WARNING: READ! Copyright 1996 Louis R. Coatney CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR PAPER MODEL SHIPS: GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 1. If you are a beginner at paper model construction, you must understand that you need to work very slowly, patiently, neatly, and CAREFULLY. This is especially true of constructing a hull. For example, when cutting a piece to fit to another, you must pare it down cautiously--a little at a time. (Trying to patch a piece back up to required size is arduous and tacky work.) With practice, your speed will improve. Once the first model is constructed and understood, mass production--doing one function or part at a time for many ships of the same class--can greatly reduce the per- model production time. 2. Be sure that the parts are COMPLETELY formed--cut, drilled/punched, folded, rolled, etc.--and will fit ... BEFORE gluing. (For example, hull pieces FORCED into shape/position during gluing can badly warp the assembled hull.) Begin construction of a ship by LIGHTLY gluing the waterline keel down to a perfectly flat, no-stick surface (like a kitchen counter cutout, usually available at a hardware/construction store). 3. Recommended tools: Flat, level, stable, and easily cleaned surface to work on. Sharp-pointed ("Exacto"-type) hobby knife. Don't even bother attempting to build a very small-scale model without one, BUT BE CAREFUL: a slip of the blade could lose an eye. Sharp, precision sewing-type scissors. Ruler, or any other (truly) straight edge. Toothpicks, round (and flat, if available). Rolling tools/surfaces, such as round pens, wooden doweling, nails, toothpicks, etc. Sharp and thin needles, thicker pins, pushpins, etc. "Elmer's" glue, "super glue," and plastic model cement. Eyebrow-type tweezers, having a straight edge of comfortable angle. Stylus of some kind, to make indented lines for folds. Plastic rod or sprue and/or wire, for guns and masts. Plastic sprue is created (under parental supervision) by holding a straight long round piece of plastic model kit scrap over a heat source--a flame, lightbulb, whatever--until it softens and can then be stretched into a thin, plastic wire. Varying the speeds of stretching can make the sprue's sides concave or convex. Very thin plastic rod is available from Evergreen Models (206-823- 0458), 12808 NE 125th Way, Kirkland WA 98034 or from Plastruct (818- 912-7016), 1020-T S. Wallace Place, City of Industry CA 91748. Interestingly, the two companies' rod sizes are complementary, so get the pricelist from both. The best wire is brass--available from Detail Associates at PO Box 5357, San Luis Obispo CA 93403. It is available in diameters from .006" to .052" 4. Gluing: You will be gluing edge-to-edge, occasionally. (Tabs and slots are more trouble than they are worth, but you might want to create little L- shaped pieces for more gluing surface and reinforcement at critical points.) Squirt a drop out onto a nonabsorbent surface and apply very small droplets from that with a toothpick. They will dry quickly. Apply more droplets later. Too much glue at once takes forever to dry and warps the paper card. Super-glue key, high-stress locations such as the prow--the point of the bow--the (plastic or wire) guns to the (cardstock paper) turrets, etc. 5. When gluing the hullsides to the keel, start at their midpoints and work first toward the bow and then toward the stern, alternating back and forth between sides. Glue the decks similarly. Don't glue the stem--the bow edge of the hullsides--until you are ready to glue them together with the deck all at once. 6. Explanation of basic plan SYMBOLS: Solid line: ___________ = Cut (with scissors or knife). Dotted line: ........... = Reference lines, for positioning. Long-dashed line: __ __ __ __ = Fold UP (usually 90 degrees). Short-dashed line: _ _ _ _ _ = Fold DOWN " " " . WARNING: I am an amateur at this. Especially in my early, hand-drawn models, a solid line may mean cut OR JUST FOLD and a dashed line may mean fold OR MAY JUST BE A REFERENCE INDICATOR for positioning parts. So be careful and THINK about the part, BEFORE cutting/assembling it. (Obviously, for example, depthcharge racks are not intended to be carved into confetti. Their cross-hatching on top is just for indentation. ... and ABBREVIATIONS: CO = Cut Out, F= Fold, R = Roll, and G = Glue. 7. Shaping: To roll/bend/curve a part crosswise, hold it against a curved surface (such as a thick pen) with your thumb and pull it through. If you want to curve something lengthwise, hold it against long, round surfaces-- working from larger round surfaces to as thin as necessary (like the diameter of a length of large paperclip) to achieve the desired rate of curve. After repeated rollings, even double curvatures--such as often occur in the forward sides of a ship's hull, curving in toward the bow while "sheering" up and outwards from the waterline to the deck edge/ gunwale--can be achieved. Curvature must be increased very gradually; otherwise, a crease/fold can occur, especially lengthwise. If that happens and you can't just scrap the now-flawed part, hold the piece as tightly as possible against the desired curved surface and run the back of your thumbnail down the crease. This will at least break down the crease (into many little ones, anyway). Remember also that the more you work a piece of initially stiff, strong paper cardstock, the more you weaken it. To make sharp folds, run a point--a stylus, like a cheap drawing compass--along the line, using a straight-edge, before folding. Always punch necessary holes and slits BEFORE cutting out a piece, working up from a sharp/thin needle to pushpin thickness. When attempting to bend down a thin piece, such as a railing, hold it with straight-edged tweezers and bend down the bigger part, instead. 8. Filling: Use modeler's putty, more glue, or whatever works, to fill in the inevitable cracks before painting. 9. Painting: If you don't intend to paint your model, fold and curve its pieces so that the lines and markings face inward/away, as much as possible--unless you WANT the design lines to show, of course. I do recommend you paint it, and SPRAY PAINT it, at that. Painting strengthens and waterproofs the paper. Fill in any cracks that appear after spraying, and then touch up with bottle paint of the same color. A matte/nongloss waterproofing spraying of the bottom adds some insurance, as well. (Still, I'm not sure I'd risk any cardstock paper model in a damp environment, no matter how well it has been coated. 10. To make gun turrets and Axis torpedo tube mounts rotate, _|_ _ Retainer I suggest this design: ------- Deck | 11. Other paper model sources: FAMOUS FIGHTERS TO CUT OUT AND FLY, Bellerophon Books, 36 Anacapa St. Santa Barbara CA 93101 Sophisticated but simple models, cheaply. MODEL BOAT BUILDING, Herb Lozier. Neat, simple little paper ships and boats for the very young and new paper model shipwright.