1:35 U.S. Cardboard Boxes - postwar period

Paper cargo you fold to fit the space

The printed sheet of fine paper measures 19 by 11 centimeters. These are neither castings nor etched parts: the packages only come into being under the builder's hands, and so their number and the size of the pile can be matched to how much room is left on a truck bed, on a ramp or in the corner of a depot. The printing matches American supply from the period after the Second World War.

Cutting, folding and gluing

Paper divides cleanly under a new blade led along a metal ruler; a blunt edge tends to tear the fibers and the edge then looks furry. Score the folds in advance with the blunt side of a scalpel or with the tip of an empty ballpoint pen, so that the wall sits at a right angle and does not bulge. The light line of bare paper on a cut gives away that it is printing, so tone it in with an alcohol marker or a thin stroke of acrylic in the shade of the print. Clear PVA suits joining the flaps; super glue soaks through paper and leaves a glossy stain.

How to give paper its age

A new box looks alien in terrain. Round the corners lightly with abrasive paper, press an edge with a finger so that it breaks, and lay a very dilute brown or gray shade onto the surface, drawn out with a brush from the edges inward. A rain stain is made by letting the cardboard wick damp up from the lower edge. It can be sealed with matte varnish in a light coat; a heavy coat would take away the softness that is typical of paper.

Which scene it belongs in

It suits a supply scene, a field kitchen, a heap of waste behind a building or a filling for a cargo space, where crates alone would look too orderly.