BENGALURU: Bishojeet Paul, a car and bike-lover made it to the Limca Book Of Records for making the smallest car of about half-an-inch in 1999. He was then a final year degree student. Today he is 38-years-old and still passionate about miniature models.
“I was passionate about cars and bikes and it took me a year and half to learn these skills through trial and error. I started when I was in high school,” says world-record holder. Paul continues, “Initially, when I started this, I had no clue how to go about it. I experimented with different materials. It was a long journey and I am still learning.”
His experimentation with other models are new. “I saw this YouTube video by a German guy Michael on paper automata that inspired me to broaden my work,” he adds.
A basic model of paper automata would take about three hours. “I usually take 7 to 8 years to make paper car models,” he says.
He explains the process in detail and says, “I chalk out drawings using specific measurements. The idea is to scale down the size of live car model into a miniature. Most of my car models are about a size of 1:200. They are about one to three cm average size, with wheels. It’s not just paper-- I use all kinds of things, stiff paper, ivory sheets, cardboard, acrylic sheets for the windows, normal erasers for the wheels, and then finally paint them with acrylic or poster colours. Sometimes I use balsa wood for aero models and other times metal sheets too.”
He added that he used recycled paper too, “Recycled paper is a better option. I use it too sometimes – it depends on what kind of miniature models I’m making. One can use a mount board which is a recycled version of a cardboard.”
When asked about origami, he said, “I feel origami is just a paper folding art. Of late, paper automata has taken over origami because of it’s mechanical movement and the kinds of intricacies it comes with. It’s a self moving machine with crank and gears.”
Paul uses glossy coating to protect his models, “I still have paper miniature cars which are over 20 years old.”
He claims to be the only person who does paper automata in Bengaluru. “At my workshop on December 11, only three turned up. Apart from me, I haven’t come across any one so far who knows about this.”