Last Minute Gift. Download Your Own KAROQ

Christmas is just around the corner now, and so is the time of joy, calm, sweets, and of course gifts. If you are still looking for a last, little something, open this article to download a paper model of the compact SUV ŠKODA KAROQ at 1:32 scale.

21. 12. 2017 MODELS KAROQ

You need only print the PDF to bring joy to yourself or a loved one. Then it’s up to you to decide whether you go to work with scissors and a little glue or leave that part to the recipient.

Choose from two colour variants of ŠKODA KAROQ. You can have your KAROQ in grey or white. Or, colour your white model as you wish and thus have an original of your own design.

Another gift is the following conversation with the model’s creator, Pavel Skokan, who confesses his long-time passion for paper modelling. He will certainly infect you with his passion and respect for meticulous handiwork.

What drew you to paper modeling?

Mostly my father, who one day brought home the magazine ABC and just casually handed it to me. I remember that inside was a cut-out handmade war from the workshop of Richard Vyškovský. And everything started from that! So, I started to take this magazine seriously, but still I didn’t stick with it. That happened about a year later. My first glued-together model was the Z-37 Čmelák plane. My dad helped me with it.

How did it come to be that the boy who put together models became their creator?

This is again from the same magazine, specifically from the winter special in 1988. There, among other airplanes they had the Vyškovský Turbolet L 410 and at the same time, there was an announcement for the biggest paper-folding competition. And so I entered the competition with that very same Turbolet and I got forth place in my category. What was important, however, was that at the contest I met with Václav Šorel, a close associate of ABC and a great fan of aviation models. I showed him some of my early work and based on that, he invited me to the editorial office.

That’s where you, not surprisingly, started out?

Of course. You know what an honor it was! I went to the editorial office together with my parents. I brought along with me a paper model of a bungalow in which, by the way, my parents lived and so I could have used it as a blueprint. At the editorial office Mr. Šorel introduced me to the original work of the legendary Richard Vyškovský. That totally captivated me. And then for me there was that fateful meeting with Michal Antonický, with whom I later developed a creative duo for many years. Actually, we still work together today.

What is it like to become a member of the editorial board for a renown magazine as a kid, and moreover to be under the wing of an experienced editor?

For me, it was absolutely essential. Michal taught me the craft from A to Z. I mean, honest manual labor that you won’t see today. I prepared constructions and after I finished, he took me to the final publishable mock-ups. You couldn’t get a better school. Interestingly, later on, when I began preparing the models on the computer, I was returning to the form of work that Michal introduced me to.

Do you remember your very first solo model for this magazine?

It was the bungalow already mentioned. I redrew it about four or five times, but it was never published, even up until today. The competition in architecture was too big. Coincidentally, one editor asked me if I wouldn’t like to return to it, so it could actually get published. So we’ll see. The first of my models that ABC put out was the lorry LIAZ 100.47. That was in 1991.

What prerequisites should a person have if they want to go into model making?

Certainly patience and spatial vision. This kind of work is all about learning to deconstruct any kind of object in your head and separate it out into separate parts. And when this ability is more advanced, then you can get into more parts and details.

Which models do you gravitate towards?

I have always been closest to planes and machines, although automobiles account for around 70 % of my work these days. There is more interest in them. But planes will always be the best for me because they are difficult to put together. This is due to the large amounts of round shapes. True, automobiles have also been getting more and more rounder over the last few years. This, of course, puts greater demands on the design, author, and in the end results, also on the modeler.

How do you prepare for the model?

First, I get all the necessary materials, including the technical blueprints, which are best used to calculate the measurements of the model. But photographs also work. Then I have to add more spatial imagination to the process and simply think about all aspects of it. When I have the dimensions, I set off drawing the outline, side view, top view and I can switch to modeling the individual parts.

Do you know in advance how difficult it will be?

Not entirely. This only becomes visible to me during the course of each modeling. But I always want the model to be construction-wise, the best and the most faithful copy of the actual object. Now, to use the example of the KAROQ model which I prepared for Storyboard, its original idea had been that it could be formed out of one piece. However, due to its formal complexity, namely the front and back part of the vehicle, I had to change that. I knew that I would achieve a much better result when all the round parts were separate.

You don’t miss the old way of doing things, with all its mistakes?

I tell you what, probably not. My computer works well, and I appreciate how much time and work it saves me. Compared to manual work which is unforgiving and any tiny mistake means that you have to draw everything over again, then I really don’t want to go back to that.

Where do you think paper modeling will go in the next 20 years?

Looking at the current situation, where children only click on the screen and don’t actively work with their hands, I’m afraid that when today’s modeling-dinosaurs die off, then our discipline will irreversibly change. Perhaps that means they will stop making new models and only sell of old stock. The other possibility is that modeling will become an exclusive hobby on order.