A little custom papermodel project

[kapteenipirk]

Just taught you guys might be interested to see some of my handy-work in the real world .

Plus, at the end of this, you guys will get a chance to make your own as-well. It'll take some time for me to make that happen, as i need to copy all the parts and lay them on to A4 sized areas and then plot PDF's out of all of them. I'm using AutoCad and a big plotter, so everything is printed on to an 4xA4 sized sheet.

But in the mean time, ill be posting pics and info on the project, as-well as constant updates, so you guys will get to see what the thing looks like before and after the build.

 

While i'm still hanging around my old school (technically i've finished everything and i'm just waiting to get my papers), i decided to use  take one of my notebook paper-model projects to the next level.

In this case, an approximately 1:50 scale paper model of a Finnish armored train. It seems the train is actually closer to 1:70 scale.

Or to be specific, a model of the train that is currently held in the Parola armor museum, witch is comprised of what's left over from Panssarijuna 1 (armored train 1), with an unarmored locomotive that never saw any action.

Mine one will include the actual locomotive that was used on one of the two Finnish armored trains.

Below is a collage of all the stuff that the paper-model train has.

(the flatcars on both ends are there to be cheap cannon-fodder, for example if the track is broken or is wired with explosives, they will take the full brunt while the rest of the train will remain mostly unharmed. The front artillery car is from an old captured Russian armored train, that was captured well before WW2 and was modified multiple times during and before winter war and the continuation war, from an artillery car into an AA gun car. the second artillery car is a captured Russian PL-37 artillery car that was captured during WW2, other than a new paint-job, it's remained mostly untouched. The locomotive is a Finnish TK3 locomotive with an armored body-shell. The car behind the tender used to be an artillery car, but was later on modified into a command/kitchen car. The last carriage also started it's life as an artillery car, but was later on modified in to an AA gun car as it seemed like a better idea to use trains for AA support roles rather than front-line artillery support, as parts of the track where often blown to bits, potentially trapping the train, and because there was a general lack of AA protection for the trains from air attacks. The cars that weren't captured, where built/modified in Fredriksberg Works)

If you wanna read more in to the history of these trains, go check this site out http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/TRAINS0.htm

 

This was a project that i actually started quite a long ago by drawing 2D pictures of the locomotive/tender and all the other carriages on my school notebook.

This is a style i like to use when designing my own paper models, as after i have a good 2D picture of it, i can pretty much then see the entire 3D model in my head.

Then i can very quickly draw out the necessary parts to create that model.

The main reason why i use school notebooks to do these designs, is because i actually measure a lot of my things by the squares on the pages.

Like for example, my first custom tank that i made, had a hull that was 6x4x2 squares in size with a turret that was 2x2x2 sized with a gun-barrel that was 2x1x1 squares in size (i have created a whole series of vehicles based on that tank i did years ago).

It wont create the cleanest of designs, but at least it's pretty impossible to get crooked lines and wrong measurements (tough i still do make mistakes every now and then).

 

It may be a little difficult to get it right in the start, but there's nothing more pleasing than to get a model of your favorite thing made in any scale you want with a level of difficulty that suites you , rather than having to find a model on the internet only to find out that you have to pay a fortune  and its also way too complicated .

 

I didn't have a real scale in mind when i started to design this thing, i just drew the locomotive/tender so that it fit exactly on an A4 sheet length wise, witch by complete luck made this thing almost exactly 1:50 scaled.

Scale wasn't all that important, plus it was would have been pretty impossible to even scale the thing in the first place as there are no real measurements of any parts of this train around, but i still wanted to see in what scale this thing was in for fun, plus, it helped in getting the trains crew to be of the right size. So, i measured it by scaling some 2D Finnish soldiers from Junior General to 1:50 scale (somehow accidentally scaled them to almost exactly 1:72 scale), and then used some pictures of actual people standing next to the train to see if my crew figures where roughly the size they where supposed to be.

After i had drawn everything on my notebook, i redrew and enhanced all the picture i had in AutoCad (can only do that in school as an AutoCad license can cost a few grand), and then started making all the parts for the train one by one.

It took me about 4-6 hours per train car (minus the super simple flat cars)plus all the previous work that was put into making the original plans.

Spoiler

I think the forward artillery-car was actually the first thing i drew, but im not sure, as i feel that the locomotive was probably the first one i drew as it's the biggest.

 

 

And here are some picks of what's going on with the project so far. And sorry in advanced, i was supposed to take some WIP shots of the locomotive build, but i forgot .

 

Why not start off with the locomotive witch was the first thing i got done.

The actual locomotive was a Finnish built TK3 locomotive that was equipped with an armored body shell. It was later on equipped with a very innovative stealth system, the pipe that you see running from the front of the train to the back, its used to transport the smoke from the main smoke stack under the train, making tracking of the trains movement by it's smoke-trail very difficult.

I made some mistakes when designing it, that i didn't notice until i started building it, those won't be on the release version.

 

 The next part i wanna do is the Kitchen car. The Kitchen car is done now.

WIP/instructional shots are inside the spoiler.

Spoiler

Next to the flat cars, this is probably the easiest of all the ones to build.

The plotter ran out of paper while it was printing it, so i had to print the floor and the roof of the wagon separately on an A4 sheet.

The release version will have the locations of the bogies marked out, tough its pretty easy to align them using the armored plates on the side of the wagon.

 

Here are some extra shots to make sure there wont be any confusion as to where all the parts go and what there supposed to look like.

 

While i do that and all the other cars, i'll have to do the crew of the train as-well. Say hello to the crew.

I made the bases by just cutting the left over paper into little white rectangles.

WIP/instructional shots are inside the spoiler.

Spoiler

There isn't much to show as far a instruction go, as it's pretty basic stuff.

Those little guys are just copied and re-scaled stuff found on this site Junior General.

It's more of a collection of random Finnish troops with some gun crews meant for 76 mm AA guns. If i wanted gun crews for the 3 40mm Bofors guns, i would have had to make my own or use US or British gun crews instead.

 

The AA gun car is propably the most time consuming of all the armored cars, but also my favorite.

 

WIP/instructional shots are inside the spoiler.

Spoiler

I wanted to make the interior of the thing more detailed, but as there are no photos of interior available, i would have had to guess what was in there. The only thing i knew was probably there, was a radio transmitter/receiver set, and probably an old telephone for car to car communication.

 

With more simple models, i like to cut all the parts before hand.

 

Here's all the components assembled (minus the AA guns).

 

Some of the walls are in place, as-well as the AA gun platforms. The block you see in-front of the car goes in the middle and serves as a platform for the solders to stand on so that they can pop their heads trough the hole on the roof.

And also to allow them to use the cupola on top of the roof, so that they can look around while being a little more safe.

 

Here's a close-up shot of the AA gun to hopefully help you in figuring out how it all goes together.

 

 

The PL-37 artillery car went together no problem at all with no errors to report

 

WIP/instructional shots are inside the spoiler.

Spoiler

Unfortunately i wasn't able to mark the position of the bogeys for this one, unless i wanted to make an extra bottom like the ones on the flatcar that has the position marked. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to align the wheels, as the axles of the wheels line up exactly with the little square access hatches.

 

The "pin" at the bottom of the turret is just enough bigger than the hole witch it goes trough, that ones you slide the turret in place, it should lock in a way that allows it to move freely and also prevents the turret from falling off.

 

The forward artillery car needs a roof job, as there are big holes on it, but other than that, it went together just fine. Tough the gun commander now has to use the observation cupola as there's no room for him on the turret.

 

WIP/instructional shots are inside the spoiler.

Spoiler

Again, i cut all the pieces before i started building the thing.

I almost forgot about the extra bit's that i printed separately, that's why they don't show up on the first pick.

 

 

Here's a shot of the underside to give you a better idea of where everything goes.

walls and pedestals are now in places, as-well as the railings and extra armor panels protecting the couplings and the crew when they want to switch cars.

 

As you can see, the roof has a few holes that need patching.

Honestly, i was already expecting there to be problems with the roof, as it's starting to be a little more complex with it's curves and angles.

 

This time i decided to use some bit of hot-glue on the AA gun to make the thing look a bit cleaner.

 

 

There will most likely still be stuff that needs to be redesigned/fixed, but that's just part of the process, test builds have to be done to make sure everything works.

It's done now, and here is the download link (does not include the crew nor the recolored tanks as im not sure about the rights in stuff like that).

Oh, and btw, even tough they don't show up on any of the picks, the model still has the Finnish swastikas)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o4uoluos4d16a39/Finnish armored train paper model.zip?dl=0

 

As is said at the start of the post, ill be constantly updating this, so be sure to follow if your interested. And i hope you enjoy watching this little project take shape .

Edited January 19, 2018 by kapteenipirk
download link included

[NSEP]

Cool! I want to make a papermodel spacecraft one day, maybe an Orion/SLS or even on of my own designs.

[kapteenipirk]

28 minutes ago, NSEP said:

Cool! I want to make a papermodel spacecraft one day, maybe an Orion/SLS or even on of my own designs.

Thanks .

Hmm, your in luck, as there's a paper-model of the Orion SLS available here http://axmpaperspacescalemodels.com/index.php/miscellaneous/

[kapteenipirk]

Alright, time for the first update, i got the kitchen car done and also...

say hello to the crew of the train

It was a pretty tedious task to make all those guys, but this time i was extra motivated since this is a custom project, so i was able to pull trough before i gave up and buried the project for the next 2 weeks.

Their all a bit crude and simple, but they work well enough for me.

 

I was also now able to confirm the scale of the figures and the train.

It is not in fact close to 1:50 scale, it's actually...well...ill just let the picture tell you.

Yep, that is a Revell 1:72 scale model of a Panzer III with Airfix German troops.

Either i made a miscalculation, or i made the right calculation without realizing that i was using the wrong scale. But, that just makes me more happy as 1:72 scale i probably the most common scale in modelling, so if i want some proper model troops or some bit of Finnish armor to go with the thing, i can do that.

The train itself is tough...that's probably closer to a little over 1:70 scale, as it seemed a little large when i put it in front of my 1:72 scale K5 railway gun Leopold, but not by that much.

Also:

Fits quite perfectly don't you think (the other is a model of the German Panzerhaubitze 2000).

Edited November 27, 2017 by kapteenipirk
Censoring

[kapteenipirk]

Got a message from @Vanamonde saying that the Finnish swastikas where a little too inappropriate for the forums (should have known), so i'm gonna have to do some censoring.

 

On another note, here's a little update.

This weekend was more relaxation, so that's why there hasn't been much progress, but at-least i got this done.

I think having the crew really livens it up by quite a bit. Just have to do 2 more of these.

[kapteenipirk]

Censoring is complete and all the original picks are back.

 

And here's a little bonus.

Because i wanted to do it, and knew that i could do it quickly, i decided to add variants for 3 of the cars.

If you don't want to have a kitchen car, you can opt for the machine gun car. It's basically just a texture switch.

 

If you want to have a little more punch in your train, you can switch out the forward artillery car for the earlier variant witch has a 75mm mountain-gun on the nose turret.

 

And here's an alternative AA gun car. The Bofors gun on the nose has been swapped out for an old 75mm naval-gun that works as an AA gun. The car also has a searchlight as an added bonus.

 

I will test build the AA gun car variant, but probably not the others as they will work as long as the base versions work.

Edited November 27, 2017 by kapteenipirk
typos as usual

[Green Baron]

I like papermodels. I don't have mine from younger years any more as they tend to attract moisture and cramp up. But i still have built some waiting to be built :-)

I think there once was a Saturn V on the web ...

Edited November 27, 2017 by Green Baron

[kapteenipirk]

58 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

I like papermodels. I don't have mine from younger years any more as they tend to attract moisture and cramp up. But i still have built some waiting to be built :-)

Glad to see people that actually know of this hobby, as i don't think even one of my friends had ever even heard of this hobby before i came along.

i've been building papermodels for over 10 years now, and i can say i still enjoy it, but it has sort of lost it's shine, as these days i kinda have to commit myself to do them instead of just building them all the time like i used to, tough back them my build quality was a lot more rushed and rubbish.

Pretty much all off my early work is gone now too. Just the best of the best and the most recent remains. I think i've built something like 200 or so model since the start of this hobby. Man, the amount money on the ink alone .

[kapteenipirk]

On 11/27/2017 at 9:39 PM, Green Baron said:

I think there once was a Saturn V on the web ...

There are still some models of the Saturn V available, all on the same site as-well. One of them is in 1:96 scale, one is in 1:48 scale, and there is a micro version with the launch-tower as-well.

http://jleslie48.com/gallery_models.html

Just select Apollo-era.

[Green Baron]

Cool !

I have a few models here waiting (ships, 1/200 and 1/250), but if i start now there will be protests.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Green Baron

[kapteenipirk]

6 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Cool !

I have a few models here waiting (ships, 1/200 and 1/250), but if i start now there will be protests.

Well, i also have big box full of unfinished models (tanks, planes, ships, trucks...etc) that i should one day finish.

I kinda just do what i feel like doing instead of building something that i printed months ago as it keeps things more fun.

[Green Baron]

The Cap San Diego is waiting (1/200, Editor Dom Bumagi), i just took it into the hand ... beautiful ship :-)

[kapteenipirk]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

The Cap San Diego is waiting (1/200, Editor Dom Bumagi), i just took it into the hand ... beautiful ship :-)

Pretty nice. reminds me that i should showcase the other custom papermodel project that i made, witch is quite huge.

And good luck on the build.

[kapteenipirk]

Alright, time for an update again.

Im happy to announce that the next two weeks will be pretty much empty for me witch gives me plenty of time to continue this project.

My current goal is to get the build done by the end of next week, so that i can get the build testing phase over with and fix all and any errors, so that i can release the model before Christmas.

 

I got another one of the cars done as-well.

I've said it once, and ill say it again, i think that the added crew just makes it look way more awesome

 

Next in line will be the captured PL-37 artillery car.

Edited December 3, 2017 by kapteenipirk
typos as usual

[kapteenipirk]

Sorry for the long silence, but i got some stuff in the way, and i kinda forgot to make one of the updates that i was supposed to do.

So, what's the progress then, the progress is this:

The main part of the train project is now done (minus the flat cars witch where made as a bonus in a few minutes).

Next Monday ill be able to start working on fixing all the mistakes and plotting everything to PDF, so that i can release this model to the public.

There are a few bits on the AA gun whose positions could be marked, the roof of the forward artillery car has to be fixed and the bottom plate of it flipped the other way around so that the position markers for the wheels and the plow at the front point in the proper direction.

 

Oh, and remember those 1:72 scale Finnish tank models i was talking about..well, decided that instead of going and buying a bunch of Russian tank models and some hugely expensive decal sets, i did this:

It was originally a 1:250 scale Russian T-26 made by R & P Models that i re-scaled and recolored myself.

Here's a list of the ones i recolored:

T-26 Light tank (single tone and 3 tone camo versions)

T-28 Medium tank (single tone camo only)

BA-10/BA-6 Armored car (single tone only)(includes turrets for BA-6 and BA-10 versions)

FAI-M Armored car (single tone and 3 tone camo versions)

[Vanamonde]

That is an adorable little tank. 

[Mayer]

Cute, i made a paper tank too once.

[kapteenipirk]

On 12/10/2017 at 10:29 PM, Vanamonde said:

That is an adorable little tank. 

 

On 12/11/2017 at 2:21 PM, Mayer said:

Cute, i made a paper tank too once.

Thanks . Would have been even more adorable if i made it in it's original scale, witch would have made it about the same size as my fingertip.

 

And good news everyone, i got all of the models, and there variants made into PDF format, so now i can organize them and release them probably tomorrow.

[kapteenipirk]

Alright, time for the big update.

 

The model is now up for download.

Im really sorry it took me this long to include the file with all the PDF's needed to make the models and their variants, i genuinely forgot about it.