Paper goodies

Awesome stuff, blackpool. Thanks for sharing all of these.

Excellent designs and suggestions. And so many of them! Must have taken quite a lot of time to create or even select. Thanks again for making them available to all.

I like the walls and the books, thanks for this I'll save em and see when can I get my hands on a printer.

Those are all pretty clever, I've done the odd few things like that myself in the past. I got an envelope with my Indiana Jones Trilogy box set that looked like the wrapper for Henry's grail diary. I found the actual dimensions for the prop in my Lucasfilm Archives book and decided to make a 1/6 replica. I scanned the front and back of the envelope, shrank them to 1/6 and made this template:



Just print it out, making tabs if you need to, glue the sides except one, pop in a bit of thick card about the size of the diary, seal it up and you're good to go!

It looks great, Roger.

Thanks so much for posting these Blackpool! Although you wouldn't use the term "quick" if you saw the size of the shelves I want to fill. Anyone want to come over and cut books all day with me? Beer and whiskey provided.

Rogerbee, that letter is really nice too! I don't see any Indy dios in my future, but feel like I could definitely find a use for that as well.

I needed a mini paper shopping bag so I tracked down a template for a full-sized one.



It works for 1:6 scale if you shrink it down before printing it out. These are lousy pics but you get the idea. Used a broken yo-yo string for the handle.

Great idea, and nice execution! Thank you for sharing. If one wanted to make holiday gift bags in 1:6 scale, it could also work for that, you'd just need some kind of decorative paper to use instead.

Would be a good use for xmas wrapping paper off cuts.

Very cool, Dan.



(Still waiting on that smithy)

I may be totally blind but do you have a link to a store or website of yours. I've been looking for backgrounds, maps etc for some future 3R projects.

shazzdan wrote:I needed a mini paper shopping bag so I tracked down a template for a full-sized one.

It works for 1:6 scale if you shrink it down before printing it out. These are lousy pics but you get the idea. Used a broken yo-yo string for the handle.

Here is a better pic.

Turned out great, Dan.
Joe Friday, I think the purpose of this thread is so you have access to such images as blackpool makes available.

Oh yes. I enjoy seeing his images. It's just the kind of stuff I've been looking for myself and have yet to to find anyone that's making/selling backgrounds like this. My figures will be lacking without it. Sorry, I wasn't trying to derail the thread.

If you have access to a good color printer, all of the ones shown here can be printed out.

Joe Friday,

What I would do is download the image(s), use a graphics program (I use Corel Draw, but I'm sure by now there are some freeware ones that can do the job -- this part of it is basic) to arrange a few of the images as wanted (for example, to make up a wall of a certain size, duplicating the images next to each other, stretching or cropping them as needed), then save each overall surface as an image file (e.g., jpg) and go print it out at Staples (or other places that offer color printing, but that's the one I had experience with). You will want poster paper (not blueprint paper, which is so thin that it will crease due to the color inks), probably matte poly (unless you want a glossy surface specifically, but that will reflect light/glare, which can be a problem when taking photos). They can do any length you might need (the paper comes in a roll), with height up to 36 inches (if not 48?). It is (or was) not too cost prohibitive, either. If I recall (been just over a year since I had something printed), each print (and they have been of varying size) is between $11 and $21 or so.

If you do decide to give this a try, a couple more pieces of advice:
1. For rooms of relatively small/middling size, print separate wall and floor surfaces, mount the wall surface to a foam board or cardboard with tape or magnets, prop it up, and you get a realistic 90-degree angle between floor and wall.
2. For "outside" scenes or very large rooms/halls, have the background/horizon/far wall surface and the floor/ground/foreground surface together as the top and bottom parts of the same single image and print on a sheet as tall as possible (this is where 24, 36, or 48 inches come in handy); then prop up the background end on a foam board or cardboard, with the floor/ground end horizontally on the flat surface in front of it, allowing the sheet to fold gradually and without a hard crease between them. It is helpful to have the background part as short as possible (yet tall enough to work as a background for your figures) so that the foreground is as long as possible (so that you can position the figures far enough from the background to avoid unrealistic shadows). In practical terms, this means at least about 15-16 inches of background (ballpark, I haven't exactly measured it, and it can vary depending on the size, headgear, poses, and placement of your figures).

Hope this helps.

Oh wow. Thanks for the advice. I would have never thought about the stuff you were mentioning. I would have probably just taped the paper directly to the case. I have so much to learn.

Joe Friday wrote:Oh wow. Thanks for the advice. I would have never thought about the stuff you were mentioning. I would have probably just taped the paper directly to the case. I have so much to learn.

You're very welcome. I wouldn't worry about it, we all have plenty to learn (except maybe blackpool!). And what you mentioned would work, provided that you are ready to have a permanent dedicated display or don't mind damaging the elements whenever you decide to change it.

Just to illustrate what I was talking about, here are a few examples from my threads. I don't think any of them use blackpool's excellent imagery (though I have downloaded that for future use), but it is the same principle (keep in mind his -- unless I overlook something -- are for separate wall and floor prints). You can check out the full threads for additional images that might be more informative.

Separate walls and floors images:

Bathroom in THIS thread, post 1.

Example:


Mancave (?) in THIS thread.

Example:


Ground and walls in THIS review. The walls are printed, the basic ground cover is printed from a composite scan of the same marble samples that I used for the three-dimensional steps addition.

Example:


Walls and shiny floor in THIS thread (among others), post 7.

Example:


Single foreground and background image:

Natural setting in THIS review (with some unfortunate shadows, because there was not enough foreground).

Example:


Natural setting in THIS thread (more successful, though still a very short foreground), posts 1 and 18.

Example:


Hope this helps.

All of those look really good! I may try to find a sand dune one like that for my Maul and his speeder bike.

Joe Friday wrote:All of those look really good! I may try to find a sand dune one like that for my Maul and his speeder bike.

Thank you very much!

One more piece of advice: so look for an image that will give you enough sky and dune, but also enough background in front of it (it will be precisely the sort of thing to shoot for 36 or 48 inches high sheets when printing). What you want to do is find the highest resolution (pixels, dpi) image you that would work for you, download that, then stretch it to the desired size (keeping the aspect ratio intact, though you can crop off what you don't want or need). When stretching it, the resolution will plummet. The final result doesn't have to be 600 dpi or even 300 dpi to look decent (what you see on your computer screen is usually just 72 dpi), but it should still be as high as you can make it. It is ok (some would say even preferable) for a background to be a little bit blurry, but you don't want it to be obviously pixelated. If memory serves me (again, it's been awhile, but it would take a while to check), most things over 100 dpi should be ok, in some cases less might be ok too.

Here are some links to desert images that might possibly work (unfortunately some of them have tiny humans in them, which would not be a problem for someone with blackpool's skill set)...

https://pixelz.cc/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/blue-sky-and-desert-dunes-uhd-4k-wallpaper.jpg

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2486/4354/products/Peter-Lik-Desert-Dunes-Framed-Recess-Mount_1800x.jpg?v=1517274537

https://wallpaperstream.com/wallpapers/full/desert-sand/Desert-Sand-Dune-HD-Wallpaper.jpg

https://miro.medium.com/max/7810/1*b8fjhggp7221h-DL7OpNUw.jpeg

https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/XmeOcbPVzV07ovy4tS20NE-yKg4=/fit-in/1072x0/https://contest-public-media.si-cdn.com/66094cc9-4207-487d-891a-b16fe98d9f6b.jpg

Small update here, "Back to the Future" related!

These are the paper goodies I made and used in my diorama, blueprints for doc Brown, his favorite scientists pictures, the time convector sketch, the "save the clock tower" flyer...

Also adding the top and bottom of the Hover Board, it just need to be printed in A4/letter/legal format to have it scaled properly!

Brilliant resource as ever, Blackpool!

For anyone struggling with dioramas, I’d really recommend checking out My Froggy Stuff on YouTube - she does a lot of really simple rooms using foamboard and scrapbook paper, but has a lot of her own printables for walls etc that are free to use!

A bit more accessories for Marty Mcfly, though there are some real amps flotaing around on ebay... To be printed on european A3 or US tabloid format.

Lynkhart wrote:Brilliant resource as ever, Blackpool!

For anyone struggling with dioramas, I’d really recommend checking out My Froggy Stuff on YouTube - she does a lot of really simple rooms using foamboard and scrapbook paper, but has a lot of her own printables for walls etc that are free to use!

You're welcome! and thanks a lot for the hint, I'm gonna check that right now!

Thank you for kindly making these sweet creations of yours available for the rest of us, Alex. That is both useful and civic-minded. They look excellent, and I love the realism of the crisp, precise lines, combined with a bit of weathering (the folded paper effect).

More great stuff, Alex. The blueprints and amps are really cool. Thanks for always sharing.

Lynkhart wrote:Brilliant resource as ever, Blackpool!

For anyone struggling with dioramas, I’d really recommend checking out My Froggy Stuff on YouTube - she does a lot of really simple rooms using foamboard and scrapbook paper, but has a lot of her own printables for walls etc that are free to use!

Nice tip. Much appreciated.