Last week I printed two kits to build. A coin decided the Ford would be the first of the year (the Savoia with the late engine will come afterwards).

The model is the Ford Tri-Motor (scale 1:33) designed by Peter A. Zorn, Jr. and originally published by Crown Publishers in 1982. As some of you may already know, Mr. Zorn allowed the digital restoration of the kit, and its free release. It can be downloaded from http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/d...o=file&id=1080


The airplane is Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-D (cn # 111) serving for the Colombian airline SCADTA with register number “C-61” and the name “Cartagena”. The model I will build represents the plane as it looked in the following photo:



Photo form: http://web.me.com/scadta/Scadta-Flug...otor_5_AT.html

As far as I know it is the only existing photo of the “Cartagena” on the web. On the background you can see Tri-Motor 5-AT-D-106 “Tarapaca” also from SCADTA with the wing cargo compartment open. You can also see the burnt remains of the fatal crash of Tri-Motor 5-AT-B-6 “F-31” from SACO. That SACO Tri-Motor is the same plane in which legendary tango singer Carlos Gardel died, so we know the photo was taken at Medellin the last week of June 1935.

The digital kit of the Tri-Motor offers 11 different liveries. But this SCADTA version is not included. I re-painted this version on December 23rd, and has some slight changes respect to the original kit:

Attachment 102062

Since the kit is for a 5-AT-B version with rounded door and small window behind the cockpit, the details were modified accordingly. The 5-AT-Ds had a square door and the small window behind the cockpit was removed. Seats were redesigned because 5-AT-D planes used aluminum seats (not wicker). Some small details were also modified on the nose. I decided to keep the circular bathroom window because I plan to detail its interior, and it would not make sense to put details inside if they can’t be seen.

It will not look exactly like the original, but I’ll be happy if I can make something very similar.

The kit was laser-printed on 150gsm cardstock. After measuring with a caliper I found the thickness of the sheets is 0.27mm, which is quite good since the pages of the original 1982 book are 0.26mm thick.

The model is built from the inside, and the first step is to assemble the seats.

First: print the parts. The arms and legs of the seats were slightly modified to make them look more like the ones used in “D” Tri-Motors.
Attachment 102063

Second: carefully score, cut, and fold. Don’t forget to color the edges. I use Prismacolor pincels for the edges.
Attachment 102064


Third: calmly and precisely glue the parts.
Attachment 102065 Attachment 102066

Fourth: repeat until you have enough seats for your Tri-Motor.
Attachment 102067

Fifth: thank God I am not building a 400-seat Boeing 747.


Next in the process is to assemble the passenger cabin and the bathroom.

Here I am again with another model. This time it will be the St. Peter Basilica.
The model is very big with 114cm long and it have more than 2000 pieces and in the end should the quite impressive.
Let’s see how I handle this model. For now I show to you the pile of paper and card (and I didn’t use all the card) that I will use for the building and the paper base glued to a wooden base.

So, here we go with another bi-monthly design. This time, it's the Mariner 9, just in time for its 40th anniversary!
The first parts are almost complete; just a few instruments need to be drawn up, and not to mention the test build.

Here's what I've got so far:

Before beginning this build please let me add my voice to the chorus of appreciative fans of UHU02. The brilliance of his models is matched only by his generosity in allowing the paper modeling community access to his work. It behooves us all to protect and respect such a priceless gift.Thank you UHU02 from one more disciple.

UHU02’s EVA pod is a fantastic model. It comes in 10 sheets. Most of the sheets make up into subassemblies so I plan to take one sheet at a time. I am not going to hide anything. The pictures will show my mistakes as well as my triumphs. I will point out my mistakes. If this is to be of any value you need to know the pitfalls.

The first page is the interior of the pod. It’s a pretty straight build. I printed the model on 80 pound cover stock. I have a bunch of oversized sheets I cut down to an A4 size for the printing. I printed the first sheet twice so I could raise the buttons on the control panel. I took some pics but they turned out blurry. The first image shows the finished control panel and the rest of the parts cut out. Note that I have added an under dash panel.


At this point I need to talk about the seat. I’ve read the comments concerning the fact that there is no seat. I watched the movie and while a seat is indicated, you never see it. UHU02 provides a seat on page 8 as an option. This seat seems permanent and would get in the way of movement in the cabin. I opted for a fold-away seat so I drew up a quick sketch of what this might look like.


The next images show the completed interior with the fold-away seat.





I used the tabs to build the interior subassembly but halfway through switched to back tabs. Back tabs are simply 20 pound bond paper cut into small pieces and glued to the back where the regular tab would have been. I have found that the bond paper absorbs the glue faster and forms a quicker bond. It allows me a little more control in some situations. I can use tape to hold the pieces together while I glue the back tabs in place. Don’t get me wrong I use regular tabs, It’sjust knowing when to use them and when to do something else.




I hope I am doing this right. I know many of you know this stuff already.

Thank you for your support. I liked UHU02's reference photos. I dream of builing an all out lighted EVA pod. I am really into this model now. Page 2 is the interior dome. I cut the dome out staying just inside the guild lines. All the cuts are staight so this was easy.

I assembled the dome using back tabs.

Inside the seams are nice and tite.

I wanted the interior detail to have demsion so I raised buttons, build the tubular thingies, and raised the button boxes.
.I then gluded the dome to the cabin base and control panel. Now it was time to add the window. I used the pattern provided which of cource was perfect. I attached a frame made of sticker paper and then used tabs to glue it onto place. You can see that I used masking tape to position the window.
The interior assembly is now finished.




I am not sure if this is the way to continue this build or not. I have tried to update my previous thread to no avail. Anyway here it is.
The second page is the interior dome. I cut the dome out without tabs.

I cut the guide lines off. This was easy as all the cuts are straight.

Here is the finished dome. As you can see I used back tabs to pull it together.

Inside the seams are nice and tite.

I wanted some demension to the interior details so I raised more buttons and build housings for the 2 button boxes on each side of the window and even build the tubular thingies.

The dome is now finished. I raised the lights a little too.

After gluing the dome to the cabin base it was time for the window. I folowed the pattern on the page and it was perfect of cource. I then cut out a sticky backed label and applied it to the plastic window. As you can see I then glued tabs to the label and taped it into place. I then glued the tabs to the dome.

The interior is now complete.

This is the prototype build. Now I can start redesigning it. Overall length is 59 cm from the front end of the main circular disc to the back end of the engine, and I used regular old 80g paper for the build.

This is my last year and 4 months worth of work. I have 1 week to finish the white model.

Originally this was going to be an "out of the box" build. Just a quick build of JSV's DIY Reaver Titan from BWC Archive...the only problem was my inability to leave well enough alone....it all started with building the feet and thinking "it would be cooler if I just added raised surface detail" then..."If I added hydraulics to the model...that would be really cool..." and so on. Well, needless to say, it became an exercise in creativity (and sometimes endurance - sanity went out the door long before the start of this project).

OK, so here's the deal: So often I see people posting about making this and other large kits out of pl*stic as opposed to trying to make it out of paper and cardboard (this is a paper model forum, after all). My thought was that if you wanted to take the time, it could all be done in paper. Also, not everyone on a group or forum may have access to the materials others have, but everyone can get their hands on paper and glue. Thirdly, I have seen this and other models done before where the model was (or looked) slammed together (now, in the builder's defense, if you are building it to the best of your abilities, then well done).

I am about 93% finished with the model and here's what I have wrought.

Modifications:

- Re-laid out the parts to fit on US letter

- Added raised surface edges

- Re designed upper leg assembly to more closely match the metal miniature's set up and leg orientation.

- Added hand punched grill (paper),false mechanics, "eye" optics, Hose attachments, rivets, and raised surface detail to the "Dragon" or "Eagle" head that comes with the kit

- scratch built a second "python" head with raised detail and hose attachments (this will be the one that goes on it in the end)

- Heavily modified both mini cannon and Plasma Blastgun (not finished, will be adding hoses and other details)

- Added rear radiator under carapace to match the metal miniature

- Magnetized all weapon mounts, head mount, and ankles

- Custom designed scrollwork, and raised surface logos

- lowered the head mount to match the metal miniature.

- added platform to set rocket launcher further back on carapace to more match the miniature

Because Zealot does not seem to want to take attachments at this time, here's a link to the pics....


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...52899cf&type=1

And now for something completely different a large scale Colonial Shuttle.
Though these have been done before and many are posted on this forum, I cannot access them even when I dl them, I invariably get some type of error because I'm running IE and not one of the other programs. At any rate, here's version one of the LG Colonial shuttle. Ver 2.0 is right around the corner and will be "No Lines."

http://mtkcardcraft.blogspot.com/201...rge-scale.html

awhile back, I had started messing around with Google Sketchup 8, and started designing a "Deep Space Exploration Vessel". I have been sharing pics of the design as it has evolved on another Forum, but would like to share with you all. Any ideas, insight, critism (good and Bad) is completely welcome.

I do apologize for the amount of pictures, but I HAVE been working on this for a few weeks, and would like to get you guys caught up properly enjoy

Attachment 99093Attachment 99094Attachment 99095Attachment 99096Attachment 99097Attachment 99098

Besides the Crooked Tower it had a beautiful XIIth century castle. It was freelanced, but had all the typical features of the period.
What struck me most was the designer’s concept for the presentation, see the first photo. The second is my interpretation.

This is a paper model I downloaded from a free site a while back. I will take a hiatus from warhammer and do something different. This is a fairly good model so far. There are some fit problems but nothing that can't be fixed. My background modeling has been of scratch building with styrene and other petroleum based products. With this model I will integrate some of that knowledge and add items not on the build sheet. The model is out there for free and I will located the site for you by next posting, unless somebody has it already. I will skip some of the build process and deal with some of my techniques. Enjoy.