Long overdue. Many
thanks to the six of you who still check to see if this page ever gets updated.
I’m finally going to have some time to work on some new
projects, but I thought it might be good to go over some of the basic
paper-crafting elements first. There’s a
lot of stuff I skim over when I describe stuff, usually in a “just do this” way,
and I figured maybe I should finally explain how, exactly, to do this. That’d be helpful, right?
So, let’s start with the very basics...
I get most of my cardstock from food boxes—mostly cereal and
frozen pizza. It’s probably worth
mentioning that most frozen food boxes tend to made of slightly thinner
cardstock. I’m guessing it’s a
temperature thing. Mailing envelopes are even a little thinner.
Regardless, it’s a good thing to keep in mind when plotting out which
templates are glued to which sheets of cardstock. Back when I built the Imperial Knight,
I had a bunch of issues because the template is actually designed to work with paper, not cardstock. That difference in
thickness caused some of the more complex elements to be a little bit off—just
enough to notice and cause problems. So
if something’s really elaborate... maybe aim for thinner material until you’re
sure how it’ll go together.
The most basic paperhammer shape is a box. It’s something you’ll use all the time, and it’s
kind of the cornerstone of paperhammer.
All you need to remember about boxes is to make edges match—a 1” edge
here meets a 1” edge there. It sounds
simple ‘cause it really is. Check out
this quick diagram. Four sides, a top, a
bottom. This would give me a cube
because all the edges are the same length.(more or less the same—I sketched it quick in Paint just so we’d have something to look at...)
If alter the edges, I can alter the shape of the box. Look at this example. I shrink all the side
edges (but not the top and bottom edges) and now I’ll get a square, flat
box. This is the kind of thing I stick
on larger models to add some detail and texture. I could also go the other way—doubling or
tripling the sides to make a long, rectangular box. As I mentioned above, shapes like these are a
cornerstone of the paperbuilding craft.
Even with nothing else, you can use several of them together to build scenery pieces, simple
vehicles, and more.
This is probably a good time to mention tabs. Trying to glue cardstock edge-to-edge with
white glue is pretty much impossible, so it’s always good to add extra tabs on
to the basic shapes. These are just the parts I bend and slip into the model so
the glue has something to grab onto. Some
templates have them, but often they’re tiny little things that are all but
useless. Others don’t have them at
all. I add or enlarge on a case-by-case
basis, and try to make note of where I do.Helpful Hint--Always remember that tabs can be pretty much any size or shape because they’ll end up hidden inside the shape you’re building. The only thing I need to be careful of is overlap.
It’s also worth mentioning that sometimes I can skip a side
and just use tabs. If I know, for
example, that my flat box is going to get glued to the side of the building, I
can leave off that connecting side and just put four tabs where that side would
go. It can make pieces sit a little cleaner sometimes, rather than gluing big
flat surface to big flat surface.
Now, you can use these same techniques to build an elaborate
box, something with a more irregular shape to it. This diagram shows how I built the engine for the Gargant. I used the
five-edged side as my starting point, and that told me what all the other
panels and edges needed to be, size-wise—remember, boxes are just about making
the edges the same length. I mirrored
the other side, added some tabs, and put it together. The triangular boxes I added on either side went
together the same way. Also remember
that some shapes which look really complicated on their own (like that Gargant
engine) become a lot simpler if you break them down into component shapes.
One term I’ve mentioned once or thrice is consummate Vs (which
is a StrongBad reference, you heathens). I first used them, if memory serves,
back when I built the classic Land Raider. Simply put, when I build a
box (regular or elaborate), I’ll usually save some strips of cardboard close to
one of its dimensions. Then I trim said
strips to be just 1/8 of an inch narrower.
For example, if that flat box up above was 3/4” deep, I’d try to end up
with some strips that measured 5/8” wide and four or five inches long.
Before I seal everything shut, I fold these strips back and forth (into Vs, or maybe Ws--just zig-zags, really)
until they can fit inside the box. They end up becoming
interior, load-bearing walls. Sounds a
little silly, I know, but these make boxes incredibly solid. If you have any worries about how strong a
paperhammer model can be, try a few experiments with strips. They’ll hold up stacks of books, so a bump
from a plastic Carnifex isn’t going to do much.
For the longest time if had to make a cannon or tower I
built it as a paneled cylinder.
This is when I have a long card with numerous scores in it to create an
octagonal (or decagonal or dodecahedral...) cylinder. On the plus side, these can be easier to work
with because they’re all flat surfaces. It’s much easier for things to attach
to them, or to attach them to other things.
Also, it’s very easy to hide where the two edges of a paneled cylinder
come together.
On the down side, paneled cylinders tend to look...well, kind of blocky. They tend to make things
look like polygon models without the skins.
It can also be a little tricky working out the diameter of one of these
if you need a specific size and you’re not going off a template..
The flipside of this is a rolled cylinder. Just like the name implies, it’s when I make
the shape by rolling the cardstock. On
the plus side, it’s round and curved, which helps a paperhammer model look much cleaner and blend in on the tabletop. Also,
it’s much easier to work out how big the diameter of a rolled cylinder will
be.
On the downside... well, curves and cardstock don’t always
go together well. It’s much harder to
hide the seam where the edges of the piece join. Also, that seam is going to have a lot more
pressure on it compared to a cylinder with lots of folds. Finally, that curve
makes it harder to glue the cylinder to another surface. So working with rolled cylinders means working a little slower and making sure everything dries solid before moving
on.
Finally, tools. Really, all you need for
paperhammer is your basic hobby knife and some sharp blades. But over the past couple of years I’ve found
a few other things that definitely make some stuff quicker and easier. A good pair of scissors can help, especially
when cutting out larger template pieces.
So can a straight-edge or steel ruler.
I use basic wooden clothespins all the time as miniature clamps.
Also... hole punches.
These are probably the best investment you can make if you think you
might be doing a lot of paperhammer. I
have three. The basic 1/4” one, a 1/8” one, and the 1/16” (which may be my
favorite). They can make perfectly
circular holes or discs, either of which can make for great detail work on a
model. I use the 1/16” for rivets, which
make things look amazing. I know
some folks will say 1/16” is too big for a rivet, but there’s such a huge
history of things being excessive/oversized in Warhammer 40,000 that...
well, I’ve never had any complaints.
So, now that I’ve gone over all of that... let’s build a
tank. Haven’t done that in a while.
Otherwise—two weeks until tanks.
