Volkswagen Papercraft - Cartoon Herbie

VW Beetle Series, Part 3
This is an odd cartoonish papercraft of Disney's Herbie the Love Bug. I am not sure of the origin of this model. I assume it was originally produced in the 60's or 70's as a publicity item for one of the series of Herbie movies that were released at the time. The instructions included with the template seem to indicate that it was intended for children and that it was probably printed on the back of a box of some kind. The 3D decoupage-like design of the fenders causes the Beetle to look somewhat strange when seen directly from the front or rear. A free download of the Beetle is available here.

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Star Wars Papercraft: Hoth Turret & Cannon

Many miniature gaming fans are turning to papercraft as a way to enhance their game play. These are two fan produced papercraft props for the Star Wars Miniatures game produced by Wizards of the Coast. The turret and cannon orginally appeared in the 1980 movie, The Empire Strikes Back. The templates for these pieces are available for download with registration at www.swminiatures.com and were designed by Eli Kurtz, Germany, 2005.

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Volkswagen Papercraft: Hand Drawn Beetle

VW Beetle Series, Part 2
This papercraft Beetle is unusual in a couple of ways. First, it is a hand drawn template, something that has become relatively rare in our computer age. Second, even though the Beetle is known for its rounded profile, the designer chose to use a boxy shape for the model. The template for this model is available from the Antique Automobile Club of America on their website.

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Volkswagen Papercraft: 1999 Beetle

VW Beetle Series, Part 1
This is the first in a seven part series of my builds of various VW Beetle papercraft. I hope to have all seven builds posted in the next several weeks but there are likely to be some other posts that will interrupt the series from time to time. :) This Beetle is by Mitsuaki Ohashi, Japan, 1999 and can be downloaded here. For a template with only two parts it achieves a good three dimensional shape. One quirk I noticed with the template is that one of the backup lights on the rear of the Beetle is white and the other is red.

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Phial of Galadriel Papercraft

Twenty three years before Peter Jackson created his version, Rankin/Bass produced their 1980 made-for-televison, animated version of Tolkien's Return of the King. This papercraft is my rendition of the "Phial of Galadriel" as it appears in the Rankin/Bass version of the story. The Phial of Galadriel is a small bottle which the Elf queen Galadriel gives to the Hobbit Frodo Baggins to assist him in his quest. The phial is capable of magically emitting a bright star-like light. Galadriel describes the phial as "a light for you in dark places, when all other lights go out."

Template Info
Scale: 1:1
Finished Size: 4 1/2" (11.4 cm)
Number of sheets: 1
Number of parts: 9
Difficulty: 4/5
Download: Here

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Astronomy Paper Models #2

I came across an interesting website where you can upload any image and it will output a template of the image mapped onto an icosahedron. Above are photographs of two models I created using the website. For the first model I input a satellite image of the entire Earth. For the second I input an image of an 18th century European map of the celestial sphere which shows artistic representations of the constellations. Each model is about 3" across and they were each constructed with cardstock and double sided tape. To try it yourself, go to http://www.hirax.net/map/.

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Magic Wand Papertoy

Here is a nice magic wand papercraft that designer Marilyn Scott-Waters offers as a free download on her website. It is difficult to capture in a photograph, but both the star and the handle have a subtle Celtic knot pattern. The star is roughly 4 1/2" (11.4 cm) across. Without the handle the star would make a good Christmas tree ornament or even a topper for a smaller tree. Marilyn designed the wand in 2007 and it may be downloaded here. In addition to the color wand pictured above, there is a black and white template available that you can color yourself.

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Pop-up Santa Christmas Card

This pop-up Christmas card arrived at my place of work the other day. As a papercraft fan, it caught my eye. The card was mailed flat but with a gentle squeeze at each side it popped into the shape you see in the photo above. The company which produces this card (as well as several other pop-up cards and calendars) is Graphics3. Their designs can be seen at their website, http://www.graphics3inc.com/. Unfortunately there are no downloads of their products available. :(

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Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Papercraft

I have another free original papercraft template available: The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. The Holy Hand Grenade is a fictional Christian relic that appears in the 1975 comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In the movie the relic is used by King Arthur and his men to dispatch an ill tempered rabbit who guards the Cave of Caerbannog...

Building the hand grenade is not as easy as it looks. While I think a few build imperfections add to the "rustic Medieval charm" of the model, those who are more perfectionistic will want to be well rested before beginning or they may find themselves throwing the unfinished grenade against the wall in frustration. ;) Here are the model details:

Template Info

Scale: 1:1

Finished Size (with base): 5" (12.7 cm) x 9 1/4" (23.5 cm)

Number of sheets: 3

Number of parts: 10

Difficulty: 4/5

Download: Here

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Papercraft Animals #2

In a previous post I mentioned making papercraft animals for my daughter. Here are some more I built for her. Each one of these papertoys is based on a cylinder shape. From left to right the models are:

• "Funny Cats" (there are several designs available) by Yuuku, Japan, 2004 which can be found here.
  
  
• "Goldie Chick" by Tadan, Sweden, 2007 which can be found here.
  
  
• Panda by Toylava, Japan, 2006 which can be found here.

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Lovecraft Papercraft

Here are three papertoys from the realm of Lovecraftian horror literature. Writer H. P. Lovecraft and his circle of authors created a shared fictional universe. In this universe there are various arcane books of forbidden lore which reveal secrets about ancient monstrous entities. The black book is a papertoy of Unaussprechlichen Kulten, a book first appearing in the works of Robert E. Howard. The yellow papertoy book is De Vermis Mysteriis first seen in the works of Robert Bloch. On top of the books is a papertoy of Cthulhu, one of the ancient entities often mentioned in Lovecraftian literature. Each of these toys was created by Jerom, France, 2007 and can be found here, here, and here.

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Marvel Papercraft - Mjolnir, Thor's Hammer

I have finished my second papercraft design! This model is of Mjolnir, the weapon of the Marvel Comics superhero Thor. The character of Thor was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and is based loosely on the god of thunder of the same name from Norse mythology. Mjolnir, among other things, enables Thor to fly, summon lightning, and create interdimensional portals. Rumor has it that a Thor movie will be released in 2010. Let's hope it will be as good as Marvel's Ironman was in 2008.

Template Info
Scale: 1:2
Finished Size: 5 1/2" (14 cm) x 10 1/4" (26 cm)
Number of sheets: 3
Number of parts: 7
Difficulty: 3/5
Download: Here

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Retro Cartoon Robot Papercraft

There are two things that always make me smile: monkeys and robots. So you can expect to see builds of both in the future. :) Today the post goes to robots.

On the left is Rosie the robot maid from the early 60's American television cartoon The Jetsons . The model may look simple but it actually took some time to complete. The original template is very small, without instructions, and was not designed with any gluing tabs. I enlarged the template almost 100% and improvised my own gluing tabs to make it easier to build. The original template was designed by Phil Shore, USA, 2008 and can be found here.

On the right is H.E.R.B.I.E (Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics) from the 1978 Saturday morning cartoon The Fantastic Four which was based on the Marvel comic book series of the same name. The H.E.R.B.I.E character was designed by none other than comic book legend Jack Kirby who was working as a story board artist for the show at the time. After the show was canceled, H.E.R.B.I.E eventually began making appearances in the FF comic books themselves. The template for this papercraft was designed by Sean Kleefeld, USA, 1998 as part of a "fun pack" which is offered on his Fantastic Four fan site here. The original template was designed to be assembled without glue but I improvised some gluing tabs on the head and body to help the model hold its shape better.

UPDATE 05.27.2009: Unfortunately the link to H.E.R.B.I.E seems to be permanently dead. I don't think Mr. Kleefeld would mind if I posted an image of the template so that others can continue to enjoy building his creation, so here it is:

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Movie Papercraft #1

I have a fondness for movie prop papercraft. Many of the papercraft I am currently designing fall into this category. On the left is a Guy Fawkes mask from the 2005 movie V for Vendetta. The template for the mask was designed by Kim Ruben, Norway, 2006 and can be found here. On the right is Jack Sparrow's compass from the Disney Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The hinged lid latches and the compass pointer actually spins. The template for the compass is by Robert Nava, USA, 2006 and can be downloaded here. Both these models are at 1:1 scale.

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2001 Papercraft - HAL 9000 Interface

I am currently working on several papercraft designs and this is the first to be finished. It shouldn't be hard to see why this one was first. It only has three parts! :)

The "HAL 9000 Interface" was the electronic eye and speaker which the HAL 9000 computer used to communicate with the crew of the spacecraft Discovery One in the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Template Info
Scale: 1:1
Finished Size: 4"(10cm) x 12"(30.5cm) x 1/2"(1.3cm)

Number of sheets: 2

Number of parts: 3

Difficulty: 1/5
Download: Here.

More fun
If you want to turn your home computer into the HAL 9000 using this papercraft, a screen saver that mimics HAL 9000 monitor images from the movie can be found at this website.

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Papercraft Animals #1

My daughter wanted animals as decorations on her birthday cake. These are a few I built for the occasion. Each one is constructed out of 110 lb (200 gsm) cardstock, although using something less stiff might have been easier due to their curving construction. To keep their paper feet from getting ruined by the icing I designed a cake top platform for them to sit on. With some modifications I may post the platform later as a download. All the animals pictured were designed by Tetsuya Watabe, Japan, 2007-2008 and can be found here.

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Tabletop Graveyard Papercraft

This past Halloween I pieced together a tabletop graveyard decoration from several free paper models available on the internet. The miniature ghost, zombie and werewolf figures in the graveyard are from a customizable game called Heroscape. The scale of the graveyard is roughly 1:58 (28mm) with the finished scene being about 8" (20cm) by 10" (25cm) and 5 1/2" (13cm) tall. Models included in the scene are:

• Wall, gate, & graves by Wizards of the Coast, USA, 2003.
  Models are here.
  
  
• Mausoleum & ground texture by Oidessy Paper Models, Italy, 2003.
  Models are here.
  
  
• Tomb by Stones Edges, USA, 2004.
  Model is here.
  

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Astronomy Paper Models #1

Here are three astronomy papercraft I built. Each one was made with heavyweight typing paper and double sided tape. The larger one in the middle was my first attempt at paper modeling. From left to right they are:

• Moon Icosahedron by Calvin J. Hamilton, USA, 1998
  Model can be found here.
  


• Polyhedron Skyglobe by Richard Powell, Great Britain, 1998
  Model can be found here.
  
  
• Earth Rhombicuboctahedron by Carlos A. Furuti, Brazil, 2004
  Model can be found here.
  

The hardest part of each of these models was getting the final side taped in place without crushing the model.

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Beginnings

I was first introduced to the hobby of papercraft in the summer of 2008. Inspired by what I saw, I started building free models from the internet and also designing my own models. My purposes for creating this blog are: 1) to share my builds and offer information on where the models can be found and 2) to post for others the free designs I have created. With any luck I should be able to post my first free model no later than January 2009!

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