Paul's Schreiber-Bogen 1/24 Frankfurt Fire Dept Mercedes 170V

JR

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Thing is, to get a controlled cut along the steel rule, you have to hold the blade at a slight angle towards the rule, to stop it wandering off. Get the angle even a little wrong and you either slice through the card you want to keep, or promptly blunt the blade against the rule - I've mucked up a new blade on its very first pass before - very frustrating. Increasingly, I cut freehand. You have to cut curves freehand anyway, so it's all good practice. Scoring curves accurately is trickiest, I find.
Blunting against the ruler is so annoying Paul, but the more you do the easier it becomes. How many blades so far, hope you keep the quantity you use !
 

spanner570

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Paul, on the ones I've built, and as you are finding out, cutting out freehand can be a lot easier than using a steel rule.

All looking nice and neat. When the time comes, the painting of the folds where the white card shows through can be a pain, but has to be done......Unfortunately, that's the way with card models!

Ron
 

PaulinKendal

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I don't keep a tally of blades - too annoying! And I pre-colpur the edges before assembly, using watercolours, and then a final touch-up at the end as necessary.
 

Jim R

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It may have it's issues Paul but it is looking very good. Like Tim I only ever remember Ron attempting and completing a card model.
 

spanner570

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I remember it well. I still have nightmares, flashbacks, scars, dribblings, shakes. and after about 6 years, I am still on medication from the after effects of the build!

The only good thing to come out of the experience is the 'Swear Box' is now empty.

Ron
 

Tim Marlow

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Looking very good though Paul. Just think of the blades used as a replacement for the paint you’d use if you had to paint it ;)
 

Neil Merryweather

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It's a shame they printed the black outline on the compound curves,it would reduce the impact. I suppose it's too strong to cover up with watercolour? I used felt tip pens on a model railway card building I made - less moisture to cockle the card
 

PaulinKendal

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Thanks everyone. Yes @Neil Merryweather , I think the blacklining is just something you have to put up with. You could cut to the inside of the black line and remove it that way, but the cut edge itself would still show up clearly. And lots of the edges have a dotted score line for the glue tabs which also stands out - I know some folks cut the tabs off and make their own backing pieces to reduce this.

But for me, I don't mind these things - card modelling is a big compromise anyway, and these marks are part of that, you can never eliminate them entirely.

For cut edges, just colouring them with lead pencil works pretty well, without any colour-matching at all. I like watercolour because it does soak into the card just a fraction, colouring it properly, and gets drawn in to the card along score lines nicely. Never had an issue with cockling - it's only a tiny amount of relatively thick pigment.
 

PaulinKendal

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This model has developed (meaning: I have built into it) a bit of a twist.
20230110_105449.jpg
I was hoping adding the floorpan would pull it out - it hasn't. I did think of using packing pieces to straighten it, but that way lies madness, as the model dissolves into a glue-soaked mess of fraying edges, soggy card and lots of curse-words.
20230110_105458.jpg
I'm leaving it, and not photographing the model head-on henceforth! I might be able to finesse it a bit with the addition of wheels and bumper (fat chance!)

The challenge is that, unlike plastic models, you can't dry-fit pieces to check and adjust before gluing. The gluing process actually creates the pieces as you go - until the glue goes on, all you have are pieces of flappy fragile paper. (Bigger models than this have more pieces and more scope for treatment as the build progresses. Smaller ones can be even worse than this).

The terrible truth is that the whole model is out of kilter - only the grille and front wings are straight. It should be pictured like this.
20230110_105614.jpg

;)
 

Tim Marlow

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Looks like she’s going into a heavy left handed curve at speed…..still impressive though….
 

spanner570

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That's a tough break Paul. What you have found out is these type of models have to be checked and checked again. Sometimes after checking for squareness, all seems good. Go back to it and it's developed a twist. I usually sit with the thing and keep an eye on it and alter it until the glue sets. Even that sometimes doesn't work....

Ah, the joys of making a model from card. :upside:

All is not lost though. I've had this problem myself. Tyr Gently steaming the model and twist it at the same time. This will soften the glue enough to hopefully make it workable.

Neat and tidy work none the less.

Step back, have a minute and then return, with a new determination to beat the b****r into submission!
 

PaulinKendal

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:smiling5: There is NO WAY I'm taking steam-heat to this thing! I doubt I could correct the twist by, just, well, twisting it. And if I did, I'm sure horrible white gaps and holes would appear in all the wrong places anyway.

No, all modelling is about approximation, and this model shows just how approximate it can get!
 
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