Fold your own

     

Today, we are all going to be our own little James Camerons and take it to the third dimension. For anyone who is reading this and doesn’t know what it might be referring to, I am, of course, taking about Japanese castles. And your inner Luddite can be at ease because I’m not talking about 3D modelling in some virtual space, all cutting & pasting will be old skool. Be warned, paper cuts can result.

I’ve had a look at what is out there papercraft-wise, and even I am surprised at the options available for building your own mini Japanese castle. Prices are reasonable too, they start at zero. You can hardly complain about that. Even the ones that cost money can be picked up very cheaply.

It hasn’t always been so cheap. Read on for how I spent big bucks. The hope being that you’ll avoid the same fate.

The finished product

I have to now make an confession – I haven’t built any of these castles. It doesn’t really count that I did download, print & start to cut the Canon creative park version of Kumamoto castle.

What I can say on complete authority, is that if you wish to complete one of these paper castles, a bucket load of patience will be required. And just so you know, I did finish one papercraft model. It was for my wife, something that she’s always wanted – A French bulldog.

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  • Toranosukev

    Woo. I totally want to try some of these. Especially if they’re free :) Though, I guess we’ll need to find a color printer, and some good firm cardstock.

    Incidentally, as you seem to indicate you might be unaware, here’s a random trivia tidbit. Here in the States, we don’t have A & B paper sizes. The standard paper size is “Letter” size, which is 8.5 x 11 inches. First time I went to Japan, I was totally like “what the hell is A4 and B5?” I kind of wish we all stuck to the same standards… It would make things a lot easier.

  • Toranosukev

    Um.. 36 pages of color printing at high quality on photo paper could get kind of expensive… Hmm…

  • Anonymous

    And that, my friend, is why we print them at work. :)

  • Anonymous

    And that, my friend, is why we print them at work. :)

  • Anonymous

    Thank, you. I didn’t know about the paper sizes used in the US. I mean, knew about kilometres/miles, litres/gallons, brewskies/beers. Actually, I should have assumed paper sizes were different as the base measurement for paper would be in inches.

    And, yes. Same standards would make things a lot easier.

  • Anonymous

    Thank, you. I didn’t know about the paper sizes used in the US. I mean, knew about kilometres/miles, litres/gallons, brewskies/beers. Actually, I should have assumed paper sizes were different as the base measurement for paper would be in inches.And, yes. Same standards would make things a lot easier.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry Eric, that comment snuck in undetected. I’ll blame Disqus – probably my fault tho…

    I think I recall you mentioning this. It’s back in the U.S. right? I wish I had the patience to build something like that. Even if I did, where to put it?

    I hope you’ve been well.

  • http://JapanDave.com David LaSpina / JapanDave

    Yeah, the US (and Canada, I believe) are stubborn on this point. So many things (printers equipment, etc) are already customized for our system, and so they don’t want to spend the money required to change.

    When I first came to Japan, I found the sizes weird too. I mean I knew of them, but it’s still hard to get used to when you are used to only seeing a different size. But now I’m so used to it that when I pull out a US “letter” size, it looks too short and fat for me… like what the hell is wrong with this paper. haha.

    @Toranosukev – You actually can get A4 paper at Staples. It costs more, but most of the Staples I have been in all over the midwest usually have a few packages of it. Back in college I would occasionally buy A4 paper to print my class papers on. A cheap trick to stand out of the pack a little to the professor ;)