (I've been bookmarking a bunch of you guy's photo pages!)

[Tim Nolan]

Yeh, no problem Ward.....

I finally got sick of maker paper balls (lack of success), and broke out the sheet plastic last night and fabbed up a basic body shell.
I'm trying not to just make it a box on wheels, so it's getting some angular bends in the process. It's a long way from done, but it's a start. I'm hoping to hinge the entire half of the body so the shell will open up, but we will see. This ain't as easy as some of these guys make it look! ;D

[Wardster]

timnolan said:

This ain't as easy as some of these guys make it look! ;D

Heehee ... yeah, ain't that the truth! Personally, I'm a fairly hardcore "techniques junkie". (That's one reason I have more unfinished than finished models: the final model itself isn't my motivation to build! Learning new tricks motivates me far more.) I read and collect lots of books and magazines on things that interest me. I tend to love long articles with boatloads of pictures, and text that clears up any steps / details. But it's fun to "just" study other's in-progress pics, too: if they take enough pics, and you're willing to observe closely and analyze well, you can learn / work out some of the steps and details for yourself.

It's a shame that paper magazines only have three or maybe four pages to explain things. Sometimes, it'd really take a dozen or so pages to fully explain every little step; and why something was done that particular way. One thing that most articles avoid -- perhaps due to lack of space; not to mention losing casual reader's interest -- is explaining all of the "Oh, poop! Now that sure didn't work out!" stuff. Readers could probably learn a lot from the "failed" experiments that never make it into most articles. Only including the stuff that did work out -- though it is helpful -- does tend to give a distorted impression. One of my favorite articles was a well-known figure modeler that got tired of letters from people complaining how much better this guy was, than any mortal human being could ever hope to be. So, he wrote up all of the planned stuff that sounded like it would work great ... but didn't work out in real life ... and all the many trips back to the store to buy more and more raw materials ... with a deadline looming.

As for using sheet plastic: something I just tried for the first time was to use a bunch of pieces of strip (not sheet) plastic, to make new fenders for a model car I'm hacking up. (Pics of this are in the "Zzzzzzzz-28 Funny Car Conversion" thread.) Each one was small enough and thin enough to bend easily, in one direction ... and by stacking a bunch of them, I could get a bend in the opposite direction, too. I used masking tape to stretch across an existing hole; then laid the strip plastic -- Evergreen's #124 stuff; 0.020" by 0.080" each -- in, a strip at a time. I used Tenax on it once it was in place; then let that dry, and used super glue and baking soda to "harden" it, on both sides. So far, it seems to have worked out fine. (So far! Next I'll have to cut holes out of it ... and we'll see how well that works out.) Another variation might be to skip the super glue / baking soda stages, and just run two layers of the strip plastic: one in one direction, and the second at another angle; so that the two layers strengthen each other.