Paper model choices. Scissors/knife? Single/double tabs? etc

Show us your models and discuss model-making techniques. Paper? Wood? Single vs double tabs? etc.
User avatar
robertw
Site Admin
Posts: 676
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Paper model choices. Scissors/knife? Single/double tabs? etc

Post by robertw » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:16 am

Just wandering what techniques other model-makers use.

Scoring edges - I use a metal ruler and a doll-making needle (a needle about 18 cms long).

Scissors/knife? - I use scissors. I get the feeling many people use a knife, but I find scissors more convenient and faster. If you leave tabs on every edge, then precise straight lines aren't important, but even when they are scissors can do a good job.

Glue - I use Selley's Aquadhere, which is a wood glue but works well. It's white so you can see where you've put it, but it dries clear. I haven't really tried much else, and suspect it's not the best choice as it's water-based, so paper can wrinkle as the glue dries.

Applying glue - I use wooden skewers, about 20 cms long. These are great and allow for precise application. I've never found brushes to be much use. There are often stray bristles which put glue where you don't want it, and if you don't wash them out well they turn solid.

Single/double tabs - I use double tabs (ie leave tabs on all edges around a net, and glue the tabs to each other, rather than gluing one under the connecting face). I find it produces superior results. I only use single tabs occasionally for very pointy bits, or in crevaces around a net where there's insufficient room to include two tabs.

What choices do you use? Anything I've left out?
Rob.

User avatar
marcelteun
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:07 am
Location: Sweden, Europe
Contact:

Post by marcelteun » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:59 am

Material - I use the cardboard chromolux: 250 gsm. The advantage of this material is that the colours do not fade away so much. The disadvantage is that you're in trouble as soon as you spill a bit of glue: you cannot remove it without destroying the colour. Another disadvantage is that I cannot use my printer with this material and as a consequence I have to create a template of thicker board, pinch holes and draw all pieces with a pencil.

Scissors/knife - Scissors, for me as well.

Scoring edges - Hmm, since I use a cardboard, which is a rather thick material. Therefore I glue every part on paper and use paper tabs instead. Sometimes I score the edges, but small ones can just be folded directly around the cardboard edge. The advantage with the paper tabs is higher precision. The clear disadvantage is that it requires much more work, since I have to glue and cut out every part with tabs twice.

Glue - I just use some a std glue that you can buy in any grocery shop.

Applying glue - I use remains of my cardboard to spread the glue. I cut a little stripe and use it a few times, then I cut another one. I still have more cardboard that is left over afterwards.

Single/double tabs - That depends on the kind of edge. I cannot really explain when I use what. Usually I use double tabs. For small dihedral angles I don't use double tabs though, since the edge becomes too thick.
Last edited by marcelteun on Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
robertw
Site Admin
Posts: 676
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Post by robertw » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:39 pm

Material - Oh yes, forgot about material. I have mostly used 120 gsm paper. Tried 160 gsm once, but found it just slightly too thick. The weight doesn't directly map to thickness necessarily though, and now I use a new paper I discovered. 140 gsm, and acid free, so presumably the colours won't fade as quick.

Rob.

Magnus Wenninger
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:34 pm

Trial run

Post by Magnus Wenninger » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:33 pm

This is a trial message to the Forum. I have so far only taken a look at the Memberlist, and I see names well known to me. So I can only say I have to learn what goes on here in the Forum, while I learn how it functions.

Magnus

Magnus Wenninger
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:34 pm

How to Build a Polyhedron Model

Post by Magnus Wenninger » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:14 pm

How to Build a Polyhedron Model

Not only have I built well over 100 models of the triambic icosahedron (I mean W34, W80dual, W87dual), I think I can say I have built several 1000 models, some never made by anyone before. Nor have I ever made any attempt to preserve them, store them or save them. They are only paper, so the colors fade. In storage they get damaged or thrown out. So I just keep making new ones. I have often been asked: Why not use more permanent materials? Good. Others do that, but it’s not for me. I have made some attempts at building models with wooden craft sticks, but I soon gave up. I know a lot can be done with Zome and Polydron and other commercial products, but these can be expensive to buy and not always easy to use. Paper is cheap and for me easy to use. So that remains my choice. I use only scissors to cut pieces which I call nets. Complete instructions on following my methods for preparation and assembly of nets for making models can be found in the Introduction to my NCTM booklet “Polyhedron Models for the Classroom”. My file cabinet is full of file folders in which I have saved work papers with nets and drawings done by hand, now no longer needed, since for me all this is now done by Great Stella. What about tabs? That all depends on what works best for making the model. Mostly I prefer tabs all around a net, the double tab method. But sometimes it is better to use only a single tab which is glued under the adjoining piece. Other times, but not often, I use the tongue and groove method. This means the double tabs are left outside along some edges of the net and turned inside on edges to which they must be attached. Very tricky. Only trial and error will reveal the best kind of tabs to be used. How do I determine which is tongue and which is groove? Well, that’s where the art comes in for this kind of craft work. The same is true in answer to the question: How should the last piece be put in. This is also very tricky. For W34 I leave tabs all around the bottom of the five-facet nets, all of one color or of five different colors. The long spikes are all closed, and these are not too difficult to glue together by double tab method. I have learned by trial and error that it is best to leave the last spike open along the long edge of the net. Then start gluing the bottom tabs, one tab at a time, to the tabs still visible on the model. When the glue has done its job on four facets of the open spike, then the last tab on the bottom and the long tab on the spike can more easily be done together to close the model. That’s it! I definitely feel that making polyhedron models belongs in the category of Arts and Crafts. So how do you teach art as well as craft? Well, it really cannot be taught. Ask a painter: how did you paint that picture? Ask a musician: how did you compose the music for that symphony? Gustav Mahler was once asked that. His reply was: “Creative activity and the genesis of a work are mystical from start to finish, since one acts unconsciously, as if prompted from outside, and then one can hardly conceive how the result has come into being.” I believe that all arts and crafts give the artist and crafts person the sense of being a participant in the creative power of God..

Magnus

User avatar
robertw
Site Admin
Posts: 676
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: How to Build a Polyhedron Model

Post by robertw » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:03 am

Hey Magnus, great to have you onboard :D
Magnus Wenninger wrote:How should the last piece be put in. This is also very tricky. For W34 I leave tabs all around the bottom of the five-facet nets, all of one color or of five different colors. The long spikes are all closed, and these are not too difficult to glue together by double tab method. I have learned by trial and error that it is best to leave the last spike open along the long edge of the net. Then start gluing the bottom tabs, one tab at a time, to the tabs still visible on the model. When the glue has done its job on four facets of the open spike, then the last tab on the bottom and the long tab on the spike can more easily be done together to close the model. That’s it!
I still haven't got around to making my own model of W34, although I have had some nets printed out for some time. Stella users can see this model by typing Ctrl+N followed by "W34" and Enter.

I've often does as you suggest for a final spike in similar cases, but sometimes after the first tab around the base, it's hard to do the rest nicely. It's hard to get tweezers in there to hold the tabs together, and the manouvering has often resulted in the first tab pulling apart again.

I plan a different approach. I made a polyhedron in Stella to represent just one spike of the model:

Image Stella users, click here for .stel file

I'll make 12 of these spikes, leaving out the blue pentagon at the bottom. The red faces are the faces that will be visible in a completed W34 model. The yellow faces are used to glue the tabs together. This has two advantages. (1) The yellow parts will give each spike and the model as a whole more rigidity, and (2) since the yellow parts are rigid, not bendable like normal tabs, the final spike can be slotted in and will hold in place without any need to squeeze the tabs together from the inside.

It's a little extra work I guess, but I don't plan to make 100 of this model :)

Rob.

User avatar
marcelteun
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:07 am
Location: Sweden, Europe
Contact:

Post by marcelteun » Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:36 pm

Edited my previous post: Chromolux is 250 gsm. It is available in 20 colours, which include silver, gold, white and black.
Last edited by marcelteun on Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Ulrich
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:08 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by Ulrich » Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:13 am

I'm using white paper with a weight of 80g/m². This I cut with scissors or knives. I make single tabs which I glue with UHU. The kind of bottle which I prefer has a very fine beak to spread the glue directly on the tab. Sometimes I still use wooden toothpicks for this purpose. Since this UHU hardens very fast, I have to press the two pieces whith tweezers for a few seconds only. It is possible to connect two pieces without tabs, even two vertex-points. The glue doesn't form threads and it hardens colourless and transparent. Unfortunately it contains volatile organic solvents.

Ulrich
Last edited by Ulrich on Fri May 16, 2008 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
oxenholme
Posts: 83
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:32 am
Location: North West England

Post by oxenholme » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:47 am

Material - 160gsm coloured card (I have about 30 colours)
Adhesive - Balsa Cement
Scoring - I draw the net with a 9H pencil
Cutting out - Stanley knife
Tabs - double tabs

I tend to make a template on thicker card.

I staple together several sheets of 160gsm and pinprick through with an old compass point. I then draw the nets with the 9H pencil, pressing on fairly hard, and cut out using the Stanley knife.

User avatar
marcelteun
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:07 am
Location: Sweden, Europe
Contact:

Post by marcelteun » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:46 pm

I considered squeezing layers together a long time ago, but I was a bit afraid that this would be too inaccurate, in case you don't keep your needle or knife straight.
Do you experience problem with imprecision?
How many layers (more or less) do you put together?
Do you use a special stapler for heavy duty?
How much time do you think win compared to using scissors? (Let's say on a scale of 5, where 0 means that you don't win time,.... and -1 if you loose time :wink: )

Myself I thought I wouldn't win so much time, but perhaps I am wrong and it would be a good idea to change....

Sorry for all this curiosity ;)

piotr
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:06 pm
Location: Kluczbork, Poland

Post by piotr » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:19 pm

I make my models from 160 g paper (about 20 colours aviable). It is the haviest paper accepted by my printer. I use a knife and a steel ruler to cut the pieces. I most models I don't use tabs - I glue edge to edge. It is a good way for the small models. In bigger I use single tabs. Sometimes I give some extra internal support.

User avatar
robertw
Site Admin
Posts: 676
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Post by robertw » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:31 am

piotr wrote:I most models I don't use tabs - I glue edge to edge.
I'm amazed this works. It always seems like such models would fall apart far more easily, and that excess glue would be a problem on the outside of the model. But you've made models far more complex than mine, so I guess it must work!

Can you tell us anything else about it? What kind of glue do you use? How do you apply it? Do you need a fair amount of glue to make a lasting connection given that parts are only connected along such a thin edge?

Thanks,
Rob.

User avatar
Nordehylop
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:04 pm
Location: Illinois, USA
Contact:

Post by Nordehylop » Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:22 pm

Paper: 65 pound acid free card stock (sorry, I'm not used to the metric system!)
Glue: Aleene's Tacky Glue. It dries faster than ordinary Elmers glue.
Tools:
X-acto knife
Sheet of old balsa wood that I cut slices out of for glue spreading
Large needle hot-glued onto an old pencil (for hole poking)
Push tack for scoring (so as to prolong the life of the needle)
Vacuum cleaner (for obvious reasons)
I use double tabs for obtuse angles and single tabs for acute angles.
Ulrich, your models are amazing! Do you just cut out patterns on the faces of the models, or what?

What does everyone else use for hole poking? I go through needles pretty fast, and I'm pretty sick of hot gluing them to sticks...
It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

User avatar
robertw
Site Admin
Posts: 676
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Post by robertw » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:21 am

Nordehylop wrote:Paper: 65 pound acid free card stock (sorry, I'm not used to the metric system!)
And my understanding is that it's not easy to convert between the two because the metric system measure the weight per square metre (sensible) whereas the imperial system measure the weight of the original ream the paper came from or something like that (crazy :roll:). So the measurement is meaningless unless you know how big the original ream was before the paper was cut down to size. At least I think that's roughly how it works, can anyone confirm?
What does everyone else use for hole poking? I go through needles pretty fast, and I'm pretty sick of hot gluing them to sticks...
I don't do much hole punching. Stella prints all the nets for me, and directly onto the paper I use to construct the model, so no need for copying nets manually.

I do use a long needle for scoring though. Doll-making needles are 18cms long, so no need to glue it to a stick.

Rob.

User avatar
Ulrich
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:08 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by Ulrich » Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:19 am

Nordehylop wrote: Ulrich, your models are amazing! Do you just cut out patterns on the faces of the models, or what?
Thanks. My models are piles of stellations from the core to the final shape. Into each one I cut holes to look through. I do this to show how the faces run through the final model. You can't see this in a model showing only the surface.

Ulrich

Post Reply