Skip to main content

Paper terrain

Readers of this blog will notice that I've started investing in more paper terrain.  Though paper walls and buildings do not compare to the excellent resin and plastic models, it certainly is a much more economical option.  Specifically when it comes to sci-fi scenery, which can be ridiculously expensive!  Just take a look at some of the Games Workshop models here Warhammer 40,000 Scenery | Warhammer 40,000 | Games Workshop.

So, I used some paper models in the last "Song of Blades and Heroes" game at MillenniumCon 16 and they worked out just fine. It even inspired a discussion after the game about paper modelling with some of the game participants.  Who knew there were other players out there trying to stretch their modelling budgets?
Paper Crypt Model in 25mm

My process for making the models starts with a good PDF file.  I get my models from Dave Graffam Models.  Most of his products are available for less than $4, and some basic models are free downloads! A nice feature of these PDF files is they allow you to print out walls with different textures.  He even includes instructions on how to adjust your printer settings to various model scales from 30mm all the way down to 6mm.  So for one purchase, you have the ability to create models for a large variety of game systems and scales.

Once I've selected the texture and size with Adobe Acrobat, I print the image on card stock paper.  If the model is a small scale wall or a piece of a larger model, I'll cut it and use it per the instructions.  But for larger scale walls, I'll paste the card stock to a sheet of mat board.  This will make the wall more rigid.
Walls pasted to mat board, waiting to be cut out.
Completed wall

However, the most time consuming part of the process is cutting the mat board.  Crumbled walls have many jagged edges and require lots of small cuts with a razor knife. It can take hours for me to cut just one wall. But, John Neff suggested to me that I should use an electronic craft cutter machine. It is a magical machine similar to a printer that can read the lines on a piece of paper and make the cuts with precision.  The machine needs to detect a small symbol on the edge of the paper to make sure it is lined up correctly, but it can make detailed cuts in just minutes!  John said he was able to buy a used Cricut machine on ebay and has been cutting all sorts of crafts.  He said he downloaded a paper version of Sauron's helmet, printed it, cut it, and used the helmet as part of his Halloween costume.

How awesome is that!?

I'll have many projects in future that will involve more traditional model making techniques, but whenever possible and practical, I'll use paper.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Blog is going on a Permanent Vacation

Ok, I haven't had any comments on this blog on an post for many, many months. The only post that seems to get any traffic is my 2015 post about Star Fleet Battles.  I don't fully understand why that post has generated so much interest, while the rest of my content has been mostly ignored.  Clearly, this has not been an successful blog. I get much more traffic with my Facebook content and the YouTube channel is showing promise. Perhaps the subjects of my posts have been too random. I may need to focus on a specific game or subject. Maybe I didn't generate enough posts to keep the audience connected. Whatever the case, I am ending this blog with this final post.  I'm calling it a 'permanent vacation' because the blog and posts will still be here, though I will not be adding any new content. I might continue to comment on the SFB post since that is still generating traffic 3 years after it was published. To anyone who might still be reading, I say 'Thank

ReaperCon - Live Vlogging

Hey all! This year, I made the trip to ReaperCon in Denton, Texas.  This is new for me because I have never been to this convention and I am more focused on the gaming rather than the painting segment of the hobby. But I do want to improve my painting skills and learning from better painters is a way to improve. Another new challenge was that I decided to do a video blog of my experience at ReaperCon. aka a 'VLOG'.  This is a new way to share content with friends and hobbyists and it was exciting to try. And I was able to take the trip with my brother who lives out of state, that made it fun as well. We took classes, painted figs, took the factory tour, and entered the painting competition all in just three days! Below is the link to the VLOG playlist. Most the videos are less than 10 minutes long. All the videos together comes out to 56 minutes if you play them all in order. Enjoy!

Team Yankee Night

Our local Team Yankee community has a regular game night called 'Cold War Thursdays'. I was able to make it out to the store about a month ago. Chris had enough USMC figs to make a 75 point list for me to use. He took an equivalent West German force. We played out a NATO-v-NATO version of the Hasty Attack scenario. I am currently building a list that is heavy on Cobras and Hueys. Chris had plenty of air units to choose from. So, I grabbed all the Hueys and deployed them with a platoon of Marines loaded inside. The Leopards were absolutely deadly! The majority of my force was wiped out by three of them. My Humvees were the only unit that could even put a scratch on them. The Hueys were useful at moving troops forward quickly. I was able to drop the Marines nearby an objective. There was a squad of grenadiers inside a house close enough to still hold the objective. Except for the Leopards, most of the Germans were wiped out quickly. The Marines cleared the hou