Card models

The card models pictured are from top left: English style stone house, Gee Bee racer; bottom left: MiG 15 and Piper Cub.

One of the activities we like to do is to construct models. Our favorites are airplanes. In the past, that usually meant building models from plastic kits, but recently we have began to build some from paper kits. These are usually called card models.

Recently we did a Google Internet search for a card model of the Wall.e robot and sure enough, there was one out there and for free. This goes with the current Disney movie that is out in the theaters now. It is one that will catch the interest of many children, young and old.

There are card model kits to suit every skill level and every imaginable subject. Various kits are available for any number of famous buildings, ships, castles, monuments, robots – you name it. We even saw the web page of an artist that is making full size, 3-D paper likenesses of famous people!

Ships are a popular subject for card modeling. Often they are some of the more difficult kits because of the large number of small parts that require cutting out and assembling. A big advantage card model kits have over other types of model kits, such as plastic, is that a card model can be designed and printed for a fraction of the cost of a similar plastic kit. Therefore, less common and more unusual subjects can be published in a card model kit than can be found in other media.

There are a huge number of card model kits available on the Internet, many of them free. Most Internet sites that have card models offer kits for sale, usually fairly inexpensively. Many of the larger kits are the ships, which are usually offered on a CD. They cost a little more, but a large ship would keep a person busy quite awhile.

Card models can also be purchased from some larger hobby and craft stores, catalogues or online as preprinted kits, ready to be cut out and assembled. We have seen some of the preprinted card model kits that also come pre-cut. That could be a huge time saver if a person wanted to get right to the assembly stage.

To make the kit, all we have to do is to download the files, usually several pages of Adobe or other graphics files. Then we print them out on 110 pound card stock. After that we cut the parts out, fold and glue them to make the model. Kits with more details require the use of various compound curves to make a convincing replica. But there are techniques to accomplish that and we find it’s mostly a matter of practice.

The great part about making these kinds of kits is that if something does not turn out right, it is very easy to print out another one and redo it. Since color and detail are already on the paper, painting is not required. Edges can be touched up with markers for professional looking results.

Compared to plastic models or even wood kits, only very basic tools are needed for card models. They are things that nearly everyone probably already has, such as white glue, scissors and a craft knife.

Here are some Internet sites that have paper models. All of these sites offer items for sale but also have some free downloads as well. The web sites are: www.fiddlersgreen.net, www.digitalnavy.com, http://www.paperparadise.com/ and http://bellsouthpwp.net/n/8/n8hfi/card-faq/.

If your children are bored and say they have nothing to do, go online and download a simple model. They can choose from things like dinosaurs, cars, trucks, robots and more. Get out the scissors and glue and let them have fun. Then choose one of your own and have fun with them. We have spent many enjoyable hours crafting paper models.