Dinosaur cardboard models (Pinoart Tyrannosaurus skull by Katsuyuki Shiga)

[brontodocus]

Hi altogether, as some of you might know I'm a little into cardboard modelling - the only thing that distracts me about it is that there are just too many military related models for my taste. Dinosaurs or other prehistoric animals are sadly underrepresented, although some exist, even some free ones (some of them are e.g. in my collection thread, e.g. here)...

Okay, okay, but what I really want to show here is that one of my favourite cardboard model designers, the artist Johan Scherft from the Netherlands, who designed some of the finest bird models I've ever seen (see the ones I've assembled so far here) very recently released his first dinosaur kit, a full scale Microceratus a.k.a. Microceratops!


You can buy a digital copy (for just €5) here:
http://www.johanscherft.com/microceratops.html
He accepts bank transfer, credit card and Paypal payments and there are no shipping costs, obviously.

Instead of templates made by photoshop the textures of the model were exclusively handpainted by him, scale for scale.

The model templates consist of six A4 sheets which should be printed on 120 g/sqm paper. You'll then have to print these out, cut and assemble them (it's recommended to paint the otherwise disturbingly white cutting edges in the same basic colour as the model with colouring pencils or water colour) using white glue. For those who are interested but never built a cardboard model before, you could also practice on easier (though probably also cheesier) free models you can find on the internet. But on the other hand, if you really mess up a part you could still print it out again so there's no risk to it, anyways.

Of course I'd like to support Johan Scherft's cardboard modelling (I've also notified him I'd post a link here ) and wish him the success his artwork deserves. And I hope that this is just the beginning of further releases of dinosaur (or other prehistoric animal) models by him. Yes, how unselfish of me...

EDIT: And just when you think that's all - there's also this cute free downloadable JP-style Deinonychus hatchling finger puppet. Oh boy, Watch it and don't forget saying "awww" - I did, for sure!

[brontodocus]

Oh, I thought I should also post a photo of Johan Scherft's raptor hatchling from his facebook page:



Cute, isn't it? And thankfully he provides it as a free download here!

[CityRaptor]

Those look pretty good, but sadly I'm terrible with Cardboard models. So for me the Microceratus would be a waste of money.

[brontodocus]

Well, the Deinonychus hatchling is free and probably a good model to start with!
Plus there's also a youtube manual (in two parts) Johan Scherft just published...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BukWJ75ToN4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1BHjOjEQQ

[postsaurischian]

   Wow! Johan Scherft is a cool artist!
They way he displays his birds is aesthetically smashing ! I'm getting weak.
Especially the colours are exceptionally well done!

  ....... I even like the boats at the end of the papercraft models page .

[brontodocus]

Yes, he did these to observe light and perspective for his paintings. He also made several huge charcoal drawings of prehistoric mammals, recently (Mammoth, Andrewsarchus, Gigantopithecus)!
And of course I'll post photos of the Microceratus here once I got mine and built it!

[Himmapaan]

I'm surprised there is not more enthusiasm for these here. I would have supposed the artists and artisans on the forum would have leapt at them. Looks like it's just the three of us. 

[brontodocus]

I'm quite sure there are more members interested than would comment now. I have a few people in mind who may just not be here at the moment. Besides, I believe there are quite a few cardboard modellers (their community isn't that small, after all, thanks to the internet) who are not genuinely into dinosaurs but who will acquire these models, too. I'll keep my fingers crossed that he gets the success he deserves and I'll surely get every dinosaur kit he'll ever publish.

[Dr. Brad]

Okay, I'll reply! Those look great! I've built a few cardboard models for my kids over the years, and they can be pretty cool! They're great just to have, or even for school projects. And yes, his are terrific. They really seem well thought out! And the price is reasonable!

[brontodocus]

Yesterday I've finished building the "Microceratops" paper model. It's approx. 605 mm long and 200 mm high at the top of the frill.


A few more photos of it here.

The fit of parts is perfect (while he just started designing dinosaur paper models, Johan Scherft has a long experience in designing paper models of birds). I made very minor modifications, i.e. shortening the long claws and and reducing the lengths of manual digits IV and V (originally, they were all equally long with a long claw). The model can stand on its own after I've put some epoxy putty into the feet (and a very small piece for balance into the tail) but the model's instructions suggest to have it permanently glued to cardboard or a wooden board. The buildup took me a little longer than expected (my estimate is around 10 hours altogether) because unfortunately my local copy shop printed the templates on semi glossy paper which is less easy to glue than more porous, matte paper (unfortunately my own laser colour printer cannot print on 120g paper ). So I had to reinforce most of the glued tabs by overglueing them from the inside which probably added some two or three hours to the work.

Up next (but give me a few weeks) will be the Pinoart dinosaur skull paper models by Katsuyuki Shiga (Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Styracosaurus, I guess all are in the 1/7th to 1/8th scale range, and with many thanks and my best greetings to Helge ) - well, as long as nobody else has a prehistoric animal paper model to post in the meantime.

[DC]

I am impressed must take some fine motor skills.

[brontodocus]

The process of assembling such a kit is not as hard as it may seem (but some practice is definitely recommended), the whole templates consist of just 27 parts of which 14 belong to the hand and feet. To design such a model is something different, though (I've tried it several years ago but never painted the prototype). In the case of Johan Scherft's models, every scale (or every feather barb on his bird models) is hand painted. It's amazing to see the design process - he has uploaded a video that shows the construction of his freely available European Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-XzzrOUla4

[brontodocus]

Oh, I've just found a free downloadable paper model of a JP Operation Genesis Tyrannosaurus rex. I've heard that three or four people here actually like JP... The model looks quite good:


Together with its base the templates consist of 12 pages A4 and I've counted 124 parts. The file format is *.pdo which can only be opened and printed with either Pepakura Designer or Pepakura Viewer. And of course you're supposed to cut out the cusps of the teeth once the model is assembled.

[Jetoar]

Ohh amazing carboard model. Thanks for your share  .

[CityRaptor]

Thanks for sharing! Given my luck with cardboard models, I think I think I should first improve my skills with the free ones, which are already pretty awesome.

[DC]

Koreansaurus by Olive studios makes 2 sets of 3D paper models mostly asian dinosaurs.

[attachment msg=21403][/attachment]

[brontodocus]

These look a lot easier, of course. Unfortunately that's also the problem I have with them: They are 3d puzzles, so they'd be comparable to e.g. Puzz 3d and the like, which is actually quite different from cardboard models. I've seen the kit on ebay, btw, the seller friendino78 has them, he (or she?) also offers some large cardboard models, among others there is an 80 cm long Brachiosaurus that looks quite interesting (albeit a little too "polygonal" - neck and tail seem to have a hexagonal diameter - for my taste).

[DC]

I got them for the display back dropsto use with dioramas.  Your easy still seems hard to me.

[Primeval12]

Do you need special paper for this?

[Jetoar]

My friends and I would like to do tthe JPOG Tyrannosaurus  .