Saturday, December 3, 2022

Paper Tigers





 Well, not so much paper as cardboard. During Covid I did a lot of ordering from Amazon and I duly cut up the boxes for recycling. Then I thought it might be an opportunity to make some things out of this free bounty of cardboard. I made terrain, rivers, bridges and such, buildings and the like. But I got bored. So I was flipping through the “Marshall Cavendish History of World War 2” (in 25 volumes) and I had a hard look at the paintings of some of the equipment. They were accompanied by the dimensions, so I made a ship. Then some planes. Eventually I had a go at tanks. I had a look at my own 1/76 and 1/72 stock and soon realized that to flesh out the armies would be pretty costly . Models are $10 to $20 each now, or I’d have to go the 3d printer route. So I made blocky tanks in a smaller scale, roughly 1/100 or so. They went together quickly and I made several forces.



This is the start of my Italian forces. The M11 turrets are a failure, I have to find another solution.

And here are the tiny Tigers, and a lurking Panther:



I also made a roughly 1/72 Panther, just to see how it went together:



Not the prettiest, but doable just for gaming. I started in on some Panzer 3’s and 2’s:





Here’s an early Panzer 4 and a Nashorn:




I said earlier I had a go at some aircraft. No scale really, as I tried small aircraft but they don’t do well in cardboard. So these are roughly 1 inch to 10 feet. And round fusilages are tough in cardboard at this size, so I simply put a round wooden disk in front of the square motor.





7 comments:

  1. I'll bet you had a lot of fun with these! I reckon they are fine. I've made a few cardboard-n-junk things myself, so I have an idea what it takes. Have some M5 Stuarts that have been for a couple of years waiting for me to figure out how to 'do' the turrets, and all...
    Cheers,
    Ion

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    1. The turrets are hexagonal if viewed from above. Try finding a hex of the appropriate size for a pattern and cut from foam.

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  2. Hi brilliant blog you got going. The use of cardboard, as you have shown here, is virtually unlimited. Most folk can make something in cardboard, start simple and work up. In WW2 even if you buy tanks and planes, try a bunker or house or bridge. Often better than purchased items, and cheaper and more satisfying.

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    1. Thank you. As for price, yes, it would be nigh on impossible to field two decent sized armies in WW2 with models costing $10-$20 now. And the smaller Flames of War sets are pricey too.

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  3. Brilliant! I’m very impressed with your creativity!

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  4. Hi Doug
    Very interesting, I have some spare Panther turrets 1/100 scale , after I made some Jagpanthers and had spare turrets I didn’t use - might use cardboard as base for Panther gun emplacements.
    Thanks for the inspiration
    Btw got a ton of those comic revolutionary war troops intend to make armies using junior general rules as a guide also have Airfix and italeri and Hong Kong Indians to mix with them also have some Helen of toy civil war troops half done love the old made in hongkong stuff ,painted up their mongols as Sung cavalry was pretty happy with them.
    Ps also liked the Roman flats you painted up if I can get some without costing an arm or a leg might get some - always loved those advertisements as a kid - couldn’t get them in Australia have since got them on eBay same as old Atlantic brand - got just about every 1/72 set they made now.
    Anyway all the best thanks for your blog awesome
    Lewis
    Sydney 🇦🇺

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    1. Thank you! I always have a-soft spot for those Revolutionary War figures.

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