Here's what I call a good idea - cardboard kits for ISO shipping containers. Scalescenes have been producing kits for several years and while I've looked at them before, these really grabbed my imagination.
For those not familiar with the company, they sell you a PDF file for £3.99 which you print, stick to card and build. There are excellent instructions provided and best of all, because you own the file, you can print off as many copies as you like for your own use. Want to add an extra wing to a building ? No problem, just run off a bit more kit.
The containers kit provides 21 different designs, a mix of 20 and 40 foot boxes. They all display realistic weathering, just like the real thing when in service.
Construction isn't too difficult. Print them out on normal paper, photo paper is too thick, and stick the appropriate parts to 2mm card (Daler Board) or 1mm card, or nothing at all. The instructions recommend a Pritt-Stick type glue for this. I put the parts together with Roket card glue and this worked well.
A couple of hints - get some black 1mm card as it saves colouring the edges. Also, score the folds when you have to wrap the printout around a piece of thick card. Square edges are important and this helps a lot.
While these kits are designed for railway modellers, boat enthusiasts who are building container ships will find them even more useful as you can print the kit at any size you require. Just the thing if you need a few hundred !
Visit the Scalescenes Website
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing this Phil: it's juat what I've been looking for as making 1:55 scale containers was beyond me.
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