Author Archives: Steve

Mocking Jay Pin

A couple months ago I saw the movie “The Hunger Games”. I enjoyed the movie and while digging around on the internet later I ran across pictures of the pin the main character wore. I thought it would be fun to try and make one using layers of paper to build it up. I used one of the pictures as the base and whipped up a pattern over the next couple days as a test.

Boxed set with pin

In the meantime I happened to be in the local Wal-Mart and saw this special boxed edition of the movie that came with a pin and just had to buy it.

The pin that came with the movie was somewhat different than the picture I had based my first version on, so I had to make another one using a photo of my new pin as the base. The results are shown below.

All in all they both turned out well, and both have their appeal. I’ve glued small, strong magnets to the back to use them as fridge magnets. The pin itself has been brushed with a brush on super glue (CA glue) to strengthen it. They are surprisingly tough.

Both versions are available in the downloads section. Enjoy, and if you make one please send me a picture of it. I love to see my work being made by others.


Pin from the boxed set (center) with my v1 (left) and v2 (right)

 

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Colonial Raptor Updated

Hey there Battlestar Galactica fans. This is just a quick note to let you know that Revell-Fan has updated some of the files for the Colonial Raptor. Apparently there were some extra glue tabs on a couple parts, and a texture problem in the Red Med-evac and Green versions of the raptor. The assembly instructions have been updated slightly as well, and a display stand has been added. The display stand is available in several color schemes, and a plain white version that you can get creative with. Make sure you only print the pages you need.

The BSG Fleet Page has been updated so if you download any of the files from there you will get the most recent version.

If you downloaded the Red or Green versions of the raptor prior to today (Sep 23/12) you can download the appropriate patch file here, or go to the fleet page and get a whole new package.

Patch file for Red Med-evac version

Patch file for Green version

 

Enjoy!

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Colonial Raptor by Revell-Fan

Raptor built by Revell-Fan

Raptor built by Revell-Fan

I’m very excited to announce this latest addition to the Battlestar Galactica Fleet – the Colonial Raptor. Revell-Fan has done a fantastic job developing this kit, and gone the extra mile to make it in four different color schemes. The desert camo scheme is shown here, and the kit is also available in gray, green, and med-evac red. Many thanks to Revell-Fan for another fine addition to the fleet.

Download yours from the Battlestar Galactica Fleet page.

Posted in Downloads, Paper Model, Sci-Fi | 1 Comment

Why Get It Free When You Can Pay For It?

It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do in order to scam other people out of their hard earned money. Take Alice for example. Have a look at these great looking models at Alice Papermodels.  A fine collection of Battlestar Galactica ships ranging in price from a mere $8.00 US to an impressive $79.00 US for this beautiful 3 foot Battlestar Galactica model.

Battlestar Galactica built by Stephen Irl

Battlestar Galactica built by Stephen Irl

Now, if you open that second link and compare the image to the one at right, even the most casual observer will notice a striking similarity. It is in fact an image copied (stolen) directly from this web site, advertising (for $79.00 US) the very model that you can download from here, FOR FREE! At least 13 of the FREE models you can get here are being sold on Alice’s site. In fact, I recognize many of the models there and would bet any amount that every single one has been pirated from some other designer on the internet.

This enterprising person is collecting FREE paper model kits from designers all over the world, and selling them for big bucks. I can only hope that the poor suckers who are interested in these models are smart enough to search around before they shell out their hard-earned money to crooks like Alice.

So, it’s up to you. You can go to my download page and get it for free, or you can go ask Alice and pay big bucks for the same thing. I wonder if she took the red pill or the blue pill?

 

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More Battlestar Galactica Greatness

This week brings some fantastic new additions to the Battlestar Galactica collection, courtesy of Marcell von dem Berge (Revell-Fan). The number of models Marcell is putting out is astounding, and the quality is always excellent. The most exciting addition is the Colonial Warrior Survival Pack. This is a must have collection that includes

Colonial Warrior Blaster by Revell-Fan

Colonial Blaster – A warriors best friend

  • Colonial Warrior Blaster
  • Radiatron
  • Languatron
  • Legboard-Computron
  • Solinite Charges
  • Colonial Cubits
  • Pyramid Card Game

Colonial Warrior Survival Pack

DrZ's Ship by Revell-Fan

DrZ’s Ship by Revell-Fan

Landram Chariot by ASC McLaren

Landram Chariot built by ASC McLaren

Not satisfied with that Marcell also adds the Landram Chariot in three sizes, and Dr Z’s Antigravity Ship.

Grab yours now from the BSG page

 

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Concorde Build

Recently some people I know commissioned me to build a model of the Concorde as a birthday gift for a friend of theirs. The picture below shows the completed model pasted into a nice sky background. The kit was designed by Ralph Currell and Erik Te Groen, and is available on Ralphs website.

The kit is designed so that it can be built in the flight configuration as I did, or with the nose down as it appeared for take off and landing, or even with landing gear for a ground display version. I had the patterns printed at Staples. The laser printing was perfect for this kit, giving the model a very nice finish.

The finished model now resides in England. Click the image below to see a couple more shots of the finished model, and check out these assembly images for an overview of the assembly process.

The finished Concorde now resides in England

The finished Concorde now resides in England

 

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European Robin

I recently finished this build of a model designed by Johan Scherft,  an artist who makes incredibly life-like models of birds by creating the shape in paper, then hand painting them. This particular model is available as a free download at origami-shop.com along with another of Johann’s earlier models, the Crested Tit.

Johan has a few other models you can download from his website, others that are available for purchase and the files are emailed to you, others as printed kits, and his completed models are offered for sale as well. I quite enjoyed building this one, and will definitely build others.

Below is a shot of the finished bird on a custom wood stand I made from scraps I had in the shop. It’s not the best build in the world, but from a distance it still looks great and I’m quite pleased with it.

European Robin

Completed European Robin Model

The entire model is layed out on a single A4 page, which I just printed to fit on letter sized. The only instructions are in the form of brief notes and a couple diagrams on the page, but at sixteen parts total, eight of which are toes, I found these to be sufficient.

For assembly I used joining strips rather than the tabs to get a smoother body. I’d like to go back and build it again, but next time I would edit the pattern to lighten the black cut lines. I didn’t worry about getting all of the line cut off, and in some areas the cuts are so fine it’s almost impossible, but the black of the lines show in the finished project. On the wings I did use the supplied glue tabs (with a little coloring along the borders) as this adds depth to the wing.

If you want a little more detail on the build I posted a longer version of this post in my favourite forum. Meanwhile click the image below for more pictures of the build process. Hope you enjoy the pictures, and I strongly urge you to check out the designers web site. You’ll be amazed at the work he does.

Parts Page

This is the parts page with the main body already cut out.

 

Hidden div for more pictures.

Main body under construction

This is the main body under construction, I used joining strips instead of the tabs.


One of the wings

This is one of the wings

Adding the toes

Adding the toes

European Robin

Completed European Robin Model

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Mohalia Madness

Back in December I made my first rendition of Ancella Simoe’s Mohalia, a modular origami model she created. Before I even finished it I knew I wanted to try creating some of my own papers to take full advantage of the design.

Ancella mentions in her blog post that the dahlia was her inspiration for the design, so I started with a Google image search. As usual this led from one place to another, to another,  and several hours later, when I finally managed to drag myself out of the web I had collected some very inspiring images to work from.

Eventually I got around to creating a couple patterns, testing and refining them. If I do say so myself they turned out extremely well, and everyone I’ve shown them to agrees.

Custom Mohalia Papers

Custom Mohalia Papers

 

 

Between folding and assembling my first four or five “flowers”, I had worked up a couple more patterns. However, I had also learned that it takes a couple hours to build the things.  I didn’t particularly want to waste time and money printing and folding patterns that I may not really like in the end.  So, I fired up my favourite 3D program (Metasequoia) and created a 3D model of a finished Mohalia flower. Now I can test my patterns by applying them to the model as a texture. To test and refine the model I applied my first couple patterns and compared to the actual finished product. As you can see from the images below it works pretty darn well (click the image for a larger view). While not perfect, the textured 3D model gives an excellent preview of what the finished product will look like.

Comparison-Moonfire

Moonfire Render compared to actual build

Comparison-JohnsDahlia

Johns Dahlia render compared to actual build

 

Below are some previews of other patterns I’ve created. When I get around to making the actual flowers I’ll post pictures of the finished items. In a future post I’ll show some of the images I used for inspiration, what the pattern piece looks like, and talk a bit about the process I used.

Enjoy!

Render-Burn

Render of custom pattern “Burn”

Render-Burn2

Render of custom pattern “Burn2″

 

 

Render-Pink Dahlia

Render of custom pattern Pink Dahlia

Render-Pink Dahlia2

Render of custom pattern Pink Dahlia2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BSG Landram & BSG 75 Emblem

Greetings everyone!

Landram built by Revell-Fan

Landram built by Revell-Fan

New from our friend Revell-Fan is the Landram, a troop transport/tank from the original Battlestar Galactica series. Available in three sizes, and in an alternate A-Team color scheme this model is sure to please all Battlestar Galactica fans.

Now available in the BSG Downloads.

Finished BSG 75 Emblem

Finished BSG 75 Emblem

Also new in the BSG Downloads is the Battlestar Galactica BSG 75 emblem. A must-have trinket for all BSG fans. Go get yours now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Berserk Battlestar Missing Instructions

It’s been brought to my attention that the Berserk Battlestar package I uploaded the other day was missing the instructions. I’ve uploaded a new zip file with everything in it and updated the link on the  Battlestar Galactica Fleet page.

If you downloaded that kit prior to today, please download it again to get the revised package.

Sorry about that!

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