1/1000 or 1/1200 Card Buildings

[Volunteer]

Greetings All,

I know I haven't participated in the forum for a long while. My lame excuse is in my other post about scratch building. With that out of the way, I will move on with something I think some of you may be able to make use of in the game.

I was surfing through Pinterest for ship plans when a few card ships popped up, Once I clicked on them a whole new world of card models started showing up. Every one I clicked on brought more. Including buildings. All of the buildings I have bought for my 1/1200 scale terrain have been rather expensive. I wondered if I could possibly shrink down a card building small enough to work with my ships, and still be able to put it together in a decent amount of time and look good enough for the table. So I tried it and I think this is going to work.

I downloaded the following two jpeg sheets from Pinterest. Then I inserted them both, along with several others, into a Microsoft Word document. I took measurements of several of my 1/1200 Langton buildings and came up with approximately 5 millimeters per story. I shrunk these photos down to approximately 1/1200 size then printed the sheet out on paper first to check the size. Last I printed it out on 110 lb card stock.

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Cutting out the now tiny pieces was fiddly, but using a small pair of scissors and a sharp xacto knife I got it done. Figuring out where all of the little pieces went was another thing entirely. I believe I mostly got everything where it was supposed to go but I did have to improvise a bit in a couple of places. Here is the result mounted on a large washer.

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Here are a few individual buildings I completed before attempting the more difficult one above:

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I have decided this is a very economical way to make buildings for my scale, and there are so many. I hit a bonanza when I found http://papermau.blogspot.com/
I now have card Vauban forts, castle keeps, castle/fortified towns, whole villages, farms, etc. That's just Europe.I also now have Middle Eastern, North African, Japanese fortifications and buildings. All can be reduced to 1/1200 or 1/1000 scale and be built. Here are some samples:

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This photo is one of them at a large 28MM scale. I actually think they look better at the smaller scales, harder to see they are paper.

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I hope someone of you can use this idea.

Cheers!

[Nightmoss]

Awesome, Vol. Thanks for the information, links and photos. What was the actual reduction in MS Word to get you to 1/1200? It certainly would be easy enough to print out test sheets on regular paper and then go for the heavier stock paper when you got the right size.

This certainly opens up a new world of building options at an inexpensive level. :thumbsup:

[Bligh]

I'm sure we can all use it thanks Vol.
Another ace idea. Especially useful for the bombarded Citadel after the attack situations. Cardstock semi destroyed walls and burnt out buildings. Ideal for shows as extra bling.
Rob.

[Capn Duff]

Very neat, thanks for posting the info

[Volunteer]

Awesome, Vol. Thanks for the information, links and photos. What was the actual reduction in MS Word to get you to 1/1200? It certainly would be easy enough to print out test sheets on regular paper and then go for the heavier stock paper when you got the right size.

This certainly opens up a new world of building options at an inexpensive level. :thumbsup:

Hello Jim,
I just used the ruler tool at the top of the Microsoft Word document to measure approximately a less than 5MM per floor when shrinking the embedded templates. I did in fact use your test sheet idea to make sure before wasting a sheet of card.

[Volunteer]

Here is the fortress redoute I completed this morning:

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[Nightmoss]

Hello Jim,
I just used the ruler tool at the top of the Microsoft Word document to measure approximately a less than 5MM per floor when shrinking the embedded templates. I did in fact use your test sheet idea to make sure before wasting a sheet of card.

Thanks Vol. I'm going to have to try this out; sooner than later I think. :salute:

[Volunteer]

Thanks Vol. I'm going to have to try this out; sooner than later I think. :salute:

More than welcome Jim. I think I'm going to try a small Spanish castle next.

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[Bligh]

Very impressive Vol.
Mounted and in situe it looks just the job.
It would be a very nice addition to the seascape at shows as well.
Rob.

[Nightmoss]

That Spanish castle is quite nice. I may go looking for some pirate stuff to go along with the Black Pearl? :wink:

Having these paper constructs would be great for shows as Rob stated. Not only do they look to go together quickly, but they're lightweight and if damaged or destroyed can be replaced quickly and without huge costs of money and/or time?

[Volunteer]

That Spanish castle is quite nice. I may go looking for some pirate stuff to go along with the Black Pearl? :wink:

Having these paper constructs would be great for shows as Rob stated. Not only do they look to go together quickly, but they're lightweight and if damaged or destroyed can be replaced quickly and without huge costs of money and/or time?

Exactly my thoughts! And there are hundreds, if not more, of different designs. Villages, churches, fortifications, castles, palaces, wind & water mills, Martello Towers, and on and on. I never much cared for card models for 15MM and 28MM scales because they looked like paper, you could see all of the flaws and smooth detail. But at these smaller scales they look really good. And you are correct, they take very little time to put together, that is once you've figured out where everything goes of course. That can be a challenge.

[Hjl]

I'm going to make some of these.

[Volunteer]

I just made this one in a couple of hours

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[Bligh]

Starting to look like a very hard nut to crack Vol.
those buildings are superb for card models.
I can see what you mean by shrinking them down makes them look more realistic.
Rob.

[Hjl]

I never put much stock in card buildings, but these look really good.

[Nightmoss]

Vol, these models continue to amaze and the additional scenic work you're doing is just as cool. :thumbsup:

[Diamondback]

The French government had some papermodels of various historic Vauban forts that I saw somewhere, some of which might be adaptable to SGN...

--Arras - Porte Royale 1:150
--Besancon - Citadelle Arsenal 1:230
--Blaye Citadel - Porte Royale 1:180
--Briancon - Ville Haute 1:1250
--Cameret-sur-Mer - Tour Doree 1:300
--Cussac-Fort Medoc - Porte Royale 1:150
--St-Vaast-la-Hogue - Tour 1:125
--Longwy - Hotel de Ville & Tribunal Attenant 1:150
--Mont-Dauphin - Lunette d'Arcon 1:500
--Neuf-Brisach - Front Bastionne 1:800
--St-Martin-de-Re - Citadelle 1:750
--Tour de Tatihou 1:125
--Villefranche-de-Conflent - Enciente Fortifiee 1:1000
Bear in mind, I have no idea where the hell any of these locations are and I'm lucky if I can read two words of French on a GOOD day...

I'll see if I can find the source site again and add a link.
EDIT:
Link is http://www.sites-vauban.org/Kits-decoupage,997

Sites (models) of concern to us are only St-Vaast-la-Hogue, Blaye, Cussac-Fort-Medoc, St-Martin-de-Re and Camaret-sur-Mer.

[Bligh]

Another very good find DB.

Rob.

[Volunteer]

I do have a couple of vaubon fort templates. I am at work now and they are on my computer at home, so it will be a couple of weeks before I could post them. Sorry.