Space shuttle Atlantis in 1/96th scale

Wilbur Wright wrote:

That's incredible! It looks better than my Revell Discovery. How did you get the 3d effect on the silver (wiring?)things on the exhaust bells? Is ink smudge ever a problem? Very impressive job, I've always wondered about card models.

Sorry for the delay in replying, and thanks, all, for the kind words.

As for the SSME nozzles.... They're made out of two types of metallic paper -- one is called "Anthracite" and the other is just called "silver." The nozzle body is made out of two truncated cones made from the Anthracite paper, which is a dark metallic color. The plumbing and "hatbands" (the latitudinal pieces) are made out of the silver paper. I laminated a double thickness of the paper (by simply gluing two long pieces of the paper together) and then when it was dry, I cut it into long, thin strips. I gave them a bit of curl by drawing them against the edge of my knife, then began gluing them to the SSME body. There are eight hatbands per SSME. After they were glued on, I used straight portions of the thin strips to make the plumbing.

Ink smudging is generally not a problem, but it depends on the paper. Some cardmodelers seal their ink by overspraying the page with a clear gloss or clear flat covering; they make sprays that don't cause inks to run.

I gave up styrene for cardmodeling about six or seven years ago. Everything made of plastic was just getting too expensive and with all the resin and PE accessories out there, it just seemed like there wasn't much challenge left in building a model. Card modeling now provides that challenge for me, and there are some great designers producing some eye-popping models. In fact, if you check out http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165393 and you'll see that one guy is designing and offering a 1/48th-scale XB-70. The same guy designed a 1/32nd-scale X-15A-2 that is simply amazing and has detail that rivals what you're going to find in plastic. And at $8, his X-15A-2 is a heck of a lot less expensive than the plastic offering. You can find photos of the finished card X-15A-2 here: http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=163586&page=11

The thing about card modeling is you can still do all the scratchbuilding and super-detailing you want. My shuttle ET and SRBs were largely scratchbuilt, and the shuttle required a lot of super-detailing. That said, there are many card models out there (and the X-15A-2 is one such example) that are pretty complete.

And, of course, if you screw up a part, you just print out a new one....

That's incredible! It looks better than my Revell Discovery.

How did you get the 3d effect on the silver (wiring?)things on the exhaust bells?

Is ink smudge ever a problem?

Very impressive job, I've always wondered about card models.

The monster is finally done.... Atlantis, the External Tank and the Solid Rocket Boosters are now all done and mated and sitting on my shelf. Photos are here:

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc91/dhanners/Atlantis/

For some of the photos, I posed the shuttle stack with a card model of the Energia/Buran, also in 1/96th scale. 

I did a quick count and I used 11 different types of paper on the Orbiter, eight different types on the ET and nine on the SRBs. While I used bits and pieces of various shuttle/ET/SRB models available online, I used only two parts that weren't altered in some way -- the shuttle's nosecap and the interior of the SRB nozzles. It was a major exercise in scratchbuilding, to say the least. 

I've added photos of the completed External Tank (I may make a tweak here and there, but it is mostly done....) I used a rust-orange textured craft paper for the body, and all the rest is paper, except for a couple of small pieces of basswood. The thing is about 95-percent scratchbuilt.

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc91/dhanners/Atlantis/

Now it's on to the solids....