Here is my BMP-1 WIP in its own thread. I have finished work on the suspension and front and rear plate details on the BMP-1.
Since I elected to go ahead with the delicate suspension while still working on scratch-building an interior, I have created a cardboard guard to prevent pressing down on the suspension arms and breaking them. Given the way the hull fits, I will have to press down quite a bit while checking the fit of the interior bits
The guard is taped and glued on with white glue.
As for the interior, I am starting with paper to get the shapes.
Paper allows me to fold complex shapes in half and cut them for good bilateral symmetry (like making one of those "snowflakes" from paper but less complex ha ha). You can see one folded piece of the first stage in this pic above. I then proceed to the stage of cutting the major shapes from smooth white cardboard.
I can test fit everything inside the hull this way and check alignment before using the paper and cardboard bits to cut styrene.
Not much done yet but the technique is quite accurate and rewarding so far. The whole procedure is like working out how the interior should go together in a tactile, trial and error sort of way. In walk arounds, you have to look at multiple photographs from odd angles and you almost need to build it to figure out how the whole thing looks by physically lining things up (a bit of bricolage). It also helps in fixing shapes that you can make the templates without wasting a lot of glue and plastic. The support for the seats is still all cardboard.
Here the ring and center engine bulkhead have already been cut from styrene and glued in. The side panels are still in cardboard. I will be reshaping the styrene version of the seat box as it could fit better. I also think it should be narrower towards the top.
I have included a couple of interior shots to show what I am aiming at. The Trumpeter interior molding is a great start for the side walls and will only require fairly simple panels to complete basic walls and ceiling. The seats will be the greater challenge along with the detail bits.
I hope this explanation of technique so far is useful for some potential detailers.
