[Papercraft] Humvees
War of the Dead Papercraft Humvee Models
I thought I could use a few humvees for my "War of the Dead" campaign, and it's kind of pricey to track down scale models (1:50 to 1:43 scale, to go along with the "Clix" minis) and/or toys to fit the bill. Hence, I thought I'd try making a humvee paper model, and then customizing it with different features (e.g., regular camouflage, urban camouflage, a "corporate security" variety with company logo, with or without blood splats and/or collision damage). It's a lot easier to "paint" the thing when I'm just printing it onto cardstock, after all.
War of the Dead Papercraft Humvee Models - Undercarriage
One thing I've found about using 3D models of vehicles along with miniatures is that a pretty quick way to indicate that a vehicle is out of commission is to tip the thing over on its side or flip it over entirely. However, if it's a resin-cast model, cheap toy, or hollow paper model that doesn't even have an underside, it doesn't quite look right. Hence, I made a few "undercarriage" pieces to optionally glue into the bottom of the model (or just leave out, if someone didn't want to deal with that extra step).
I'm thinking of making a "battle-damaged" humvee, as well as some slight variants, such as a civilian Hummer (e.g., one of those bright banana-yellow ones that likely never saw off-road use before the Apocalypse), and a cargo/troop Humvee (either open or covered back, and two-door instead of four-door). If time permits, I'd also like to craft a basic sedan of some sort (which could also be "re-skinned" with extras to yield a police car, taxi, etc.), a boxy city bus, school bus, ambulance, moving truck, pickup, minivan, trailer, and semi tractor trailer. I figure that ought to make for a good range of body types, and I could make modifications to the "skins" for a little bit of customization as we go along.
If only I could figure out a way to suspend myself in the air directly above my truck or my car, so I could get a good "bird's eye view" to use as a visual reference. Then, I could pretty easily get photos from the more reasonable angles to serve as references for other views.
And then, later on, if the players stick with the campaign for that long, those paper models could be customized with plates over the windows, armor sections, extra hatches, zombie plows, and so forth, for that "Mad Max" post-apocalyptic look. =) (It'd be kind of neat to see "Road-Warriorized" versions of my own truck. Heh.)