"Printing Ebbles Miniatures Paper Models" Topic

Hi All.

What methods and materials have people used for printing out the Ebbles Minis vehicles and buildings? I have a rather poorish ink-jet printer at home that probably won't even run card stock without jamming.

Do people go to a local copy shop? If so, what weight card stock do you use?

Does anyone just print at home? If so, what paper and printer do you use?

I'm eager to download and print some Ebbles products, but unsure about how to proceed after that.

Thanks!

CF

Most printers will take 160-200gsm (at least that's what it says on the cardstock I use) – the cardstock you need is thicker than paper but not as thick as breakfast cereal card. Results in models that are definitely strong enough for day to day use. Not sure what printer you have – mine is an HP6122.

Ebbles kits come with assembly/printing guides so check those and strongly suggest you have a trawl through their forums and the Worldworks Games forums too – they both are very supportive of anyone starting up.

The main advice I'd give is get a good bladed knife (one of those retractable blades that lets you snap a bit off when it get's blunt), score carefully before doing any folds and don't forget to 'edge' the models (covering any exposed white card with grey or black marker pen). Choice of glue – low water content (I use Power Pritt Gel by UHU).

Check out the Ebbles forums. There are a number of threads discussing printers, paper, and glue--all very helpful.

But you might want to pick up some simple card stock from Staples, and try printing some out as a test. Who knows, you might like the results.

Best of luck. See you there.

I have an HP 2210 and a canon pixmia 6700d that I use. My cardstock is 110 lb in US (think 160-200gsm is equivalent). For scoring, I've used an empty ball point pen, one of the cheap bic or papermate stick pens. If you don't have an empty available, purchase one new and remove the tip from the stick. Carefully rmove the plastic ink tube from the back of the tip and replace the tip in the stick. Use up the remining ink in the tip by cribbling on scrap paper until it no longer writes. At this point, you have a perfect scoring tool that doesn't cut the cardstock.

Need to type after my coffee.

I'm with tima113 – I print on 110lb cardstock (I buy it by the ream from Walmart or Office Depot) and score with a dried-up ballpoint pen (I was cleaning up after moving and found a ziploc full of pens, the ones that failed went into my papermodel tools drawer…).

I use an HP842c inkjet, the WorldWorks forum seems to favor the Canon Pixma series, nobody like Lexmark (they cheat you on ink and their printers are rubbish).

110lb stock seems good for models of up to 28mm cottage size. Basically any model with "surfaces" no more than 5" square. Get larger than that and you will probably want to go with heavier card stock to stiffen them up a bit. For printing, I'm currently using a Canon iP6310D. It does the job nicely and has a relatively flat print route so I can run fairly heavy papers. I had a Lexmark prior and it was a fine printer. No complaints about the Lexmark other than finding cartridges for my particular model was a pain.

Paul

I use 110lb Georgia Pacific cardstock, cheap and easily available from Wal_Mart, Fred Meyers, Office Depot – for large structures, buildings, and ground tiles.

For smaller things, and all of my Ebbles vehicles, I've switched to Canon Matte Photo paper. It's a little more expensive and is only rated at 67lb stock, but the printouts are gorgeous and the models are quite sturdy.

Eric

Thanks! You are all very helpful. I have a Brother MFC-5460. I was concerned about ink-jet ink running when wet during gaming (sweaty hands, drinks, sneezes, alien slime, etc. …)

Does anyone spray-coat their ink-jet printed models (like with Testor's Dullcote), or is that just overkill?

Thanks!

CF

Dullcote is a good thing.
I live in Alaska and the occasional errant snowflake when transporting vehicles to my car can cause an interesting battle damage effect.
Dullcote is a good thing.

Eric

Thanks, Eric! We get errant snowflakes occasionally here too, so I guess I'll stock up.