themodelmaker

I didn’t update this site for a long time. I’ve been very busy on a new project. This is a bigger version of Carl’s house from brilliant Disney/Pixar animation “UP”. I built it in victorian dollhouse scale 1:48 ( 1/4 inch ). The floor plan is 180mm by 180mm wide and it stands 210mm heigh to top of the chimney.

I had already prepared drawings for my previous project in scale 1:160. Bigger model gave me the oportunity to create more realistic and detailed windows, so I had to modify my drawings to suit new scale. I was also able to sculpt railing to the porch and create interiors. Living room can be accessed by openable side wall. It allows to fully appreciate Carl’s living room with his fireplace and have a view to the staircase with his collection of photographs on the wall. There is an option to look into the hallway through front door and window. In the movie there was some difference in size between interiors and exterior of the house. I couldn’t fit kitchen at the end of corridor, but I indicated it with closed door and created little green room under the stairs which can be viewed through rear window. A great help with that were sketches and pictures found on donshank.com blog.

Like previously I started with laser cut rigid 1.5mm plywood as my main construction with another 0.8mm layer containing some of the window details. I was able to see fast progress at this stage. It all slowed later when I had to trim with the knife panels for elevations, and stick them one by one. Repeat this process with shingles for the roof. The tricky part with them was warping after I put glue on it. Its because wood grain goes in shorter direction, the stripe with shingles absorbs moisture and bends before glue sets. I had to lay two stripes and clamp it for 15 minutes until glue dryes. When all parts were in place, I spraypainted them with base colours. I couldn’t buy exact colours in cans so I refined them with selection of acrylic paints from valleyo and games workshop to get the right tint. I used various techniques like drybrushing and washes, I also painted wood grains with very fine brush in some places. It took me more time than I expected, but I was pleased with the effect. After that I sprayed everything with two protective coats of matt varnish and then added transparent windows at the end. I didn’t forget about tiny mailbox this time

Carl’s house is now ready, and waiting for some more furnitures in the living room. I enjoyed building it and I hope you will like it.

I made another two elevations for city battles for Flames of War strategy game. Its based on survey drawings made by students of architecture so its quite accurate. I always wanted to create very detailed table showing destroyed city. its going to be very labour intensive, so I would like to start with one street at the moment. Those buildings will be the part of historical city centre.

This is a finished Flames of War terrain or for other 15mm game or diorama. It will be relased as resin kit and will be avaliable here or on my ebay auction.

Bartholomew church model is almost ready. It needs some paint in few places, base with surrounding and display case.

Few photos of my current project. Its house from animated movie Coraline. Its in scale 1:160, made of paper and cardboard. Its still work in progress. My next stage is paint roof, fix gutters make base with terrain, porch and finally add all remaining details.

Here you have few pictures of my finished scale model of Carl’s little flying victorian house from new Disney Pixar animation Up.

Here you have the most recent addition to my model collection. This is N-scale scratchbuilt model of flying house from the new  Pixar movie “Up”. I haven’t seen the movie yet (still not open in cinemas in Ireland) but I loved the trailer and this colorful piece of architecture.  I needed to have it in real 3d…  The design was simple, I based on pictures, movies from youtube and cut out toy from official Disney Pixar website. I started last Friday, all parts were ready on Saturday. It was going to be weekend project. So far its two weekends project and I am not yet satisfied with my paint job. I will post more photos from different angles later.

I was asked by people from forum pixarplanet.com how was it made and blueprints. Here are my drawings with all of my parts to give you better idea what was involved in process of creating it.

First drawing is prepared to be cut on 1.5mm cardboard. The blue lines are cut to 0.5 mm,  yellow is the engraving of panels on the door. I glued the parts together, I prepared little holes and joints, so all walls are at right angles and in exact positions and its quite rigid construction.

Second page is cut on 0.5 paper. Its another layer to cover joints and create window frames. I engraved the boards on the walls, but later decided that I want better 3d effect, so I covered it with overlapping stripes of paper.

Last page is with 3 types of shingles and boards for wall and is cut out of 0.3mm paper.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask on my email or post a comment.

I was asked how to make curved wall at jubilee church. There is many ways to achieve this, but I will describe how I did it. This is modified version of vacuum forming without vacuum.  If you have vacuum table its brilliant, if not, this shape is easy enough so you don’t need it.

I couldn’t find a ball with radius I needed so I had to make my mould from scratch. First of all I cut cardboard arches with necessary radius smaller by 5mm. I only needed to make a section of the sphere. This was my quite rigid construction. I stuck few layers of paper (I used old newspaper and PVA glue) on cardboard frame to make a surface. Then I Added  5mm layer of air drying clay. When it was hard, I sanded it to get the smooth surface. I often checked it with stencil to check the curvature. After few hours I was happy with my mould.

Then I prepared 2 timber frames and many paper clips. I placed sheet of styrene between them and joined with paper clips. Frames need to be rigid enough to hold melted styrene in place when pushed against the mould. Put it for few minutes to the oven. I watched closely if its getting soft. I took it out the oven and quickly pressed on mould. Always use gloves at this stage !!! It hardened in few seconds and it will kept the shape. I needed 2 copies for each wall.

My walls are thicker than styrene I could buy in my hobby shop. I needed to add this thickness. I cut the rough shape of the wall and stuck it on my mould with 2 sided tape. That will be bottom surface of my wall. I glued few narrow stripes of styrene on the perimeter and few in the middle, creating sort of mesh. I glued another layer of thermoformed styrene on top of it. I cut it to the right shape and sanded edges. This way I had thick wall with smooth surfaces on both sides. I had to repeat the process 3 times.

It was very time consuming process. Now I would rather use rapid prototyping technology. It would be much faster and precise. The shells would be 3d printed from plastic material with exact shape and dimensions as in 3d software.

The cost of desktop rapid prototyping machine is dropping and getting more affordable. That’s why many 3d printing services are available for hobbyists. The one I tested myself is Shapeways.com . They have several rapid prototyping printers in their machine shop and their growing design community is very helpful to explain the techniques of creating perfect, non-manifold model. With shape like this It would be very easy to create it in blender and 3d print it.  Easy and clean way.

It was very busy 5 days break. I visited most of main tourist spots ( Versail, Eiffel Tower, Disneyland ), but the most interesting place I would like to recommend to you modelmakers was Palais de Chaillot opposite to Eiffel Tower. I went to see its three pernament galleries.
The Galerie des Moulages, presenting life-sized fragments of French architectural masterpieces from the 12th to 18th centuries cast in plaster. It was filled with amazing details copied from the most monumental buildings in France collected in one place. But the best of all were museum quality plaster architectural models of french buildings ! I took lots of photos of this part of exhibition, you can see some of them here.

Second was the Galerie des Peintures Murales et des Vitraux (wall paintings and stained-glass windows), based on the same principle of reproducing outstanding pictorial works from historic monuments. Each piece of work was shown with little model of the original building .

There was also a huge model of castle which could very well serve as wargame table from players’ wildest dream.

Lastly the new Galerie Moderne et Contemporaine, devoted to architecture from 1850 to the present day. This was a long room full of architectural models of all kind. Unfortunately it was forbiden to take pictures in this part of museum I only managed to shot first two models and they were not the most impresive ones.

I would definetly recommend to put this museum on “to see list” for everybody who is going to Paris and is interested in architecture or models.

Here you have few photos of my weekend project. I prepared my drawings a while ago, and decided to cut it now. It is my new master for resin casting. Its made of cardboard, bricks and some war damage is engraved on surface. I will patch few places with putty, add more cracks and texture to plaster, add some details like broken glass, timber joists and a little plush teddy bear on the floor Then I will sand it in some places, prime it and its ready for silicone mould. Anybody wants one?

Its all laser cut from 1.5mm and 0.5mm cardboard.  Bricks are made in two passes : first  is engraving for about 0.4mm deep, then  mortar line is cut for another 0.4mm. Floors are cut from one 1.5mm cardboard (the shape with joists) than on top of it is a 0.5mm paper layer with timber boards. Bottom side is again timber boards and another layer with peeling plaster ceiling.