Solid; not wood, but a wood product.

[Mark Crowel]

Considering that I've been around for more than a year, I should post more often.  I do have many of my car models on our Members' Gallery under "Mark Crowel's Gallery".

The automobile models I have entered on the Gallery are made from layers of corrugated cardboard glued side by side to form a solid structure.  I've always enjoyed working with cardboard, and for me it is an inexpensive and easy to use alternative to wood.

The photos show the type of construction I use.  The model in progress is a 1963 Studebaker Avanti.  There are also photos of a previously completed Avanti, built by the same method.

[cliff strachan]

Very impressive, Mark. An interesting medium for construction.
Cliff.

[lastvautour]

How do you seal the end of the cardboard?
As per Cliff's comment, a different medium I have not tried yet myself.
Lou

[Mark Crowel]

Sealing the end of the cardboard (the "flutes" of the corrugation) is done by spreading Elmer's Glue-All evenly over the surface of a lightweight (cereal box type) cardboard strip, then placing that strip glue-side down over the fluted surface, holding it in place for about 15-30 seconds.  This provides a smooth surface over which the colored paper is then glued.

[Mark Crowel]

Here is an example of what I wrote about in my previous post, regarding the covering of the fluted edges of the corrugated pieces.  The parts shown below are from a different model than those shown above.

[Oceaneer99]

Interesting technique, Mark.  Many years ago, I built a simple "Star Destroyer" like in Star Wars.  I either used corrugated cardboard or foam-core board covered with Bristol board.  But it was definitely more boxy than the work you've done!

[Mark Crowel]

Thank you, gentlemen, for your encouraging compliments.  

[Mark Crowel]

I am applying this method to a 1964 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk I am now building.  This time, I am trying to build the car's shape more accurately.  In these photos, you see the car's side "pontoon".

To get the curve along the door sill and rocker panel, and the vertical bow in the pontoon's cross section, I used corrugated panels of differently graduated sizes layered and glued together.  Then, using my thumbnail, flattened their edges, to provide curvature and a glueing surface for the lightweight cardboard covering. 

For the silver-coated cardboard trim strip that follows the length of the sill line, a silver strip was glued to the top edge of each side of a piece of construction paper, which was then glued between the pontoon's two middle layers of corrugated cardboard.

The real car has a compound curve along the length of its side, so I used a curved plank of lightweight cardboard for the upper portion, and a larger piece of lightweight cardboard for the lower section.  The rocker is a simple curve, so I just rounded the cardboard along the bottom.

[dave_t]

Looking forward to seeing how this technique works out. I have found there are few, if any, straight lines on cars.

[Mark Crowel]

I'm hoping that I'll be proud of the results.  I'm working on a more advanced level than I usually do.

[Mark Crowel]

Now for the corrugated cardboard hood structure, over which the lightweight cardboard covering will be shaped.  I want to appproximate the Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk's compound curves. 

[Balsabasher]

I love to see techniques like this used,and scrap matertials are always best as you get a buzz out of creating something,I once built a Junkers Ju.52 3/m from nothing more than cereal box card and strips of balsa glued inside the edges to butt up to,the whole lot was sprayed grey primer and German markings added with black indian ink,the cockpit was a framework made from toothpicks covered in cellophane from sweet wrappers shrunk up with water plus the undercarriage legs as well,the wheel spats were blue foam carved and teated with thinned down PVA adhesive like your Elmars which we do not get in the UK,the props were laminations of card held with elastic bands over a balsa form as they dried out,the helical pitch looked really good especially once painted with silver enamel.
Sadly the model got stolen from a table top display when I turned my back for five minutes to get my sandwiches from the car,so someone must have thought it was good enough ! I will make another one day along similar lines,at 1=48th scale t looked impressive.
Barry.

[Mark Crowel]

Barry, the kind of building you did is the real heart of what model building is all about.  60-plus years ago, that's what you did if you wanted a model of something: took what ever you had and made whatever you wanted.

Thank you for your post.

[Balsabasher]

And our type of model building is cheap to do,we can spend what we save on really good tools to build more models,just look at the way plastic kit prices have rocketed in recent years,for one kit I can build several solids to my own choice of subject and scale.
I think the answer is to experient,I built a Kalanin Russian bomber,it had blue foam wings sanded down,then they were coated all over with Polyfiller and anded to a glass finish prior to painting,the fuselage was made from an offcut of Jabroc that the local model railway shop owner gave me,the tail fins were made from a discarded bathboard made from thick plastic,the struts were lollypop sticks sanded to aerofoil shape and the wheels came from a cheap supermarket toy car,the model looked impressive.
The model was mounted on a pole attached to my shed at the time which was my workshop,it lasted three years before being wrecked one night in a storm,it literally detached itself and flew off smashing against the ground.
Barry.

[Mark Crowel]

Each of your models has a story, making them more interesting.