Anyone tried printing onto Plasticard?

Don't try this with a laser printer. We had some one wreck the 'fuser' on our office colour printer by putting the wrong sort of transparency film it it and the plastic melted in the fuser stage. The clear sheets meant for the printer can take much more heat.

Inkjet printers don't use heat to fuse the ink. The warning only applies to Laser printers.

Or you could just buy A4 labels and print onto them. Bit like the old Farish buildings. Even in N these look a lot better when you add relief detail though.

Regards

Just wondering how well these paper models (as a whole) will hold up over time. I can think of several uses (such as store interiors for my model buildings), but if the paper will curl, crack or fade then that could be a problem (although gluing plastic bracing might help the curling). Sorry, I guess I am stuck in the decades old mindset of paper wearing out quickly, and plastic lasting, although that seems to no longer be true.

Pendon Is doing well so far

I was thinking the same thing but concluded that several layers of lightly sprayed lacquer would help along with stout bracing (though not plastic necessarily)

I have seen paper models over 100 years old which look fine. However conditions have a lot to do with longevity. If you live in a high humidity area and your layout is not in a humidity controlled area, you should brace walls as even wood will buckle in the moist conditions. Modern card stock is much tougher than the old papers use in the past and those used in the "punch out" books but if you buy "archival" level paper stock the paper will last centuries. the next problem is ink. All inks will fade in direct sunlight. since few of us have layouts hit by such light that is not a problem for us (though fluorescent lights do cause any pigmentation to fade be it ink or paint or molded in colour) So the inks should last as long as any other paint. Basica;lly if you avoid high humidity and bright light paper will last as well as any other material you can model with.

cat

Several paper modelers swear by "Future" floor polish for this purpose.

cat

I use balsa strips for bracing my cardboard (e.g. Metcalfe) buildings. Available from good model shops.

I no longer use Balsa as it is a rain forest hardwood, milled non-sustainably I am told..... but I understand the principles.

Cheers

Steve

Any suggestions as to the type of glue to use when using paper and expecting a few years life from paper models. My experience is the 'contact' type adhesives 'leech' thru to the surface, and shrink and distort paper after a few months, and water based ones either fail to stick at all to 'archival' type papers ( which seem to have a plasticky finish) or distort imediately..

.

Personally I use "carpenter's" or "cabinetmaker's" glues. They are a yellow toned (but dry clear) glue that is like a thicker "white" glue (like Elmer's). I use it sparingly as it can get messy but it holds tenaciously and will last for many years. A lot like the "white" glues but I find they have too much water in them and can cause problems when attaching fine parts. Another good glue, especially when you want things to bond fast, is "Alien's Tacky Glue" which is found in "crafts" shops.

cat

Now there's an idea for flat sided rolling stock.

Print directly onto overhead projector film and stiffen the back of each car side with either plastic or even brass rod. This would give flush windows instantly.

Might give it a try.

I was blissfully ignorant of that. What is the alternative, e.g. for model plane builders?

You might have problems getting the ink dense enough not to show the backing material.

True. Wouldn't hurt to try. Not planning on using my own printer but will print off the design at Officworks and then get them to transfer to OHP.

Hi martin, I guess I don't know for planes as weight is a critical factor. Corflute and foam board come to mind immediately. Don't know what else though.

The message from MartinS contains these words:

The following website seems to imply that balsa is a weed, far from being non-sustainable.

Colin - if you read that and end up thinking it is an insignificant participant in a rain forest ecosystem, then I have nothing I can add

Oh, goody, another off-topic ramble...

I thought that the underlying problem was that millions and millions of Brazilian peasantry were producing 16x millions and millions of offspring, and desiring to feed said offspring were burning up millions and millions of acres of rain forest every year. Whereas, all the time, the real problem was the bit of balsa wood in my attic...

I remember all the crying about the mahogany used in expensive furniture in Britain. In fact, my own shop windows were daubed by the eco-warriors. Great days. We imported less mahogany for our joinery and laid off dozens of carpenters and joiners. Result? Well, the Indonesians still needed to recover the same annual yield from their mahogany, so ended up selling it at

10% of the UK price to Japanese builders, who used it for concrete-laying shuttering on building sites. Of course, to recover the same yield, they had to strip the forests at ten times the previous annual rate. So that was good.

Cheers, Steve W