Converting papercraft templates to scratchbuild blueprints

[Evil Eye]

A bit of a weird question, but does anyone have any good advice for how to translate papercraft templates for 40K vehicles/buildings to styrene scratchbuilding plans? I found a good repository of 40K vehicle papercraft plans, and figured I could use them to build styerene hulls whilst resin printing more complex details- both saving resin on large, slow to print components and also expanding my skill set. In theory it works- both being methods of turning flat materials into models- but I'm stumped on a particular "translation" issue. Ironically, the problem isn't "how do I turn 2D details into 3D", but rather an issue of thickness. Obviously, papercraft is meant for use with paper, and even stiffer paper is by its very nature very, very thin. Styrene kitbashes, meanwhile, require multiple thicknesses of plastic sheet, usually ranging from 1mm to 3mm; is there a good, reliable way of working out which thickness of styrene I will need for any given piece?

 

As a side note, has anyone tried using a Cricut for scoring initial snap-lines in styrene? Seems like it could be a good way of mechanizing/semi-automating styrene kitbashes (especially for those of us who can't cut straight lines to save their life, even with the aid of a Tamiya scriber and a steel ruler...).

[Teetengee]

It *really* depends on how you cut the styrene/if you cut on an angle.

If you're willing to create a bevel, you could use the papercraft template as is. If you aren't beveling, you'll need to reduce the size of the papercraft components to account for the styrene thickness.

I suspect, given the nature of materials involved and papercraft designs in general, you could just use 1mm thickness for pretty much everything except 3mm for internal supports.

[Brother Carpenter]

I' d reach out to Brother Christopher or search his thread on his thunderhawk for guidelines. I think he' s done just what you want to do.

 

Goos luch 

[Brother Christopher]

@Evil Eye I'm quite busy at the moment due to a post-holiday work overload but I'd be super glad to offer some advice and let you know how I went about doing what you want to do. Feel free to PM me.

 

Please note, however, that I did everything by hand so now laser-cutting was involved.

 

In a nutshell: I used knock-off plasticard of varying thickness. For hulls and other structural elements, I usually used 1mm sheets, sometimes 2mm.

 

Basically I cut all parts twice. I printed the papercraft templates, cut the parts (obviously disregarding the "wings" used to glue paper together) and assembled the "core". At this stage, it's very important to factor in the thickness of the plastic/styrofoam.

 

The next step was to do another go of the same parts to make the outer layer with the details (e.g. greebles, armour plates) - for this I used 0.5 or 0.25 sheets. I glued that on top of the "core."

 

Larger hallow parts, such as hulls or track sections, were further reinforced on the inside to strengthen the structure and prevent bending.

[Evil Eye]

So just a quick update on this: I've acquired a Cricut Maker 3 and will be putting it through its paces soon, as I have discovered it can be used (with the correct tool-head and settings) to score styrene. I'm thinking it should be fairly easy to convert these patterns to work with this machine, partially automating the process (which is a good thing as even armed with a steel ruler and Tamiya scriber I am not the best at working with styrene...)!

 

I will absolutely report back when I've got something to show!

[LameBeard]

23 hours ago, Evil Eye said:

So just a quick update on this: I've acquired a Cricut Maker 3 and will be putting it through its paces soon, as I have discovered it can be used (with the correct tool-head and settings) to score styrene. I'm thinking it should be fairly easy to convert these patterns to work with this machine, partially automating the process (which is a good thing as even armed with a steel ruler and Tamiya scriber I am not the best at working with styrene...)!

 

I will absolutely report back when I've got something to show!

Very interested in this. I was looking at a Cricut the other day, maybe it could cut card floor plates and panels for my zone mortalis board. But it looked expensive so I’ll keep an eye out for a second hand one … if you think these things have potential. I hadn’t even heard of them until a week ago.

Edited Friday at 11:13 PM by LameBeard
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[Evil Eye]

15 hours ago, LameBeard said:

Very interested in this. I was looking at a Cricut the other day, maybe it could cut card floor plates and panels for my zone mortalis board. But it looked expensive so I’ll keep an eye out for a second hand one … if you think these things have potential. I hadn’t even heard of them until a week ago.

They can definitely cut card, I've seen people do tutorials on using them for just that. Hopefully mine comes in the post soon. I have a particularly demented idea for taking the plans for a Mk.1 Rhino and scaling it up by 300%, combining with some printed parts to make a 1:18 scale/JoyToy compatible Rhino, so watch this space!