Sunday 27 July 2014

More Card Models

Introduction

After my last post about card vehicles, UrbanWolf and others offered suggestions to address some of the issues that I was having with the models - thanks, guys.  I investigated these ideas and found myself going rather further than I had intended.  The remainder of this post describes all this new activity, at least so far.

Mega Miniatures Hearse

Whilst browsing over the WargamesVault site, I discovered that Mega Miniatures had made some paper models.  Even though Mega Miniatures is now all but defunct, these models are still available to purchase, typically for 50 cents (USD) each.  Many of them are a bit too cartoon-like for my taste, but some are very nice.

This is the hearse from the "Hearse and Mausoleum" set.  As paper vehicles go, it's pretty basic, but it fits together well and is quick and easy to make.

The original kit is really just a hollow shell, so I've filled in the underside with some black mounting board.  As well as stiffening the model, this adds a little substance to an otherwise lightweight model.

I've also built up some wheels using components from other kits; the original just had the outer wheel silhouette and that would have had very little strength on its own.  Mind you, the added wheels alone probably took as much build time as the rest of the model.

The back window has some sort of "ghoul" peering out; I'm not sure that I like this.  I might eventually build this model again, but edit the source to remove the creature!

Note that this hearse has wing mirrors!  I've never seen another paper vehicle kit that had such a feature; it shows the different emphasis that the kit designer has used: wing mirrors, but no underbody or wheels. That's just an observation on my part and shouldn't be taken as a criticism, mind you.

Warm Acre: White Van

Here's a model from another publisher of paper vehicles who is probably better known for their metal miniature range.  This time it's a white van from Warm Acre's catchy-named "Vehicles for Modern 28mm Wargaming" set.  As well as this box van, the set also includes another type of white van and red and blue versions of a small car.

This time, the designer has gone for a complex body shape on the cab, with curves in 3 dimensions (most paper vehicles have slab sides/flat faces, for simplicity).  The truck also has a complex way of positioning the wheels; again I felt it necessary to build these up considerably with components from other kits.  Between the cab and the wheels, this has to be one of the most complex paper/card kits that I have undertaken in a long while, so I wouldn't recommend it for beginners.

You might expect that the more realistic shape of the cab and wheel positioning would lead to a much better end result.  In this case, I think that the publisher has pretty much ignored any attempt at texturing the surfaces, so the vehicle shows no signs of rust, splashes of dirt, reflections or anything like that.  Additionally, the dashed fold marks are very obvious; these could have been disguised better.   In my view this lack of detail drags the Warm Acre models down a long way, especially compared with texturing experts such as WorldWorks Games.

Note that Warm Acre also make a British police car, police van and ambulance, as well as a number of buildings.  These are subjects that are difficult to find elsewhere, so if you want them as paper models then this may be the way to go.

WorldWorks Trucks

For a long time, I've regretted not buying the Mayhem Industrial set from WorldWorks Games whilst it was still in their catalogue.  However, after my last post I was informed that it was still available from paizo.com .  Although it was rather more expensive than the other kits described above, I wanted some big rigs for my games and this was the best way to get them, I thought.

With my newly-purchased download, I set to work.  So far I've completed a single tractor unit: the red "cab over".  Note that most of the shapes in this model are simple cuboids or cylinders; from that point of view its an easy kit to build.  Of course, the truck is composed from quite a lot of different such pieces, so it may be straightforward but it takes longer than some other paper kits!

The truck models from Mayhem Industrial don't have a coupling between the tractor and trailer.  I suppose that the model-maker is expected to either glue them together or to just rest one piece on the other.  That wasn't good enough for me, so I've built a socket into the back of the tractor - the insert I used came from the end of a cheap felt-tip pen that had recently expired.  When I finish a trailer unit, I'll add a spigot in the right location on the underside (probably made from a Hama bead, as we have thousands of those around the house and my kids aren't likely to miss a few).  The trailer will then just plug loosely into the tractor and allow the 2 parts to be positioned at any angle whilst not falling apart easily.

As you can see, I haven't got as far with my first trailer.  Most of the sub-assemblies have been completed, but there is still a little way to go before this container body is finished.

I plan to make at least one more tractor (probably a "long nose") and several trailers.  In particular, I'd like a flatbed trailer and a tanker, though the latter will require some kitbashing as this WorldWorks kit doesn't include such an option.

Light Bar for "Echo 1"

One of the things that I mentioned in my last post was a desire to add a light bar to Stoelzel's Structures "Echo 1", to see if the vehicle might resemble more closely that used by the Ghostbusters in the film of that name.  I've taken the police car light bar from Mayhem Police and used GIMP to change it from red-white-blue to blue-white-blue.  Note that for now, the light bar is just placed roughly in the right position - it's not glued on yet.  This is really because I want to know what my readers think: does it improve the vehicle?  The original "Ecto 1" had a whole lot of other clutter on the roof as well, but I don't feel up to emulating that.  What do you think?

19 comments:

  1. For what it's worth here is my two cents. I don't like the hearse. It is too cartoony. WWG make a much better one in their Wildwood Grove set. I don't like the Warm Acre van. The lack of detail and weathering on it makes it far too clean looking. The WWG big rig is fantastic . I love your idea for making a workable coupling. The Echo 1 needs something adding to the roof and your blue and white lights work very well. Keep them, Hugh.

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    1. Well, I agree with you - pretty much :-) . The Mega Miniatures hearse *is* a bit cartoon-like. I don't have Wildwood Grove, but it's over 20 times more expensive (admittedly, you get a whole lot of other goodies as well as the hearse, though!).

      I really like the idea if some British-themed white vans and emergency vehicles. But the Warm Acre models are bland and very plain in appearance.

      I'll keep thinking about what more I might add to Echo-1...

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  2. Warm Acre is such a shame they have some brilliant ideas but just poor execution. The Big rig is coming along nicely the cab unit is excellent and what a great idea do add in a socket. I suppose you could of got some of the magnetic strips and done something similar.

    I have to agree with Bryan it needs the roof rack with the gear on it looks to much like a small ambulance as it is.

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    1. I have to agree about the Warm Acre vehicles. They feel like beta or pre-release test versions, rather than commercial product. Still, they're quite cheap...

      I'll let everyone know how the big rigs work, once I've made a bit more of the set. In particular, I'm still trying to figure out how to kitbash a tanker trailer.

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    2. Sounds good could you not use washing bottle and then card fu the wheels and stuff?

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  3. Great Models C6, I think you could easily paint out the 'ghouls' etc. on the hearse and the other 'undesirable' bits on the van. Your coupling for the big rig is something I'd have thought the makers would have though of and the ghostbuster car looks good. From my "swat" vehicles, from Poundland, I get three usable wrecks, three police light and 12 wheels, which could help on other card vehciles.
    The website papermau has every imaginable vehicle in card/paper (downloable for free), varying in quality from 'toy' to 'collector' standard and is well worth a visit:
    http://papermau.blogspot.com/
    (Use the search feature )

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    1. Thanks, Joe. I have considered using spare wheels or other bits from toy cars to assist the card models. However I've not got easy access to a Poundland and consequently don't have much of a collection of such bits. It's probably just as easy for me to make the models entirely from card...

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  4. I'm glad you found use in my info! I really like what you have done with the socket for the trailer to sit in, I may have to borrow that idea myself one day... I think Ecto 1 looks much better with the light bar attached, I think that is a keeper, but it still needs more gubbinz on the top methinks! Off the top of my head the one in the films had some gas tanks and a loudspeaker mounted on a frame along with some other lights. I think I'll echo Vampifan's statements on the hearse and van, although I do have a partially weathered version of the van lying around waiting to be finished somewhere... Also if you are interested in a load of custom design jobs of several WWG vehicles, feel free to drop me an email. (I think my address should show in my blogger profile!)

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    1. Thanks again. I'm interested in the extra WWG designs that you have (like I really need *more* vehicles to build!), but what is the copyright status of those models? I've already bought most of their sets which have vehicles, but I don't know whether that would cover me.

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    2. Hi Colgar, I submitted the designs to WWG about 2 years ago as a "kitbash" but never received a reply. I don't know whether this is because it got lost or it just wasn't deemed different enough to warrant a kitbash. They are just recoloured versions with text and such on top, with no actual differences in the makeup of the model as it were. I'm unsure of the exact legalities, but I would have thought that if we both own the set, and neither of us are profiting from the sharing it would be alright. However to be safe I will email WWG and see what they have to say, I think they will probably want the designs submitted via kitbash again though... I'll let you know if I get a reply. Cheers.

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  5. I like them all TBH C6. Having said that my card modelling knowledge is very limited, but I would still use them all on my table. Keep the lights dude, they look good.

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    1. For me, the white van is the weakest of the models I've shown here. I would use any of the others without quibbling, though.

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  6. Your card fu is impressive.

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    1. Thanks, Robert. I don't think that card modelling is that difficult, though. As long as you are precise and patient, it's a lot quicker and easier than painting...

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    2. Personally I can't do card vehicles they are too flat to appeal to me and I like gluing things onto other things too much!

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  7. The big rig is definitely the best of the bunch, very nice indeed and love the coupling you did

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    1. I agree: the tractor is definitely my favourite as well. Of course, I'll only know how good the coupling is when I build a trailer as well :-) .

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  8. Nice work Colgar! I have the WarmAcre vehicles as well and am going to have a go at them myself; however, having seen your builds, I think I'll draw in the dashed folds on mine. I was put off getting the set from Paizo when I saw the price, but I might have to get it anyway having seen your big rig! Hurry up with the trailer now! ;)

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    1. I think that edging the Warm Acre vehicles sounds like a good plan. Having said that, they are some of the most awkward models to build that I've attempted and I'll probably not bother with any more of them.

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