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Cardboard loco building by cardboard john


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When I was in the Birmingham MRC, there was a member who had built 4472 in cardboard.  It was big - 5" gauge or thereabouts.  The wheels, even the motion, everything was card.  Very realistic and it did run with a small motor.  Battery powered, the batteries inside the smokebox.

I doubt he's still alive, as he was elderly then and this was half a century ago!

 

Not seen its like since however.

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Jim Read was the cardboard modeller supreme who used to post here on RMWeb.  He has a Youtube channel which showcases many of his models and building techniques.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC72f9_uXz558s8-tGW6t97g/videos

 

When I must much younger than I am now and very much of slender means I naturally turned to cardboard to make models.  I did make a few loco bodies to fit onto RTR Triang chassis and they didn't turn out too badly.

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Perhaps rather than locos, I am sure that many of us will have built wagons, vans and opens, in card. I have got a GWR van on the shelf just above me which I built in card in 1963, and it is looking just fine. So card is a perfectly viable proposition for building rolling stock, with one proviso - you must use high quality artist's grade card, and it mus be shellaced before use. Then you have a material which I much prefer to plastic.

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Check out my " Cheapo train sets, get creative..." thread for my Kalka Shimla loco and train, plus my "Weeta-teaks".

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Cardboard john, time to reveal your wares! Anyone who visits model rail shows in the East Midlands will have seen your work. At Loughborough next month?

 

Dava

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12 hours ago, Cardboard john said:

I knew Jim told him my way of building....

I haven't seen anything from Jim Read for quite some time, - I hope he's still with us.

Last year he gave me several PDF sheets on his modelling methods as well as templates for building points including the amazing space saving Barry slip.

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Looking forward to following this thread. I have seen Cardboard John's work at a couple of shows and it is very impressive.

It would be interesting to hear how effective the cardboard wheels have proven to be in practice.

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Some years ago we had a member here who built locos in card; I think he may have been Polish but I am not sure. Some of his models were of foreign (to us) prototypes but he was also building a Stanier Coronation class. The detail he incorporated was excellent. Sorry I cannot remember his name or the topic title; hopefully someone else can. 

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1 hour ago, Ohmisterporter said:

Some years ago we had a member here who built locos in card; I think he may have been Polish but I am not sure. Some of his models were of foreign (to us) prototypes but he was also building a Stanier Coronation class. The detail he incorporated was excellent. Sorry I cannot remember his name or the topic title; hopefully someone else can. 

There are quite a lot of cardboard models available from Eastern Europe. I guess this may be a legacy of the limited materials available there back in the days when they were communist. 

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18 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

There are quite a lot of cardboard models available from Eastern Europe. I guess this may be a legacy of the limited materials available there back in the days when they were communist.

I assume they used ''Pravda''.

 

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While he uses r-t-r models as his starting point, Peter Smith in his 'Decorating model locomotives & rolling stock using printed papers' does have information and techniques that may be helpful in building with card.

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3 hours ago, Peter Eaton said:

I assume they used ''Pravda''.

 

I visited Eastern Europe once in the 1980s. The toilet paper would have been a good material for card modelling, albeit a bit thick and coarse.

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Card has a rich heritage in model making. Railway modellers tend to associate it with buildings but it can be used for pretty much anything. A lot of maritime modellers used it for large ship models.

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Posted (edited)
On 13/07/2024 at 11:49, Ohmisterporter said:

Some years ago we had a member here who built locos in card; I think he may have been Polish but I am not sure. Some of his models were of foreign (to us) prototypes but he was also building a Stanier Coronation class. The detail he incorporated was excellent. Sorry I cannot remember his name or the topic title; hopefully someone else can. 

It was here:

 

Although sadly all most of the images were lost - edit to add some pictures are still in there if you go a page or two in to the thread. Very much worth looking at if you've not seen them before (or even if you have).

Edited by Reorte
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One obvious advantage of modelling in card is that no heat or soldering is needed during construction, and in his thread Mirmic appears to paint parts before assembly. Handier than building a metal kit and having to partly dismantle it again for painting. 

Edited by Ohmisterporter
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I've built a few, here is one. 

its based on a ABC publications kit for a armor plated MAV XII. 

it's all paper and cardboard, apart from the wheels, cranks, axle boxes, dart, regulator and water glass. Its 1/25th scale, but is improbably gauged to 00. Not powered but roles fine. 

IMG_20240716_165730526_HDR.jpg

IMG_20240716_165641405_HDR.jpg

IMG_20240716_165700244_HDR.jpg

IMG_20240716_170853709.jpg

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On 14/07/2024 at 07:20, whizzo said:

Hi i am looking for a way of making GWR 4 wheel , cardboard coach bodies including paneling  , if any one has any ideas please  thanks Dave

There were articles in the MRC years ago about this. Involved three layers. Window sheet, then large windows over those to give the recesses and finally the panelling sheet, which could also be thin strips of card applied separately. Did a North London 6 wheeler this way using "Weetabix" box card, which is a lovely medium. (Found a couple of pictures taken at the time.)

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20220107_125859.jpg

Edited by 33C
added photo.
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