To model railroaders who’ve never built a model out of paper and cardstock, they may not know the advantages of paper modeling, so I thought I’d share a few bits.
- Cost: Paper and cardstock modeling of railroad buildings and structures is the ultimate in low cost. It hearkens back to the early days when modelers would build structures from what could be found around the house. With paper modeling the kits are very inexpensive, paper is inexpensive, and cardstock could be either purchased or re-purposed from cereal boxes.
- Time: Although it takes more time during the build process to construct a paper model, it is less time to finish than plastic kit models. The reason is a paper model is already “painted” while plastic kits need priming and finishing with paint and decals which is quite time-consuming and requires an artistic hand to do it well. Also, purchasing the paper model kit does not require the time to drive to the hobby shop (though who doesn’t like going to the hobby shop?).
- Completed Model: Cardstock and paper models can look every bit as great as craftsman wood and plastic models. Whether using a kit or scratch building with texture prints, the realism and fine detail of the images on printed paper just can’t be duplicated by hand. Completed railroad paper structures look terrific.
If you are considering building in paper try our free Loading Dock kit. It is quick to build (and the more you build the faster you’ll get!) and is a great introduction to making paper and cardstock buildings and structures for model railroads.
