On January 16, 2009, the Hyperscale website posted a pictorial of the building of a 1:144 scale USS Abraham Lincoln, CVN-72, by Patrick Lofredo and his two sons.  Zoltan was able to obtain this pictorial for the ACB website and you can see it by clicking 'Gallery' on the menu at the left of the home page.  The model is very impressive in terms of accuracy, detail, build time (two years) and what caught my eye was the degree and masterful rendering of 'weathering' of both the ship and its airwing.  The other feature of this model is that it was scratchbuilt out of 'paper card' or 'card paper' ('paperboard', 'hard paper', 'cardboard' -- there are many terms to describe a type of paper which is both stiff and can accept paint without absorbing so much that it becomes weak and soggy).  If you go to the earliest page (page 4 at present) of the ACB Gallery, the second ship submission ever made to the website was a 1:120 USS Nimitz CVN-68 built from card paper by Jared Shipman.  Again, another superb build in a medium rarely used, even among 'scratchbuilders'. More common is the use of 'plasticard' or styrene sheets to scratchbuild a model.  Examples of this on the ACB website are "Building a 1/32 Modern Carrier Deck Catapult Section" by Masa Narita; "USS Enterprise CVN-65 Island, pt.1" by Carlo Zivic in 1/72 scale; and Frank Ilse's "1/350 USS Saipan LHA-2,pt.1".  All of these are in the 'Building Articles' section. (By the way, Parts2-5 of Frank Ilse's 1:350 Saipan are in the Model Warships 'Special Features" -- browse through 2006 and 2008).  And of course, there are the numerous supercarrier hulls done by Mardis Hall, found in the Aircraft Carrier Modeling subsection of the 'Forum' on the ACB website. 

Traditional 'card modeling' has been practiced for almost 3/4 of a century, if not longer.  This type of modeling involves not scratchbuilding but actual kits --- only the kits are made out of card paper.  Poland, Germany, and Japan, to judge by the companies that offer these kits, are the major centres for this type of modeling.  Scissors, a razor blade, a ruler, and white glue are the basic tools needed.  A table to work at, not a workshop, is all that is really required and in countries where a high percentage of the population lives in apartments, this type of modeling makes sense.  Since the card paper kits are printed in colour, then no painting is necessary -- potential messes are eliminated but perhaps of greater importance is avoiding fumes in places where the venting of paint and glue fumes (white glue has no fumes) is difficult if not impossible.  If any touch-up painting is required, fume-free water based paint can be used.  Another feature is that no decals are required, saving time and perhaps expense, but limiting any kit to one particular subject.  In doing research for this article, 'display space' seemed to be a non-issue: the overwhelmingly common scales for ship models are 1:400, 1:250, and 1:200 --- these do not produce small models.  And more surprisingly, the common scales for aircraft are 1:50 and 1:33 (?!?).  This latter scale creates large models and was perhaps adopted to make easier the bending of compound curves on aircraft fuselages.  But 1:33 ?  Who came up with that scale?  Large plastic kits are 1:32 and the most popular scale for armour models is 1:35 so why card models should be 1:33 is a mystery to me.  And card modeling has one other distinction: buildings and structures (stores, houses, bridges, factories) are popular topics for railroad hobbiests and there are many of those kits in HO (1/87) and N (1:160) scales in plastic as well as paper, but only among card modelers can one find the widest range of castles, cathedrals, and world-famous structures such as the Parthenon.  Then again, I don't recall seeing any dinosaurs or scantily-dressed females among card model kits. 

I have purchase six of these kits.  The first, more than two decades ago, was a 1:144 card kit from Hobby Shop Work in Japan (first picture).  It allowed a modeler to build the superstructure and radar tower of the USS Nimitz, or USS Eisenhower, or USS Vinson (CVN-68, -69, -70) as originally built.  The pieces were to be cut out from 13 colour printed sheets (each 17"x12"; 43cm.x30.5cm) and a 31-page booklet of instructions -- diagrams only, no printed instructions --came with the kit.   I photocopied the sheets (second picture) and used the cut outs as templates and built a superstructure for my 1:144 Nimitz out of styrene and wood (it has working radars and is radio-controlled so it had to be more rugged than card paper).  The original kit I sent back to Japan to Yuuichi Kurakami (YK Craft).  As far as I can determine, Hobby Shop Work no longer exists.  The idea of using card model kits as templates for wood/plastic copies is what was in my mind when I bought other card model kits.  Using a photocopier/computer scanner, I could make adjustments to the scale I prefer (1:144).  HMS Dreadnought (third picture) and USS Card (fourth picture) are 1:400, and Schnellboot Type 143, Schnellboot Type 148, and Mehrzwerk-Landungsboot (MZL) are three modern German naval vessels (pictures 5-7) all in 1:250 scale.  The last kit actually builds into two landing ship models and any member of the class can be built.  The German kits are made up of two colour-printed sheets (17"x12"; 43cmx30.5cm) and sheets with both diagrams and German and English printed instructions (see pictures 8 to 10).  The Dreadnought kit is in a booklet form (11"x8½"; 28cmx21.5cm) with six pages of hard colour-printed paper making up the kit;  Polish instructions are printed on the inside front and rear covers; the back cover has a diagram of the model; and a separate paper insert provides written instructions in English (see pictures 11 and 12).  Each of these kits will provide a quick and clean build -- a weekend at the most -- but like so much else in the modeling world, increasing sophistication has arrived and numerous card models are full-hull, not just waterline, and a few even have dedicated accessory kits made of brass photo-etch (PE) !

First, I don't work for or have any association with the companies listed below.  Second, I make no pretense about being thorough or complete: there are more companies out there, particularly in Japan I suspect.  The list below comes from my curiousity being stimulated by Patrick Lofredo's excellent work.

GPM model Kartomowe: http://www.gpm.pl 

Go-Mix/Fly models: www.gomixmodel.pl

Wilhelmshavener models: www.papermod.de

JSC models:  www.jsc.pl  also: http://store.jsc.pl/

Modelik:  www.modelik.pl/

Paper Shipwright:  www.papershipwright.co.uk

Digital Navy:  www.digitalnavy.com

Other companies, such as Maly Modelarz, Kartonowy Arsenal, and Hobby Model, do not appear to have their own dedicated websites and their products are listed on some of the websites above, particularly GPM.  There are Japanese companies engaged in card modeling (e.g. Kami de Korokoro) but I wasn't able to find one that had offerings of ship models or naval aviation --- perhaps a more thorough search of the HobbyLink Japan website (one of our sponsors) would yield better results.  One recently established website, www.ecardmodels.com is interesting because it attempts to establish a direct link between designer and customer.  You pay to download the kits onto your own CD, and then presumably print at home with your printer and special paper that you have purchased (note the chart of paper types in the picture). As well, this website has several sections devoted to 3-D modeling -- ah, but that's another article to be done by someone far more computer literate than I.

Since this is a Carrier Builders website, and there have only been a few paper models finding their way into the Galleries, perhaps the following will stimulate some members to enter this area of the modeling world.  First the five pictures associated with this paragraph highlight the USS Card paper model in 1:400.  Second, the prices shown in the list below are $US or Euros based on the exchange rates as they were in the autumn of 2008 so they will vary now.  As well, in all cases I have rounded the prices upward to the nearest dollar or Euro.  Shipping costs, or download availability, are not factored in.  The list is based on scale, largest to smallest, and unless otherwise stated, all the kits are waterline.

Wilhelmshaven: 1200: USS Forrestal CV-59; 1:200 99 Euros

                        1217:  1:200 aircraft for Forrestal kit;  9 Euros

                        1270: USS Nimitz CVN-68; 1:200 99 Euros

                         1271: 1:200 aircraft for Nimitz kit; 9 Euros

GPM   0159: IJN Shokaku; 1:200  $23

          0223: USS Saratoga CV-3; 1:200 with photoetch accessories $35

          0231: USS Lexington CV-2; 1:200 ; 1930's outfit and full hull  $28

          SL 2001: F6F Hellcats (4) 1:200  $3

           SL 2002: Grumman Avengers (4) 1:200 $3

GoMix/Fly:  GMX-0081  USS Saratoga CV-3 1:200 1930's outfit  $20

Answer:  ANS-1529: IJN Junyo: 1:200 ; $28

             ANS-1621: KM Graf Zeppelin; 1:200  $27

Halsinki:  HAL-008:  USS Gambier Bay  CVE-73; 1:200  $24

ecardmodel:  USS Tarawa LHA-1; 1:200 scale, full hull,  $20 download

Maly Modelarz:  MMM-1004:  USS Essex CV-9; 1:300 scale  $6

JSC:  -004 USS Card CVE-11 1:400  8 Euros

         -009 USS Intrepid CV-11 1:400  10.50 Euros

         -027 HMS Victorious (WWII) 1:400  8.1 Euros

          -038 KM Graf Zeppelin 1:400 10.5 Euros

          -061 HMS Invincible (modern) 1:400  9 Euros

          -076 IJN Zuiho  1:400  8.1 Euros

           -084 IJN Shinano  1:400  19.5 Euros

ecardmodel:    HMS Colossus  1:400  as originally built, full hull $9 download

In 1:50 scale I came across Orlik ORL-0002 F4U-5N and Wilhelmshavener models 1641, an F-4B Phantom II; 1608, an F-8U-2 Crusader; and 1607, an F7U-3 Cutlass all at 15 Euros. All other aircraft listed below are 1:33 scale.

GPM:  -0110: HH-53 Stallion $14  -0121: Puma $6  -0051 A6 Intruder  $6       -0067: A-7 Corsair II $8  -0181: F8F Bearcat $8  -0214: F4U-1A Corsair $8  ---0236: PBY Catalina $14  -0267: M6A1 Seiran $8  -0279: F1M1 Pete  $12

Modelik:  MOD-0833: Lockheed XFV-1 $9  -4516: Grumman J2F-5 'Duck' $10 --4518: F-18F Superhornet  $11  -4594: Convair XFY-1 'Pogo' $9

Hobby Model:  HOB 4195: P2V-7 Neptune $13

GoMix/Fly Model:  GMX-0002 F7F Tigercat $9  -0147: F4U-1D Corsair $7       ---0148: Aichi D3A 'Val' $7

Answer-Angraf:  ANS-1581: Curtiss BF2C-1 Hawk $8

Modelarz: MMM-1002: F-4F Wildcat  $3   -0407: F-14 Tomcat $6                    -9912 SBD-3 Dauntless  $3 

Halinski HAL-0010: F/A-18 Hornet  $9  -0019: F-14 Tomcat $15                  ---0047: Aichi D3A1 'Val' $15    -0065: A6M2 Zero   $10

This naval airlist provided is only a portion of what is available but it does show there is a wide range in prices; presumably, quality increases as does the price but the only accurate way to show this is to have kit reviews and finished models provided to the ACB Gallery by members, so ......

happy modeling