Papercraft Models & Textures

[macdon]

I bought the Office Block file offered by Scalescenes.com 

 http://scalescenes.com/products/T007-Office-Block

 

Its a half-relief (half width) 6-storey building that I doubled the height to make it 12-storeys high. Its not yet fully done but I thought I'd post how it looks next to a Tomix (dark grey) large building.

I'll probably make it a full relief building by doubling the width so will have the printers print some exterior facades. Not bad for a paper model and will be useable for any modern city layout.

 

Mardon

 

 

 

 

[cteno4]

Mardon,

 

Nice job, that came out nice. High rise designs like this are one of the best for papercraft or scratch building like this. Start with the clear acetate window sheet then layer on the between floor horizontal bits. You can get acetate sheets you can print on as well.

 

City will be there in no time! Great you have a. Relationship with a good printer with good equipment. I use to have that back in California with an old high school buddy.

 

Jeff

[Ochanomizu]

Very nice model building.  However, did you forget to include the hobby shop on level 2 and the "Tomix" posters in the window? .... oh .... perhaps this building is not in Akihabara?

[macdon]

Very nice model building.  However, did you forget to include the hobby shop on level 2 and the "Tomix" posters in the window? .... oh .... perhaps this building is not in Akihabara?

 

The Tomix building did came with a decal sheet however I havent done anything to it yet - but simply took it out of its box to compare in size to this scalescene building im currently finishing.

 

Mardon

[macdon]

Mardon, Nice job, that came out nice. High rise designs like this are one of the best for papercraft or scratch building like this. Start with the clear acetate window sheet then layer on the between floor horizontal bits. You can get acetate sheets you can print on as well. City will be there in no time! Great you have a. Relationship with a good printer with good equipment. I use to have that back in California with an old high school buddy. Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff!

 

Im thinking about making the scalescene parking garage next. 

 

Mardon

[Lawrence]

Good looking building, like the interior detail too

[cteno4]

yes just a tad of interior detail can really take a building like this to a new level when someone notices! furniture can be as simple as blocks of styrene, fun foam, and paper! some scrap chip board in a little maze pattern, voila a cubicle farm! some small beads a bit of stranded copper wire and some ground green foam, poof office plants. now printing those tiny inspirational posters for the wall, thats optional...

 

great technique of using the fiberglass packing tape to make the bamboo roll up shades you see in some windows. could do the same for the other fancy blinds by printing on clear acetate, but lots of times these are white which wouldnt work with printing! there must be something out there made of clear acetate with fine white or silver lines printed on it for something else! nother thing for the craft and other store hunt list!

 

jeff

[macdon]

I feel its a toss up really - its $8 for the file and about $6 for laser print on matte photo paper, so thats about $14 right there. The file is naturally useable again and again but you need to change some stuff as you cant have all same looking structures. Printing goes a long way now as you can add weathering on print and you save on paint. All other related artistry stuff like what Jeff added above adds to you having a unique, custom looking structure.

On the other hand, plastic structures would remain more durable and possibly less maintennance - you can possibly add custom printed stuff like unique details to make your own custom look to be different to those who bought the same kit. Cost do add up, so a mixture of these paper models and the usual plastic kits could be ideal in a modern cityscape layout.

 

I did ask the printers for how much it would cost for a 3' x 6' printable layout of city blocks and roadways - they said $80. Its gonna be 3' x 6' decal on 1/8" thick sintra board. Waterways could also be an option in printables.

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Mardon,

 

yes printing does get expensive, especially if you dont have your own printer to do it on! ink/toner can also get expensive. toner is cheaper but more expensive printer for color. inkjet inks are getting a bit better and there are some neat kits out there now to install larger ink "tanks" onto printers so you dont end up getting slammed on the ink costs on new cartridges all the time. this has become the deal with printer companies, do the loss leader on the printer and sop folks for the ink. problem is its making the printers so cheap they last like 1 year now and you have to get a new one! 

 

i would rather be like the old days where you paid more for a quality printer and paid a reasonable amount for the actual cost of your consumables. I cringe at the number of inkjet printers that get tossed every year! folks think printers are technology, but really they are mostly mechanical and that needs quality to last well. 

 

i always do worry about the long term staying power of cardstock models. thats why beefing them up where possible and hitting with dull coat inside and out is really good insurance. smaller cardstock structures i think are much less prone to having issues than big ones and when you have them they are much less noticeable on a small building. thats why i think z scale is the ultimate scale for cardstock. n works but getting big enough for issues to start building some and also large enough for the eye to catch some of the visual issues.

 

i also worry that with high rises you get to the size that a little warping can get visually noticeable very quickly. the longer any straight, defined edge is the more likely the eye will notice if its warped or not quite the right edge look to it, the seam, etc. in the little fiddling ive done in looking at some building blocks for high rise ive always thought using styrene, plex, syntra, and wood the best for the main structure/walls. then painted styrene or colored cardstock applied to that next and last printed bits where necessary. you can even do things like take nice colored cardstocks and run them thru the printer to give them seam lines, etc, but not have to print the whole color and also still get a tad of 3D texture from the cardstock. lots of nice colored and textured cardstocks out there with all the scrap booking rage. art shops as well and even though a bit more expensive, you usually get a big hunk of paper for like $2-4 which i bet would be way more to print that color onto white card stock. 

 

also need to factor in your time as well as printout cardstock modeling can take a fair bit of time compared to plastic kits. but then again painting plastic kits takes time.

 

i do like the idea of custom printing details for building, especially card stock. ive been waiting for sankei to do this or come out with an addon line of details for their buildings that are printed plastic that fill in those bits that just dont work well with lasercut chipboard. etched metal as well.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[macdon]

True that buddy. Here in Manila, printer ink is sometimes more expensive than a brand new printer, so a lot of printers gets tossed out as well in favor of a newer one - then the vicious cycle starts again. Some enterprising shops can modify selected printer brands to accept external larger ink tanks but they have problems of their own.

If you dont have a business that requires a lot of printing - its best to troop to the many printing shops around the neighborhood. Calling cards, pics, school reports, etc. - you get the best quality for little money.

Besides, larger printing projects like huge decals or tarpaulin is done by industrial printers anyway - so thats that.

 

But if its a 3-d printer........hmmm, that I would like to own someday!

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

mardon,

 

you are probably right. ive stopped getting inkjet printers as i dont use them enough and they end up drying up w/o good consistent use and always gum the heads up. I kept the last one going well by running a fine pattern test doc i had created once or twice a week and it did well, but then forgot for a month or so w/ no use and dead... i have a nice color laser printer and it can deal with being used intermittently! but it ends up fusing over most all the surface texture on your paper so for some things an inkjet is nicer like this. 

 

our only real printing services here are not just fedex and staples. service is dicy at best and cost not cheap. no little shops anymore. one high school friend out in ca still has a small printing biz that still hangs in there and does more personal service and reasonable prices, sounds like what you have available to you!

 

3D printer would be nice, but really get expensive fast! new ones down into a few thousand are getting close to n scale, but good detail n scale is still tens of thousands of dollars! 

 

jeff

[macdon]

She's a full relief building now...........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

mardon,

 

looking nice! what material did you use for the walls? syntra or cardboard?

 

did it come with all the interior details? looks like carpeting in there!

 

jeff

[macdon]

mardon,

 

looking nice! what material did you use for the walls? syntra or cardboard?

 

did it come with all the interior details? looks like carpeting in there!

 

jeff

 

Thanks Jeff.

 

For the walls, I used the same material like the rest of the bldg - matte photo paper. I just doubled it up.........actually quadrupled since the half relief structure had doubled up walls already prior to making them full relief.

Yes, interior details came with the file - only a single ceiling design for all floors but carpet design came in 2 variants. 3 blue carpeting and 3 intricate design carpets - I just placed them alternate on every floor.

 

The scalescenes file was good as it came with a lot of added details - picture/painting frames, notice boards, directional signs, file cabinets, sofas, reception tables, etc. I just didnt utilize them all. It even comes with 4 building themes - each with its own parapet and awning logos (hospital, HSBC Barclays and Travel Lodge). Exterior billboards, optional helipad for the roof and even optional interior walls came with the 8-page file (7 for the building and 1 for acetate/windows).

 

The file is only 6 floors, so if you want to double it up to make a 12-storey building (or higher) then you need to print another back wall, floors, ceilings, elevator shafts and interior sidewalls. The roof detail and lobby are separate, so no need to have those printed again. For making a full width building, either make another full building and glue them back to back or do what I did by just printing side exterior walls, roof and creating a back exterior wall. The back is basically just the back of the printed paper - so its white. I had to copy the side exterior wall design to create the back exterior wall. Of course, you can add more details when doing the photoshop exterior back wall - I was just lazy, so my back exterior wall is just blank.  The only thing I added separately were the figures.

 

Its a great file and can compete with any 'plastic kits' around.

 

Mardon

[Ochanomizu]

The Tomix building did came with a decal sheet however I havent done anything to it yet - but simply took it out of its box to compare in size to this scalescene building im currently finishing.

 

Mardon

 

Hello Mr Macdon,

 

I was making a joke about the model railway shop on level 2.

[E6系]

Ochanomizu san,

 

Railway shop on level 2 is no joking matter.  Every model railways should have one. :)

[macdon]

I got another scalescenes.com file - the multi-storey car park building. 

 

I also maximized the "office block" building I got from them awhile back and did a twin tower condo. I took the pdf files in photoshop and manipulated some parts to make the towers - most specially with the base of the building.

 

Im still thinking of something to put on the deck of the building base between both towers - maybe a pool or deck garden perhaps.

 

Mardon

 

 

 

 

[cteno4]

Mardon,

 

cool! how have the buildings been holding up in the humidity there?

 

ive often thought doing scratch building on the parking structures would be pretty easy as they usually have simple cement wall fronts and the ramps are usually not visible except for the top floor!

 

jeff

[macdon]

Mardon,

 

cool! how have the buildings been holding up in the humidity there?

 

ive often thought doing scratch building on the parking structures would be pretty easy as they usually have simple cement wall fronts and the ramps are usually not visible except for the top floor!

 

jeff

 

 

Jeff,

 

The first building is still holding up but I learned from it. When I built it, I didnt glue it to any card - it was just straight matte photo paper. But with the new car park and twin towers, I adhered them to 1mm illustration board so the lamination should make them tougher. 

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Cool, hitting them with dull coat inside and out really helps, but can't do that once the acetate windows are in there.

 

It will be interesting to see how they hold up for you as it sounds like you have them in a harsh environment in you attic.

 

Jeff

[macdon]

Cool, hitting them with dull coat inside and out really helps, but can't do that once the acetate windows are in there. It will be interesting to see how they hold up for you as it sounds like you have them in a harsh environment in you attic. Jeff

 

With the 1mm card laminating im doing now, hopefully the structures could withstand the varying temps in the attic. 

 

For some reason, I still havent pulled the trigger on the Himiko Water bus - so maybe making this station for it would kick my butt into ordering that thing..Lol!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mardon 

[Densha]

This paper craft of Hakodate station is pretty nice but very expensive: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10238555

[cteno4]

this brings up a good of what exactly is papercraft!

 

these are like the sankai and not really papercraft IMHO as they are lasercut chipboard models, really more akin to wood or plastic models in detail and construction. All the details and coloring come from the material itself and layering it and etching it with the laser (well they do cheat with printed roof sections on some!)

 

ive always seen papercraft as usually printed on paper or cardstock and most all the details are printed, then you cut them out some (depending on how intricate). hard to say though when things are no longer papercraft. the papercraft sets that mardon is using do a bit of both with printed surfaces but they also try to do a lot of layering to give more physical relief than just doing it visually in the printed image.

 

kits like this are much more akin to whats called cardstock modeling in the uk where folks usually cut out by hand all the bits and layer many layers of cardstock to create the structure. usually no printing on those, just card stock. some then paint them or used colored card stocks.

 

jeff

[macdon]

They're fun, cheap and unique. Maybe not as detailed as a plastic model, but they'll pass as scene fillers.

Im actually making a few right now and some are mixed (plastic and card).

 

Here's a plastic greenmax station bldg and a card lawson convenience store ground floor:

 

 

A competitor 7-11 store in card:

 

 

Building side files mounted on 1mm card and ready to be assembled:

 

 

Greenmax plastic bases with card building sides which I posted on my shinkansen layout thread:

 

 

In my case, google images are my friends! :D

 

Mardon 

[Densha]

Wow! Could you share the 7-11 floor tiles? I really would like to add them to my konbini.