Card Kits & Card Modelling Using Cereal Packets

[modelrailwayscenery]

Hi All,

 

I just wanted to drop by and introduce myself and some of the buildings I’ve been developing recently. Andy York said I should start up a thread in this section to showcase some of my creations, so here I am!

 

A friend and I have been developing card kits for a few years now which have mostly been aimed at the beginner or newcomer to the hobby, but I recently began experimenting with recycling card from cereal packets and other food packaging. This enables us to keep build costs to an absolute minimum and it also means that we can get crisper, more detailed finishes to the textured surfaces along with the added bonus of no cut card edges being visible when the buildings are complete.

 

We’ve done a lot of experimentation with recycled card and have developed the buildings to take into account a degree of variation in the card thickness, as not everyone buys the same cereal of course, and still give excellent results when the models are complete.

 

One of the first buildings I created using the cereal packet idea is the Red River Inn, in Gwithian, Cornwall. The landlady, Louisa was amazed that anyone would want to make a model of her pub! And quite a few of them have now made their way back home to layouts owned by her regulars!

 

 

We’ve also been using laminated stacks of card to create low relief buildings too. These latest low relief designs have been developed with a friends new exhibition layout in mind, and are ultra-low relief as space up against the backscene is extremely limited. These kits vary from 6mm to 9mm deep and are constructed from simple stacked card layers, rather than using a single layer of thick card. This acts a little like the layers in plywood, giving an extremely sturdy and rigid model, which should stand the tests of time on the exhibition circuit (all being well).

 

Here's a few of the low relief buildings we've been working on...

There are more photos in my galleries here too 

 

Another one I finished recently that's just been installed on the same exhibition layout is this:

 

I hope you like them. Any comments & questions are greatly appreciated. I'll post some work-in-progress pics shortly too. Just working on a large modern bridge which is making my brain hurt!

 

Thanks

 

Justin

 

 

[modelrailwayscenery]

Here's a couple of the piers for the modern image bridge I'm working on.

 

It's still very much a work in progress. Got the road section to do for the top, plus a concrete and brick retaining wall for an elevated road section to complete too.

[modelrailwayscenery]

Just doing more work on the modern bridge kit. Preparing a set of grotty concrete retaining walls with & without graffiti. There will be a series of red brick columns / buttresses that will be overlayed onto these panels to produce a long, continuous run. A sectional road & pavement will also sit on top of it all too Lots more to do, but it's taking shape nicely

 

[norseman]

Although a big fan of scratch building myself, I have to say your buildings look very impressive and realistic. Well done!

[modelrailwayscenery]

Thanks Norsman Much appreciated. Sorry for the delay in replying. For those that read my weekly newsletter, you'll know I have a few things going in my family life which take priority over pretty much everything else at the minute, but we're getting there!

 

Anyway... this is what I've been working on for the past few days... It's a 5ft Weathered Modern Red Brick Wall Kit which has been hand weathered for realism and detail straight from an inkjet or laser printer. A single print builds up to 98cm of double sided wall, or 196cm of single sided wall for use up against a backscene etc. It's nice and easy to build, using layers of 500gsm card which create very sturdy 246mm lengths of wall. Pillar strips are included to disguise joints between sections and corner joints.

 

 

This prototype here will be used on a friends exhibition layout shortly.

 

Thanks

Justin

[modelrailwayscenery]

A couple of new things I've been working on for a while now and finally found some time to get finished. First off is a set of Tree Grids or Grilles. These are designed to be compatible with Metcalfe paving slabs and you get an assortment of 60 from a single print. They can be made up using suitable thickness card (approx 0.7 to 1mm or 500gsm to 750gsm) or for use with other pavement systems, or your own painted paving, you can just cut them out and glue them into place on your pavements before mounting a tree in the middle. We have plans for much more elaborate ones too!

 

Note the tabs on the edges of the square ones fold back around a card base layer to hide the card edges

 

And today I finally got these finished. Started them in October last year but just ran out of steam! It's Instant Rust & Corrosion patches on a waterslide decal. We're printing in house, in our studio onto high quality clear waterslide decal paper so we can control the quality and they're looking pretty good at the moment! Hope to get some pics of models with them on very shortly.

 

[marc smith]

Hi there,
I'm glad Andy convinced you to start this thread
Some very nice work there Justin

What thickness of card do you find best for making buildings?
Or how many laminations would you need, when using cereal packets?

Also, what glue do you recommend, for your kits

I must admit, I've built quite a few scratchbuilt buildings, and kitbashed quite a lot
mainly using plasticard, plastruct etc, and one or 2 using foamboard....
but I've never got on well with using card at all

A few step-by-step instructional photos could be of use, to someone considering buying one of your kits...

Cheers
Marc

[modelrailwayscenery]

Hi Marc,

 

Thanks for the compliment Marc Much appreciated. For the new kits I use cereal packet or similar card for a number of reasons:

 

• Most of us have a recycling bin full of it.
• It's free.
• When laminated it can be extremely strong.

The number of laminations varies from kit to kit, but for something like those bridge piers above, I use 3 layers. Then in each corner of the pier there are a couple of triangular braces which keep everything square and reinforce the structure a little. These again are made of 3 layers of card cut up into right-angled triangles.

 

Glue wise, my personal glue of choice is Uhu. It's can be a bit stringy, but if you go easy with it, it's extremely strong and doesn't warp the card or damage the paper wraps at all unlike PVA. I use it for pretty much all of the construction, even for applying the texture wraps and for gluing the base layer template sheets onto card. I've tried Pritt and stuff in the past, but always default back to Uhu. I just get it in bundles of 10 tubes from the pound shop. I'm sure they wonder what the heck I do with it all!

 

I've played around with using thicker card in the past, but wanted to make use of a resource that is easily at hand for most modellers. It doesn't have to be cereal packet. Anything of similar thickness will do. With the pre-printed versions of the kits I sell, I do actually supply card, but for the downloads I just specify recycled card.

 

With all the designs, I try to allow for a little variation in thickness, so if you can only get 0.5mm card, it won't really make a massive amount of difference to the finish model if I've designed it correctly.

 

Some of the additional details on some of the kits like aircon units etc use more than three layers to build up a suitable thickness of course, but the base layers for these can be cut out in batches and assembled quickly, using a small block or square to keep things straight.

 

I'll post up some build pics for the road section of the bridge I'm working on then you can see how some of my structures are done. I tested the bridge piers with a little weight and they can hold a good couple of kilos with no sign of flinching! I daren't put any more on as they're destined for an exhibition layout very soon.

 

Cheers

 

Justin

[Removed a/c]

Very nice, I do like that pub !! 

[marc smith]

Thanks for your reply Justin
I bought some UHU, with the intention of using it for card buildings
I just haven't got around to trying anything with it yet!

Other modellers had suggested glue like Pritt - the stickier version
but with card models, I found a little of any type of glue, Pritt or PVA
if a small amount does stray onto the printed surface,
it can ruin a model....
Perhaps UHU is a better option in that respect?

I was also wondering, what methods you use for getting those nice, crisp corners?
I think I may have tended to rush card modelling in the past
Maybe I have tended to want to do the next stage before glue has dried, and corners set rigid
hence, haven't found it particularly satisfying
There are some cracking card kits about though, and I'd like to build one as successfully as I have modelled in plastic

Cheers again
Marc

[modelrailwayscenery]

I find UHU ok, but again there's always the risk of it damaging the finish if you get some where it shouldn't be. But... a quick blast over the finished model with matt acrylic lacquer and it tends to cover up most small glue issues I find. If you're printing with an inkjet printer, then you can often "roll" the glue off if it gets on the wrong surface without it affecting the inks. As my daughter says... it's a bit like bogies! haha.

 

For the crisp corners, I have to give a nod to Doug, on here (can't remember his forum name now), but you can score the unprinted side of the texture wrap up against the card edge with a blunt pointy thing, like a bradawl, and it'll help the paper fold sharply, whether the card has a crisp edge or not.

 

Here's a sneak preview of a new kit that's about to get some UHU treatment in the next couple of hours... It's a 48 sheet Modern Billboard. Fingers crossed I've got my measurements right!

 

 

Justin

[Campaman]

Look out for the green UHU in poundlands, its non stringy, I grabbed a load last time our local one had it in.

[C&WR]

Thanks for that, Campaman, will keep an eye out.

 

BTW Doug of the superlative card modelling has the screen name Chubber...

[modelrailwayscenery]

Of course... Chubber

 

Oh thanks for the heads up Campaman. I'll have a look while I'm in town tomorrow

 

Here's a few shots of the billboards now they're ready. Need to try and get some better photos later if possible as the light is really poor here today. A single print of this kit will build two wall mounted or floor standing billboards to take 80x40mm posters. Just got to write the instructions now!

 

 

 

Hope you like them

[PhilJ W]

I've used Pritt and it usually dries clear, even the extra strong green one.

[modelrailwayscenery]

Morning all... Just finished writing the instructions and making up a floor-standing / post mounted board, complete with the obligatory Wonderbra lady too!

The kit now comes with a sheet of 12 FREE modern image posters too!

 

 

I've priced it at just £1.79 for the download or £3.99 for a pre-printed kit to make 2 via my Ebay store.

[Campaman]

The poster board local to us generally looks like the one with the missing poster, they stick a new one up and its usually down within 3-4 days until the next poster about a month later, not to sure if the advertisers would be happy if they knew this.

[CourthsVeil]

...

I bought some UHU, with the intention of using it for card buildings

I just haven't got around to trying anything with it yet!

 

Other modellers had suggested glue like Pritt - the stickier version

but with card models, I found a little of any type of glue, Pritt or PVA

if a small amount does stray onto the printed surface,

it can ruin a model....

Perhaps UHU is a better option in that respect?

...

 

 

Look out for the green UHU in poundlands, its non stringy, I grabbed a load last time our local one had it in.

 

 

Gentlemen, mind you:

there's a lot of variants of Uhu: acetone based, solvent free, stringy, no drops, two components etc. etc.

The solvent free (green label) appears to be water based - so it's possibly problematic (as Marc said).

 

For my card buildings I always have several glues at hand (PVA, Pritt, plain old Uhu, nonsolvent Uhu, 3M rattle can).

Practice told me which one to use in which situation...

 

Armin

 

 

PS: if I only would ALWAYS remember, which one where…

[Jim Bob]

Excellent thread, Gentlemen. I've not been on RM Web recently - mainly because I've been too busy building with card!

 

I tend to stick (excuse the pun!) with two types of glue: One PVA type for building up stacks of card and, the other, Pritt for applying the printed sheets(actually the cheaper versions of both.) I NEVER apply the glue directly from the bottle or tube but use a plastic spatula (obtained years ago, I think from a tub of evo-stick) to pick up some glue from the container and then spread as thinly possible. To ensure the glue covers all the edges, I place the printed side of the sheet face down on any old scrap of paper (leaflets, etc., also from the recycling bin!) and make sure never to use the same area twice.

 

One other thing that helps is to leave a small tab of the unprinted surround attached, without glue on it, to pick up the piece when applying it to the model. This is then cut off after you're happy with the positioning - helps to avoid getting glue in the wrong places.

 

Also, as previously mentioned, you should, ideally, give all the printed sheets a covering of matt artists spray, or matt varnish. Once dry, this protects the printed surface and you should be able to wipe off any water-based adhesives without smudging the print.

 

Oh well - back to the farmhouse, barn and pub! Oh, and yes, I do usually have two or three models on the go at the same time. Saves twiddling your thumbs whilst waiting for that one to dry - I simply get on with another model!

[big T]

Following on from Justin's comments above, here's a link to my layouts' Facebook page, which documents our recent work using Justin's products.

 

As he says, they are very strong, and using the laminate process consisting of multiple layers of card, I am sure they will stand the test of time.

 

anyway, here's the link, feel free to have a look: https://www.facebook.com/Pensbridge

 

Cheers

 

Trev

[modelrailwayscenery]

Yes BigT's layout has been an excellent test bed for some of my new stuff, and there's still more to come. About to tackle a large low relief old factory building, which I think actually used to be the Palitoy factory, home of Mainline Railways & Action Man etc. I'll be starting that when I've finally finished the bridge & road I'm working on. Here's a preview of the one way street & cycle lane. Just got the pavement to sort now and then this bit is done. I'll do a full road kit shortly... Another one to add to my to do list.

 

 

 

[C&WR]

Very realistic, but being picky would the cycle lane be outside the bus lane?

[modelrailwayscenery]

@C&WR.... Well spotted! Eyes like a hawk. Yes I had spotted the error myself last night after I took the photo. Originally the traffic was going to flow the other way up the road, then because a bus stop was requested for half way along the road I had to flip the signs and markings round otherwise we'd have needed left-hand drive buses. And there aren't too many of those running commercially in the west midlands... 

 

But in flipping the signs & markings round, I forgot to switch the bus lane to the opposite side! The one that's made available in the bridge kit will be on the correct side

 

J

[C&WR]

It still looks very good!  Interplay of bus and cycle lanes is a tricky one - sometimes the cycle lanes just seem to stop and round where I live the bus lanes seem to appear at random, along with their pesky cameras.

 

I am fortunate enough not to need to use either...

[DelticBlade]

I was about to give the road signs a whirl today along with the billboards only to discover my coloured ink was very low. When I get it sorted I'll put some photos on here.

It won't be today as I am going to drive into town to get a few photos of the site of the Plant. It is the anniversary of the big Deltic goodbye today.