Building of a Kübelwagen in karton/paper

Johnny · 07-08-2006

Hello all!

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this kind of construction report, but I'm going to show how I build a papermodel.First have to say that I'm absolutely not an expert on this issue....I have only built 2 small planes and 3 armoured vehicles so far, so my work will most surely not hold the standard of the more experienced builders.But everybody have to start , and do the best they can due to the skills they have

The model I'm building is the Kübelwagen PKWK1 type 82 in scale 1:16 from the polish publisher Modelik.

So my first report comes here. I started with the wheels this time, since I have found out that wheels are not the most funny part to do, so I'll take that first.

Here are the drawing of the wheels.

I started by cutting the tiresides out first. The frame is glued to 1mm karton.With the Olfa circle cutter there are no problems cutting out the centerparts.The major problem as I see it with making of tires are to get the sides bent the right way.The way I do it is as follows.First I use the score tool tol score along the line.Then I use a small tweezer to bend the sides to the right angle as shown on the second picture.

Making of the tireframe goes as follows.The two kartonparts are mounted together with the base for the tracks.I glue this parts bit by bit to assure that they are aligned correctly.When the outside is done, it's time to mount the inner part of the tire.I do this the same way.Glue it bit by bit, so it's not getting messed up.....(as I have done before). The finished result seems rather good.

Mounting of the sides are quite easy.I put glue on the outer and inner part and place the side on place.It doest fit at once, but as i use a knitting needle and my fingers to force the side into place, it fits in the end.

Time for the pattern.This is not the most enjoyable part.....cutting out the tiny pieces can be rather intense.....When the job is done, I put some glue to the center part of the track, and alighn it to the center of the frame.When it is dry, I put glue to the "flips" 5 by 5 and bend them down the side

Time to make the center part of the wheel.The parts are cutted out and are ready for mounting.I paint the edges here(not sure if It's done on the first pic) The parts has a good fit so far. The tire is ready painted and soon some chalkdust to make the final finish.

Two tires done, 3 half done

The pile gets biger

The tires done!

I would appreciate some feedback if this is interesting enough for posting here, if I should continue or not.....

Nigel.D · 07-08-2006

Really interesting please continue!!

**Bunkerbarge** · 07-08-2006

Johnny this is superb and very much appreciated. I have never really understood how these things go together so just to see the wheels come together is fascinating.

Please continue.

porschenut · 07-08-2006

Amazing, and its all paper and card.
Euan

Johnny · 19-08-2006

Hi again guys!
I will continue the posting of the Kübel.
Since this isn't a cardmodel forum I have to rewrite a lot of the text that goes with the pics, so I might be a bit slow here......and my english isn't the best either, so I hope you will understand.

The papermodels comes in a kind of books, where you can cut out the parts you need.
The book of the Kübel
contains 5 pages of written instructions that I dont understand at all

and 10 pages of drawn instruktions and 17 pages with parts to cut out.At this stage it seems I have taken water above my head.....It might be a harder build than thought, but I take it as a challenge.I have searched for construction reports with no luck in hope to make it a bit easier.
But here we go!!

The book in 1:16 and a page of parts that are in very good quality, both the print and paper.

I started with the hood, and the support for the spare tire.
The drawing of the supporter.And as we can see from the drawing all parts is numbered, but not all parts is shown as a drawing, so for me as a non polish reader/speaker it becomes often more like puzzles....

Parts are cutted and ready for mounting.For kutting the straight lines I use the exel knife with the 11 blade, looks more like a scalpel and is almost as sharp.For the half round parts I often use a nail scissor that is curved.And for the complete round parts I use the Olfa circle cutter.

The parts are mounted on the hood and some small parts left to go

I have left out part 62 to "save" it from destruction

With the spare tire in place.

The underside of the hood containes the gaz tank, with the valve on it's underside.

I also glued the sides on 1mm karton and cut them out.

More to come.....

**wonwinglo** · 19-08-2006

Johnny a really interesting thread,those card wheels are a work of art and must have taken someone a bit of working out,lots of work with the scissors as well by the looks of things.
Models such as these have taken card modelling to new heights of realism,keep the info coming and thank you.

**Bunkerbarge** · 19-08-2006

I have to say Johny it is extreemly interesting to see how a complex solid object is built up from a 2D material. I think the tyres are amazing.

Thanks for taking the time to share it with us, it is very much appreciated.

Johnny · 20-08-2006

Thanks a lot for your positive comments guys!

Building in paper is in my opinion a lot different than building in plastic.
Plasticbuilds are more of assemble the build and then the work starts with coloring,weathering,building dioramas etc etc, in paperbuilds you have to build each part, then assemble, so the building is what takes most of the time.Coloring and sometimes weathering is already done.
Since the model comes in "books" with parts and instructions, I have found that to do a scan of the book is the best way to do it, and leave the book untouched.....so if I make a mistake, I can just print the part again.The paperthickness I use is from 80g to 170g.I try to find paper that is similar to the thickness in the book.On 80g paper I print the parts that is to be glued without color to karton, typical building the structure of something and where the parts doesnt show, and for the parts that is for rolling into cylinders, typical is axels and other tube parts.karton is not easy to get here in Norway, so I had to get mine from germany and Poland.The thickest karton I could find that was suitable for paperbuilds was 0,9mm and that is useless, since the parts is typical 0,2mm, 0,5mm and 1,0mm and combinations of theese.

next step on the kübel was the sides of the vehicle.
The inside , below the doors was made of 2 pieces of 1,5mm karton glued to eachother. No drawing for this operation, just the numbers on the parts.So I'm just showing the finished result.The total thickness on the side is now 4mm and it was a bit hard to bend into the right angle.The floor is going to be placed between the sides.

Making of the floor....was more work than I expected.There was a lot of parts to be laminated onto 0,5mm and 1mm karton

The drawing

And the parts cutted out (most of them)

The floor is quite huge with a lot of small "strips" that took ages to edgepaint.Just kidding

but edgepainting is vital in such builds to not have white edges on the parts.

The underside and the part with the kardan tunnell

For the floor strips I used 1mm balsa and A lot of narrow strips was to be cut out.
I decided to use woodstrips on the floor as it's supposed to be.
here I have cutted out small strips of 1mm balsa wood and are removing the space between the ribs.

I was satisfied with the result.Half floor done....

Put the floor into place just to see how it looks

The floor is finished.It took some time to make this, but it was worth the extra effort

The drawing of the top of the floor.

All wooden strips in place

So I had to make the small paperroundings.each one is made of two small paperstrips, inside and outside

And here are the finished floor

Continuing with the engine room next time.

**wonwinglo** · 20-08-2006

Johnny,really getting a feel for this model now thanks to your excellent clear pictures,by the way the material you call Karton is called by another name in the UK (not to be confused with a composition wood by the same name ) it is available as Chipboard from packaging companies in large panels,cuts nicely with several strokes of a craft knife.
I like your use of balsa for the strips,after all why try and re-invent the wheel for things like that ?
Excellent,keep up the good work.

deakon · 21-08-2006

Facinating stuff.. what scale are you working in? with scalpel skills like that you should be a surgeon m8..im especially impressed by the tyres and wheels.
a very interesting thread...