1:48 "Little House on the Prairie"

[Ray Dunakin]

The effort you put into cutting individual "boards" and/or scribing the joints, plus building up window frames, etc is what puts this model so far above all the other printed paper models I've seen elsewhere.

[finescalerr]

Frankly, most paper structure models I have seen are very disappointing. The artwork often is more impressionistic than realistic. The idea seems to be to use shortcuts and "fool the eye" techniques rather than true modeling methods. And the effort I put into my models is probably less than I would have to put into a wood model, especially the finish. My goal in developing a decent inkjet printed cardstock model was to achieve about 90% of the excellence of the models I see here ... in about 30% of the time! -- Russ

[Sami]

The effect of the wood is spectacular. This technique is very good and perfectly mastered!

[fspg2]

Russ,

Your paper models are simply a feast for the eyes 

[Hauk]

I love the crisp and uncluttered look of your models.
An exercise in understatement.

[Rail and Tie]

This is remarkable work Russ.  I for one would love to see you you designed and put this together. A "paper" masterpiece tutorial would be great if you ever had the time!

Satisfactory!

I have been toying with the idea of doing UV textured color printing over top of laser board and basswood and then indexing the printed material with the laser cutter and cutting out the parts. Or vice versa. That way you wind up with pre-printed and textured components before assembly. It issue right now is the cost and complexity of flat bed UV color printers. A decent Roland machine is $25K.  I would consider it for the hobby business if I new I could get good results.  The other issue is the finicky nature of the printer heads. They gum up a lot and can go out of alignment etc. Like a ink jet but add in the UV light and sticky inks....

[finescalerr]

You're probably better off choosing the right paper for texture, using an inkjet to print the artwork on it and, unless the parts to cut are complex and very small, just using a knife an straightedge.

Building my models is simple; anyone on the forum probably could build them better than I do. The only unique aspect is the artwork and I doubt a tutorial on working with Affinity Photo or Photoshop would be of much interest here. Besides, I just look for a photo of the right kind of brick, wood, or whatever and tweak it. I even posted a simple minded step-by-step here several years ago. As I recall, Paul Rayner and Marc Reusser contributed to the thread.

If you or anyone else has a specific question, though, I'll answer as clearly and thoroughly as I can.

Russ

[Barney]

Remarkable stuff this Russ - Have you had a look at The Pendon Museum site https://pendonmuseum.com/about/the-vale-scene They use card and different imbosed papers to achieve some superb models of buildings
Thanks for a step by step method but lets have more !!
Barney

[Rail and Tie]

Thanks for your reply Russ.

I have looked through your photos in detail and still can't tell if the planks for the siding are individual or is it a sheet of paper. Did you cut out each plank and glue them to a substrate or is each wall a photo (less the window frames and corner posts? If it is a photo, the contrast between the planks is very very well done.

[finescalerr]

Darryl, the wall planks are a photo. I used the "needle" from a grade school compass to scribe the joint lines. The advantage of using a photo instead of actual wood is that you can replicate real varieties of wood rather than only the generic wood appearance of basswood (or whatever). Photos include grain, cracks, knots, subtle coloration, and the unique appearance of specific varieties.

So each wall is a photo (inkjet printed on Lanaquarelle art paper) with scribed board joints. I used a knife to cut out each wall and the door and window openings, then used 3-M 467 double sided tape to fasten the photo to a piece of 2-ply (0.0165-inch) Strathmore Bristol art paper to create a wall of the proper scale thickness for the door and window setbacks. Interior stripwood bracing keeps the walls from warping.

Barney, I'm very familiar with the Pendon Museum and even have a few photos a friend sent after visiting there. Again, if enough guys want a detailed step-by-step, I'll put one together. I really think my simple minded models are far less sophisticated than you might think and anyone on this forum could do at least as well and probably much better than I.

Russ

[Rail and Tie]

Thanks for the details on the wall Russ. That is what I was looking for. The scribe lines definitely enhance the 3D effect.

BTW, whether complicated model or not, it is your precise implementation that makes this work so well.

I have tried a similar photoshop technique on mimicking interior walls etc. and can tell you there is a fine line between realism and cartoon. You are far over to the realism side here.