L 'Instant Durable's Métro de Paris is a card model that I picked up in a Paris gift shop in the summer of 2004.
The above picture of the uncut postcard (approx. 4 1/4" x 6 1/2") comes from Moduni. The photo below is of my completed model.
L 'Instant Durable is a well known French publisher card model publisher. Their 3-D postcard models were all over Paris, and were easy to find. They publish more than 150 cards with 100 architectural models. L'Instant Durable offers nearly every famous French building like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Sacré-Cœur to name a few. They also publish card models from other European countries.
The postcard is printed on a heavy card stock that makes it a little difficult to cut out the fine details like the lampposts. I ended up splitting some bamboo skewers and gluing them against the back of the two lampposts to reinforce the sign as a whole.
There are several designers for L 'Instant Durable's models. Since the larger models are printed as books, it is easy to find who worked on each one, but I cannot find a credit for the postcards.
The 3-D card model is beautifully rendered and colored. To give you an idea of how well designed the model is I have included a photo of the actual Pigalle Métro station. (My apologies to the person who posted the original vacation photo online, but it was the best example I could find.)
I when I picked up Métro de Paris (station Pigalle), I also purchased the Opéra de Paris and will information about it shortly. Of course now I wish I had picked up more of the postcards.
