Sunday 17 August 2014

Traffic Jam!

Introduction

I've written a few posts on paper models recently, so I think it's only fair that I photograph my entire collection.  As well as being a visual treat for your eyes (I hope!), getting the entire collection together in one place also allows me to take stock, find any notable omissions, spot any damage that may have occurred and so on.

Everything together in one big picture

So, let's break this down...

Military Vehicles

My army trucks and APCs are all from Genet Models, which used to be known as Ebbles Models, I think.  These all come from the Patrol and Convoy kits - at least, that's what they were called when I bought them.  I think that the site may have been rearranged since then.

One note about the Genet kits: they're huge!  If I remember correctly then I printed these out at 84% or so of the original size - and they're still very large vehicles, if not quite so overwhelming as before.  At least you can resize paper models easily!

Emergency Services

My collection of emergency response vehicles are almost entirely police machines and almost entirely from WorldWorks Games. There is a single ambulance but no fire engines (a distinct gap in the market, I think.  I've not seen a fire engine yet that I would wish to build).

The other outsider is a solitary white "No Go Zone" police car in British colours.  It's a nice idea, but the car body has a very complex shape and the texturing is bland.  I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless you are an experienced card modeller and have a particular need for UK-branded cop cars.

"Regular" Cars

Here is my collection of compact and sedan cars.  All of the ones at the back are from WorldWorks, but the four at the front are from Stoelzel's Structures, if I remember right.

Note the convertible at the front: I'm very pleased to have it, but it did take a lot more effort to build than any of the other vehicles here.  Obviously, it has an interior and that complicates the design quite a bit.

Also note that the convertible is a little larger than the other "civilian" automobiles.  This inconsistency of scale is something that afflicts most manufacturers to some extent.  Mind you, I think that WorldWorks is probably a far worse offender than Stoelzel in this respect.

Trucks and Buses

I have a relatively small collection of large commercial vehicles: 2 buses and 2 articulated trucks (with 1 extra trailer).  Also there's a garbage truck.  This latter is an early WorldWorks model and although it has all the right components, it just doesn't look quite right to me.  The cab is too narrow, the body too wide and tall.  Additionally, the double tyres at the back are badly aligned with the single tyres at the front.  It's an odd model.

On another note, buses are some of the easiest card models to make, so I would recommend them strongly to anyone who wished to begin making this type of kit.

Pick-ups, Estates and Vans

I have considerably more light commercial vehicles than I do of the large ones.  Most of these are from WorldWorks, though 2 in the front row are Stoelzel's and the white box van at the rear is a No Go Zone kit (one of my least favourite models.  It was a little awkward to build and I don't think that the result is very impressive)

Note that this picture clearly shows one of the worst discrepancies in scale between the WorldWorks vans and their pick-ups.  I'm not an expert on cars and trucks in real life, but surely the vans should be rather bigger than the pick-ups?  If anything, it's the other way round for these models.  As before, I could resize the printouts, but it's somewhat annoying to have to do so when the kits are all from the same publisher.

Oddments

These are the remaining vehicles that didn't seem to fit into any other category.  There are 2 "Lamborgharri"s, 2 burnt out compacts, 3 motorcycles, a classic roadster and a hearse.  The latter is from Mega Miniatures; the rest are again from WorldWorks.

Most of these models (apart from the hearse) are significantly more complex than average to build.  You should be able to tell this just by looking at them!

Conclusion

This may look like a lot of models, but remember that each one is very cheap to make.  Once the kit has been purchased, each new car is typically just half a sheet of cardboard and a little printer ink and glue.  They're also relatively quick to build, which is partly why I have so many: card vehicles are very good filler models between other projects or when you only have small amounts of time for the hobby.  I've never sat down to build more than 2 or 3 vehicles at any one time, yet over the years the collection has grown steadily!

So, what do I think is missing from this collection?  Well, I could use more estate cars (station wagons).  The Stoelzel's car set has a number of these in it so I'm certain to build some in due course.  There are no good fire engines on the market, at least ones that I know about.  And I've never come across any kits for construction or agricultural vehicles, apart from a single excavator (?) in one of the WorldWorks kits.  I'd really like a cement mixer; imagine what you could do in a game with that!

26 comments:

  1. Great collection C6, I'm full of admiration of your skill in making these, I've tried and know how difficult it is to make them ! (I gave up early on in my vehicle card-building career)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I know we've had this discussion before but I stand by what I've said before: card modelling is relatively easy. At the very least, it's cheap enough to throw away any mistakes and start again!

      On the other hand, I envy the terrain that you produce, Joe. I cannot seem to get the same amount of detail into my own pieces, no matter how I try :-( .

      Delete
  2. While I am not a card model fan, I have enjoyed this series and they do look good all together. You may even have gone a small way to converting me. All in all Very nice work and collection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While it's not my intention to proselytize, I'm pleased that you've found this interesting :-) .

      Delete
  3. Wow, seeing them altogether certainly is an impressive sight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Michael. It's just something that has grown over the years.

      Delete
  4. Damn fine collection Hugh; mucho jealous!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is so good to see your complete collection. I do agree that the inconsistency with scale is annoying. It is something I've noticed with my collection and I have a few vehicles from companies you haven't mentioned. Even so, I commend you on such a fine collection, Hugh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Bryan. But now you've got me curious: which other companies make this kind of stuff? I'm aware of a small handful of one-offs from some manufacturers, but not of any significant ranges. Fat Dragon? Finger and Toe?

      Delete
    2. Fat Dragon, most certainly. I've made three of their sedan cars and they are all a bit larger than the WWG sedans. Finger and Toe also make a few vehicles but I haven't made any of theirs yet.

      Delete
  6. Great collection and plenty to fill a good size table with. I imagine fire engines have a lot of bits that would be tricky to achieve without making them appear bigger than they would need to be such as ladders etc

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think that fire engines would be inherently more difficult than some of the other models shown here. After all, there are always some compromises for simplicity and robustness. Having said that, firefighters and paramedics are also very unrepresented as miniatures.

      Delete
  7. Cool, didn't know you could get that many paper models of vehicles??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well there are quite a few more, Ray! I thought I had touched on most of the significant players in the market (though Vampifan hints above that I've missed some). However there are more vehicles in some of those ranges than I've shown here.

      Delete
  8. Very nice collection of card vehicles C6, as a recent convert to card modelling this is most inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also thanks, Bob. As I mentioned before, I'm not attempting to convert anyone. However if you find this inspirational then I'm delighted!

      Delete
  9. That's quite a collection!
    Some are downright fantastic.

    And hey, military vehicles are supposed to be large and imposing :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mathyoo - glad you like them. Yes, military vehicles are often very big and imposing, but the models still need to be stored and to fit on the gaming table!

      Delete
  10. Fantastic to see them all on one go, there's a lot there. I didn't think I'd have the patience to make that many card vehicles to purchased them as die cast over a period of about a year, you've done a great job with those!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Z.A. But as I said, I didn't build these all in one go! Rather they've been used as "fillers" between more substantial projects over a number of years.

      Delete
  11. Impressive collection of vehicles Hugh. One thing to not about pickups, at least here in the US, is that they come in a variety of sizes. The compact, "half ton" models would be a tad smaller but the "Super Duty" models in use for heavy hauling a monsters by comparison. Things like the Ford F-350 etc. I thinl you are right about the gaps. I'd also point out that there are no Post Apocalyptic Deth-mo-beels (tm).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Note, are and think. I need to fire my proof reader.

      Delete
    2. Well, pickup trucks are very rare here in the U.K., so I don't really have much first-hand experience.

      As for proper post-apocalyptic "technicals", you're right that I haven't any here and I don't think there are many card models of such vehicles. Though if going for the "spikes and cages" look then metal, plastic or resin would probably work better than card, I think :-) !

      Delete