How to build a landscape-modelafter the technique of Konrad Weber |
||||
|
You need: - a photocopy of a
map |
For an area of about 0.25 square meters you need:works, 3 h for |
|||
|
|
INSTRUCTION |
COMMENTRARY |
EXAMPLE |
|
|
step
1 |
The landscape-model
gets all its informations from the map. To realize
a precise model, there is a precise map needed. Because it's not possible to
transfer all details from the map by hand to the model, it's enough, when the
scale of the map is four times smaller than the scale of the model; if there
are enough contour lines on it. It is useful to make the layers in cardboard
of 0.8 mm or 1.0 mm thickness. Therefore the map should contain contour lines
with a corresponding equidistance. Principally it's possible to set the
relief steeper than in nature, for that you can take a smaller equidistance
out of the map. |
My recommendation
for scales of 1:100,000 and bigger: High mountains: vertical scale equals
horizontal scale - Hilllands: model 2-3 times
steeper than in nature - Flat landscapes: 5-6 times to high. |
Planned is a model
in 1:25'000; for this a cardboard with a thickness of 0.8 mm is ideal, which
corresponds to the equidistance of 20 m. Because its a medium range here, one
decided to construct the model with double slope (vertical scale to horizontal
scale is 2), so one use the equidistance of 10 m in the map. |
|
|
step 2 |
The chosen map
gets photocopied in black and white. In this step it's possible to set the
chosen scale by zooming. If the contour lines are brown, it's an advantage to
copy more dark. From the basemap will grow the
model, it's important that the basemap gets the
same scale and size like the futural model. The basemap can be merged by several copypapers
with cutter and adhesive tape on the unprinted side. Then cut the
basemap in its correct borders |
The advantage of
the black-and-white-copy is, that the contour lines are easy to find. It's
also a cheep method to get big surfaces of basemaps
in its correct scale and its optimal brightness. |
Here has been
chosen a rectangle. The maps became darker in the copy that the fine contour
lines don't disappear. |
|
|
step
3 |
The contour lines
you want to have on your model you have to trace by hand from the basemap to the cardboard panels. You need 10 panels of
cardboard in the same shape like the basemap and
furthermore you need a carbon paper in the same shape (can be fit together).
It's an advantageous method to transfer every tenth contour line to the same
cardboard panel. It's best, if you fix the basemap
over the first cardboard panel (and the carbon paper in between) with some
paper clips. Then you begin with a stressed contour line: You trace it with a
red biro. Without moving the basemap you trace
afterwards the contour line, which is ten times the equidistance (of the
model) higher or deeper. And so on, until all contour lines of the ten-row
are transferred to the cardboard panel. Then you remove the basemap and the carbon paper and mark the figure zero (O)
to every partial area on the cardboard paper. Later you fix the basemap and the carbon paper on the next cardboard panel
and transfer all the contour lines, which are exactly one equidistance higher
than the red lines (of the last turn), but please use another colour this
time. All areas of the second with contour lines enriched cardboard panel
will be marked with the figure 1. This way you continue until all ten
cardboard panel contain contour lines and numbers. |
By the usage of
the same cardboard panel for every tenth contour line, the model becomes
hollow; on the backside will be found the negative of the model. At every
point of the model it will be 10 layers thick. With this method one can save
cardboard, gets a light weight and needs just to prepare 10 panels, even when
the model contains 200 layers. The stability of the hollow model is
nevertheless pretty high. The basemap is later used
again for the orientation to stack the layers together. The changing of the
biro-colours helps to get an overview over all the many contour lines; and
the marked figures on the layers are useful to put them in the right
sequence. |
In this example
there has been taken only 5 cardboard panels; every fifth contour line comes
to the same panel. Therefore every fifth contour line has the same colour an
the basemap (upper image). In the image below you
can see the cardboard panel nr. 4. It represents all contour lines in nature
with a multiple of 50 plus 40 |
|
|
|
||||
|
step 4 |
It easiest to cut
all layers in the same period. You follow the lines on the cardboard panel with
the cutter (knife), but you don't separe the layers
immediately from each other. So you can keep order |
Cardboardparts which are the lowest ones (in the view of the
landscape-model) wont be used, the can be thrown away. |
Parts of the
mountaintops with very small cardboard parts have been glued together
immediately in this example. This has the advantage, that the small parts
don't get lost. |
|
|
step 5 |
This is the nicest
step. First you look on the basemap, which is the
contour line with the lowest position. The corresponding cardboard-part is now
to search and to take. The next higher cardboard-part will be glued an it,
while you can control with the basemap, if the
glued position is correct. |
It's a method to
lay the lowest layer on its corresponding position on the basemap.
If you lay now the second layer on it, the border of this an the
mountain-side should be equal with the eleventh contour line on the basemap. |
On this very
simple example it was easier to construct a bottom and to glue the layers an
this one; beginning here with the numbers 3 and 4. |
|
|
step 6 |
If you reached the
highest layer, it's recommended to correct places, where the relief became
overhang with the cutter. Afterwards it's useful to paint with glue over the
whole surface to get a high stability. Usually I continue with a next layer
of white painting colour over the whole surface. With a cutter I correct then
unexact places in comparison with the map. In this
step I make also the mountains tops and the narrow valleys sharper. To finish
the relief I paint again with white coloir over the
whole surface. Usually its' needed to cut the border of the model once again,
because its no more precise. At the end I construct a bottom (the eleventh
cardboard panel) and borderwalls of cardboard. |
Usually it's
needed to control if all peaks are set on the model, because the small cardboard
parts can go lost easy. The exactness and sharp shape of the model can become
better in a enormous way with the cutting on the surface after the first
glue- and colour-layers, so it's meaningful to invest a lot of time in this
part. Caution: At this work it's most dangerous to get injured, specially at
the fingers. If the model represent different valleys with different deepest
points, or if the model is rather big, it's useful to construct some
fundaments (connection parts) to fix model and bottom in a stable way. |
With the 9 layers
of this model there were no special problems. But the cutting of the border
was important anyway. |
|
|
step 7
|
It belongs to the constructor
himself, if and how he want to paint the model. I prefer a mixture between
the natural image and the technical image from the map. With the mostly
contained colour I usually paint a ground-layer. To make hard
colour-transition softer I usually repaint the borderline between the colours
(specially between green and grey) with a solution of a bit grey in much
water. On Scales bigger then 1:50'000 I mark every building according to the
topographical map. |
On areas of
lowlands in central Europe, the painting of the wood is the work which needs
most of the time. In the high mountains I distinguish between hard rocks
(dark grey) and unsolid material (bright grey), so
you can refind the characteristical
structures. At the end of the painting I set an altitude-border of "new
snow": I paint with a few white colour in much water over the mountains
above this border, so that the image looks like the situation in autumn, when
a fresh new snow covers the tops. |
Here has been
distinguished between wood and non-wood. All buildings and most of the
streets and the railway line has been drawn. |
|
german version (more detailed)