The scissors-and-paste model is the watercolour sketch in three dimensions

There are those among the modelling fraternity who profess to despise glue and card, paper and parcel-tape, paper-clips, pins and drinking-straws as the raw material from which to construct engineering models. I disagree entirely with this view, and I hope that in writing this book I may help to sway readers to my way of thinking.

The truth is, of course, that there is ample room for all points of view. The magnificent examples of model engineering, products of lathe, milling machine and sometimes years of skilled labour, may be likened to the great gilt-framed oil-paintings which dominate the walls of Art Galleries and ancestral homes; masterpieces, often, but sometimes a little oppressive to humble mortals like myself, who find it refreshing to leave them in their majesty and spend a while amongst the watercolours. Myself, I find watercolours easier to live with, greatly as, in theory, I admire the Reynolds and the Lanseer! And so it is with models. The scissors-and-paste model is the watercolour sketch in three dimensions. It conveys its message by suggestion and simple devices, it can catch the colour, shape and essential character of its subject, and please its beholder no less than the rivet-for-rivet and true-to-half-a-thou. masterpiece in gleaming steel and brass. Its cost, however, in time and material, is a mere fraction of its more elaborate counterpart, and to the man whose fingers itch to be making things, but whose circumstances rule out workshops and elaborate tools, this simple scissors-and-past craft can be a most satisfying answer, as I shall try to demonstrate in the following pages.

From the foreword to Cardboard Engineering with Scissors & Paste by G. H. Deason, Model Aeronautical Press Limited, 1958.

One thing I always find interesting about these old model building books are the records of their authors' philosophical musings on the craft. I hadn’t thought of drawing a parallel between card modelling, Deason’s scissors-and-paste genre, and watercolour painting. It’s intriguing, and certainly stands in stark contrast to mainstream thinking on what the craft’s about. There’s something about the phrase, it conveys its message by suggestion and simple devices, that I rather like. 

I think it would be mistaken to take the analogy between card models and watercolours too literally, but maybe there’s something to it. It reminds me of Casual-ization, and John Page’s observations that Bill Schopp’s models and layout didn’t seem to be built to the most exacting standards, but there was something compelling about them nevertheless. Mix in a little artistic stylization from Francis Lee Jacques, and maybe there’s an interesting old trail that needs to have the overgrowth cut back. Just don’t use a digital camera on your hike :-)