Does any one know what kind of card they could be talking about? and what thickness?
Im looking at this site
http://modelrailroadlayoutsandscenery.com/railroad_shak.html
A good starting point is 65lb card stock or cover stock (about .009 in. thick), 90lb index stock (about .0075 in. thick), 110 lb card/index stock (think 3x5 index card). For reference 20lb copy paper is about .004 in. thick.
What you need depends on what part of the structure you are printing/building; of course the weight you chose also depends on what your printer can handle.
An alternative is to print on photo paper or presentation paper and then glue the resulting pages to sheet styrene, a technique used by Lance Mindheim (see MRH January 2012 issue) and also Paul Dolkos (see MR May 2012 issue.
Which glue would you use for each of these two methods?
Bruce
Mindheim suggests 3M Super 77 spray adhesive (also seen the recommendation elsewhere). It does grab immediately, so you have to be careful when laying the paper on plastic.
Dolkos uses white glue or glue sticks in his construction. I’ve used white glue and Modge Podge (a type of mat medium) with some success but I think the spray adhesive approach is best for the large areas.
Alan
I used Elmer’s rubber cement to assemble one of those. If you spread it thinly on both surfaces and let it dry, it will act like contact cement. The nice thing about rubber cement is that any excess ooze can be rubbed right off when dry. Lots of people use it to simulate paint worn off siding.
I use Aileen’s tacky glue for gluing paper to anything. It’s a craft store item, and really inexpensive. While you’re at the craft store, you could also look at thin balsa wood sheets as an alternative to cardstock or styrene.
White glue tends to soak through the paper, and if you use an inkjet printer like most of us, it will cause the ink to darken and run. Aileen’s, for whatever reason, doesn’t do that. It takes a while to set up, so you have some working time and you don’t have to be perfect the first time like with spray-on contact adhesives.
It’s also a great adhesive for putting down figures. It holds well, but if you need to move the figure it will separate with a bit of care and not leave feet glued to the pavement.
I make my own buildings on heavy card stock. Use wood bracing to help keeping warpage. Here is some of my building flats.
There’s some info on the subject HERE
Wayne
Eh? You cannot compare the pound weight of paper to the pound weight of index. The reason, the weight in pounds if for a ream (500) sheets of full size stock. But a full size sheet of paper is about twice the size of a full sheet of index. Ergo, they may be measured in pounds but you are measuring two different things.
ROAR
Which is why I offered up several alternatives for the OP to consider. Given issues with printing really thick or stiff stock in inkjet printers, I think the photo paper on substrate (either styrene or wood) is a better alternative (and sturdier).
Alan
Some boards in foreign lands have whole FORUMs on the topic, with many different takes and threads. You may have to convert the UKian products to USian equivalents in some cases, and also they tend to use standard measurements like millimetres, millilitres, and grammes/square metre (gsm) as oppose to the quarter cubits and 1/32 hogsheads measures that remain popular here.
Glue stick (UHU - available in the US) seems to be the most popular approach there to making the printed paper stick to the card (and stay there for years), and what I plan to use when I get around to assembling the free Scale Scenes “low-relief” wharehouse (they also have a free small freight station and an inspection pit - plus many reasonably priced prints if you llike them).
My daughter put a couple together using cereal boxes and rubber cement. They look great and have survived a lot of abuse. Those paper structures are great for beefing up a photo scene.
Brent[C):-)]
My layout contains structures printed on photo paper and glued to cereal box cardboard and styrene. I used ordinary old white glue for both applications. In both cases, the paper had a tendency to shrink slightly when it dried, so I used both styrene and stripwood to reinforce the long sides.
I have also used 3M spray adhesive, which works well and does not have the shrinking problem. However, with this method I had trouble controlling where the adhesive went, so it was significantly messier.
A really good card stock is either Bristol Board or Strathmore board, both available at art/craft stores. It is more expensive than other card stock materials but so much better. Take a look at some next time you are in Hobby Lobby, Michaels or ???. It comes in many thicknesses, but not something you can put in your printer. As mentioned elsewhere, use some 1/8" square wood strips to keep the structure from twisting or warping.
-Bob
I remember reading to use rubber cement on the cut out instructions. It said some glues may cause paper to distort. Whatever that means. [*-)]
Brent[C):-)]
While card stock would be my first choice, other options would be either poster board or for a stiffer choice, photographic mount board. Photographic mounting board is usually several plies of a paperboard known in the trade as “solid bleached sulfite” or SBS board. Plan on adding interior bracing on any single ply stock that you might use.
I do not like the 3-M 77 spray, as it is often messy and like rubber cement, has a lot of solvent as a carrier for the sticky stuff. Check out the glues in the scrapbook departments of stores like Hobby Lobby, Joannes, or Micheal’s. These products are designed to bond paper products without warping the paper. Read and follow product directions, and you will have nice looking paperbopard structures.
Don H.
The cardstock required would be something like that used in cereal or saltine boxes. In fact, for small structures, a cereal box or saltine box (or equivalent) would probably contain enough material, saving the need for some ‘store-boughten’ product.
If you have to use factory fresh material, Office Depot and other similar emporia have boxed card stock - enough to build a major part of Staten Island for less than $10. I, personally, use it for making track templates.
No matter what card stock you use, it would be a good idea to strengthen all right-angle corners with square wood.
Chuck (Modeing Central Japan in September, 1964)
Why in the world would you want to do that? It’s almost as bad as modeling Newark NJ[:D]
Well, I couldn’t say Da Bronx with a straight face.
Actually, hydrocal castings would be needed for the county courthouse and my alma mater (Bronx HS of Science, when it was in the original DeWitt Clinton HS building.)
Chuck (Ex-Bronxite modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I generally don 't have good luck with rubber cement. It tends to peel up after a while.