Possible alternative to direct printing and assembly - Anybody tried it?

[Arjun]

Some of the models I've made, particularly the MiG-29, were in hard cardstock. When I put sections together, I could clearly see the borders. Not a very pretty sight! Of course, that was a totally hand-made model. And of course, when you run hard card into a printer, the printer often tends to act up, or the prints are not that stable. Not a good sign if you're modelling a Ferrrari, with the curves. It doesn't help matters much when we lose fold lines or they get in the way of the textures.

Now I am thinking- why not make one print of the layout only with fold lines on cardstock, assemble the model, then print the textures on regular paper and wrap the textures on the model? That way, seams between sections are a lot less clear. We can use tabs here because the paper thickness is so minimal, the seams will blend better.

There are, however, some issues. If there are projections or extrusions (airplane wings and fins, or engines from wings, or car fins), how do you get around them? And how large should the tabs be to use minimal glue and avoid the texture paper getting puffy?