Jump to content
 

frustrated by warping


Recommended Posts

Some watercolour artists stretch the watercolour paper before painting on it so that it remains flat when the watercolour is applied.

 

Tape the card to a flat surface with masking tape and wet it with a sponge. Then let it dry. You might find that it retains it's flat profile when you then glue on it.

it does but you have to stick stuff to it when it is still taped down.

 

The best method is to use papaer tape (from most artists suppliers).

give papr a good soaking and put straight onto a flat board,big hunk of mdf workd .sponge edge of paper and apply paper tape using a good 1 inch overlap.  apply tape tp all four edges and leave it to dry dont touch or fiddle with it.

Any layer can the be applied to the taped paper , when glue is dry remove panel and use. really heavy paper 400g plus doesnt really need stretching unless you paint really wet. Im not sure if you would need to stretch thin card  laminating might be better.

 

bTW this takes practice and patience, and acceptance of a low failure rate.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have built many buildings  from varying types of card and always use "Colron Knotting Solution" on the card before starting. My wee railway room does not suffer from damp but I find the card is greatly improved by the treatment. Just of late, I have been using much thinner card than before and laminating 2/3 layers together. After the "knotting" it becomes much "crisper" and easier to cut cleanly and  can develop an affinity to thin plywood! (Mind you, the stuff ain't cheap - £9.98  from B & Q.)

Link to post
Share on other sites

To save money in the model railway hobby it's really only necessary to confine yourself to reducing the spend on £130 locos and £250+ DCC systems or excessive numbers of points/point motors in a layout at £14 a shot. . That's where the money is.

 

An A1 sheet of 1.6mm thick Daler Board for the mats in picture framing costs only £5 from Hobbycraft and just two sheets will make all the buildings on a domestic size layout. It cuts as cleanly as metal with a Swann Morton scalpel (haven't tried cleaving it with a blunt Stanley knife though) and stays flat. I surface mine with textured Slaters Plastikard secured with Deluxe Materials Plastic Kit Glue, and brace the corners with balsa. But I do put in intermediate internal walls from floor to roof apex at intervals. None have warped in a bedroom train room.

 

Trying to save the 50p a Daler Board based building costs for card by using Cornflake cartons when your own labour is worth more than £10 per hour and then to produce a failure is like howling at the moon. It might appeal to the Blue Peter in you but it doesn't save enough money to justify the risks.

 

_1010131_zpsae89d20c.jpg

 

_DSC1097_zps084c714e.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

To save money in the model railway hobby it's really only necessary to confine yourself to reducing the spend on £130 locos and £250+ DCC systems or excessive numbers of points/point motors in a layout at £14 a shot. . That's where the money is.

 

An A1 sheet of 1.6mm thick Daler Board for the mats in picture framing costs only £5 from Hobbycraft and just two sheets will make all the buildings on a domestic size layout. It cuts as cleanly as metal with a Swann Morton scalpel (haven't tried cleaving it with a blunt Stanley knife though) and stays flat. I surface mine with textured Slaters Plastikard secured with Deluxe Materials Plastic Kit Glue, and brace the corners with balsa. But I do put in intermediate internal walls from floor to roof apex at intervals. None have warped in a bedroom train room.

 

Trying to save the 50p a Daler Board based building costs for card by using Cornflake cartons when your own labour is worth more than £10 per hour and then to produce a failure is like howling at the moon. It might appeal to the Blue Peter in you but it doesn't save enough money to justify the risks.

 

_1010131_zpsae89d20c.jpg

 

Not had issues with laminated card from corn flakes or anything else. And haven't had or felt the need to prime the laminated stuff. As for cost, it is negligible for "most", but there is also an enjoyment making buildings like this.

There are also those who don't spend 100's on loco's and can ill afford money for thick card no matter how minimal cost it may appear.

Another thing to consider is that you are recycling....if that is a way you want to look at it!

 

khris

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not had issues with laminated card from corn flakes or anything else. And haven't had or felt the need to prime the laminated stuff. As for cost, it is negligible for "most", but there is also an enjoyment making buildings like this.

There are also those who don't spend 100's on loco's and can ill afford money for thick card no matter how minimal cost it may appear.

Another thing to consider is that you are recycling....if that is a way you want to look at it!

 

khris

I did admit that the use of Cornflake packets, whilst really not saving noticeable amounts of money, could be justified by appealing to Blue Peter instincts.

 

Glad you have no warping issues - but the OP does.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I find with card and texture sheet modeliing there is a requirement for many different thickness's of card, from 200gsm upto 2mm, so used packaging has its uses, if you are covering with plasticard sheet then maybe the different thickness's are not as important, all you have to remember with laminating is to try to stick to an odd number of layers which helps to reduce warping.

Link to post
Share on other sites

What I have found is that generally warping happens because of lack of support. By this I mean that a thin card shell will warp easier if it has no internal bracing. I have models that have been made with cornflake packets that have never warped because they are braced, or even over engineered. I always put in floors, internal walls, ceilings and upstairs walls floors and ceilings and even brace the roof. Think about what your house has inside and replicate that. If you remove all the internal walls the chances are it will fall down unless you brace it very well. Remove all the roof trusses and it wont stay in place for long. Do the same with card models. Plastic will also benefit from this approach.

 

I also try to get the walls as thick as a normal house wall. A standard brick wall is about 9" thick so thats 3mm in 4mm scale. Try it and see what happens.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been doing loads of scalescenes kits and some scratch-builds using scalescenes papers too.

 

I started off getting the sheets professionally printed, but have since found a good supply of matt photo paper on ebay (£3.99 for 100 sheets) which is actually giving me a better result using my basic home inkjet printer on a high quality setting.

 

I also was using proper artist's fixative, but when this ran out mid-way through a project, I picked up a huge can of Games Workshop varnish which was at the back of my cupboard, which also gives a much better result too. It's always the way that an accidental discovery improves things isn't it!

 

Working in 2mm scale, I find that some of the wrapped parts and sills are just too small to work effectively, so I do find I end up using paint to make my own versions of some of the smaller parts.

 

I haven't had any problems with warping, and I would agree with the patience theme above. A building now takes me a couple of weeks - working for perhaps 30-40 minutes each evening once the kids are in bed. An example of my schedule would be:

 

Day 1. Print and allow to dry overnight.

Day 2. Give 3 coats of GW varnish approx 1 hour apart and leave to dry overnight.

Day 3. Mount to card and leave to dry under a pile of books. (I also highly recommend the Range mountboard 50p per A4 sheet or 75p for A3) using Pritt Stick. I did try the A4 labels, but a thorough Pritt-Sticking is the best IMO.

Day 4. Cut out and start main laminations - press/clamp overnight where possible....

etc..

 

I use Pritt Stick for large parts and Bostik Clear adhesive (a bit like cheap UHU) for the edges. You have to be careful as it will ruin the print in the wrong place, but is the best I've found for folded edges and butt joints.

 

I also often add extra bracing where it can't be seen in the corners or across large spans.

 

Hope that helps

 

David

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...