Vintage St. George & Dragon Pop-up

This "Saint George and the Dragon" papercraft pop-up scene comes from the 1945 children's book, Bookano Stories Pot-pourri Edition. The word "potpourri" in the title refers to the fact the book features a collection of pop-up stories from other pop-up books by the same publisher. This reproduction was created by Alfredo Podestà who used the original book as a guide for his model. The PDF template for the scene may be downloaded from Alfredo Emotions.

Other Antique Papercraft:

Montgolfier Balloon
Elephant Pagoda
Printable Dollhouse
Paper Anatomy Model
1910 Tram Car

Vintage Tram Car Paper Model

The printable template for this tram car is over 100 years old! It was produced in 1910 by Imagerie d'Epinal, a very prolific producer of paper models back in the day. A high resolution scan of the template may be downloaded from Kartonmodellbau.org, a German papercraft website. According to Kartonmodellbau, the model in the photo took 29 hours to construct! Of course, the builder took the extra steps of creating a base for the tram and replacing the paper windows with clear plastic. It should take you much less time. :)

Other Antique Paper Models:

Elephant Pagoda
Arc de Triomphe
Paper Anatomy Model
Steam Locomotive
Circus Merry-go-round

Vintage Dutch Village Papercraft

The kids' activities website, Woo! Jr, offers this vintage Dutch village papercraft as a free download. Originally drawn in the 1930's, this diorama depicts farm life in the Netherlands in the 1800's. The 3D elements in the set include two houses, a rowboat, a bridge, and a windmill with blades that actually spin. The 2D elements include townsfolk, animals, a tree, and (of course) tulips. The color-it-yourself papercraft template for the village in the form of eight JPG files may be downloaded here. There are a few instructions for the trickier parts of the model on the download page.

Other Architecture Dioramas:

Japanese Cityscape
N Scale German Village
Old West Fort
Little House on the Prairie Town
Mini Christmas Village

Vintage Papercraft Nativity Diorama

This extraordinary papercraft nativity scene was published in an Austrian magazine in 1958. The thing that makes it special is it includes not just a nativity scene, but also five other scenes from the Christmas story. Across the top of the model are Mary and Joseph inquiring at the inn, the Annunciation, and an angel appearing to the shepherds. Along the bottom of the model are the flight of the holy family into Egypt (I think), the nativity, and the three wise men. The JPG format template for the model may be downloaded from the AGK website. German language instructions are included as part of the download.

Other Christmas Papercraft:
Tiny Manger Scene
Santa's House
Easy Printable Nativity
Origami Angel
Snowy Cottage

Montgolfier Balloon Papercraft

I don't know much about this paper model of one of the Montgolfier brother's balloons. It appears to be from a 1988 magazine. The instructions are in French.  I can make out that the balloon depicted by the model flew in 1783 (the year of the first flight by a human in a hot air balloon, I believe). The JPG format pages of the template may be downloaded here. The person who posted the model warns it is not as easy to build as it looks. Due in part to the Montgolfier's experiments, France became the first county to use balloons for aerial reconnaissance (during the French Revolutionary Wars in the 1790's).

Other Paper Models of Flying Things:

Pokemon Meowth Balloon
Da Vinci Ornithopter
Post-it Note Glider
Tron Recognizer

Vintage Inn and Bakery Building Paper Models.

In 1983, the German children's magazine, Fix und Foxi, featured two "mountain house" paper models. One was an inn, the other was a bakery. Scans of the templates for the models may be found here. I suspect these two buildings may have been part of a series, the pieces of which form a village. However, since my German is not very strong, I have not been able to discover through the Internet if my suspicions are true. If anyone has any information on additional models in the set, please let me know.

Previous Vintage Architecture Papercraft:

Arabian School
Arc de Triomphe
Disney Cinderella Castle
Abraham Lincoln Cabin
Elephant Pagoda

Vintage Italian Dive Bomber Papercraft

This antique papercraft airplane is estimated to have been produced in Italy sometime during the 1930's or 40's. The title on the template reads "bombardiere a tuffo" which in English is "dive bomber". And indeed, there is bomb included on the underside of the model. The colorization of the plane (which I love) seems rather fanciful, so I am unsure if the model was intended to represent an actual aircraft or be a generic representation of this type of aircraft. A copy of the template for the airplane may be downloaded here. Build photos by Tom Greensfelder.

Other WW2 Era Aircraft Paper Models:
Deformed Supermarine Spitfire
Ohka Model 22
Mitsubishi Zero Diorama
Deformed Grumman Duck

Vintage Disney Papercraft: Peter Pan Dioramas

Robert Nava at The Disney Experience has done a lovely job of scanning and cleaning up a vintage Peter Pan "punchout book". The 1953 book features glue-less construction and includes four dioramas of scenes from Disney's Peter Pan (my fave is the mermaid scene ^^ ). Pictured is the largest of the dioramas: Captain Hook's pirate ship. The printable PDF for the dioramas may be downloaded here.

Previous Disney Papercraft:

Aladdin: Jafar's Black Lamp
Atlantis Crystal
Up: Carl's House
Pooh's Hunny Pot
Vintage Cinderella Castle
Snow White Magic Mirror Mask

Vintage Ali Baba Paper Theater

The full title of this vintage paper theater is "Pollock's Britannia Theatre with the Characters and Scenes for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." The set includes fourteen characters and several backdrops. The printable template for the theater is available from Agence Eureka. Build photo by Maggie. The tale of Ali Baba comes from a collection of Middle Eastern folk stories known as One Thousand and One Nights.

Previous Paper Theaters:

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Eisbrecher Toy Theater
Teddy's Ornate Theater
Fairy Tale Tableau-Teater

Vintage Western Fort Paper Model

This paper model of a "western fort" was published in 1979 in a German children's magazine. Included with the model are a covered wagon and a canon. The template for the fort may be downloaded here. Palisade type forts such as this have been romanticized as part of the USA's "wild west" past. Build photo by SarienSpiderDroid.

Other Vintage Papercraft:
1934 Eiffel Tower
1962 Dollhouse
1978 Cinderella Castle
1934 Village

Vintage 3D Papercraft Diorama Lampshade

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, paper model publishers sometimes offered lampshade kits for kerosene lamps. These lampshades almost always took the form of 3D papercraft dioramas of exotic locales. The subjects depicted on the paper shades ranged from views of the ancient city of Constantinople to Swiss mountain landscapes to panoramas of the jungles of Asia. The lampshade in the photo was published in Germany around 1905 and is titled "Chinese Landscape". The "lit window" effect seen in the photo can only be achieved by modifying the original template (i.e. cutting out the solid windows and replacing them with a colored, translucent material). The templates for this lampshade and several others may be downloaded here. As common sense would dictate, hot light bulbs and paper shades should not be in close proximity to one another for any extended period of time! Use caution and a very low wattage bulb if you choose to build one of these!

Other Vintage Papercraft:
Elephant Pagoda
Circus Automata
Madonna Fountain
Moorish Style School

Vintage Papercraft Elephant Pagoda

There have been copies of this antique papercraft elephant pagoda floating around the Internet for years. Now thanks to someone at Wurlington Press we finally get to see what the finished model looks like! As far as I can tell from doing a little research, a real-life building like this probably did not exist. There are however numerous bronze statuettes and incense burners that are similar. Some of them are ancient. The template for the elephant pagoda was originally published in 1928 in the Danish magazine, Illustreet Familie-Journal. A scan of the template may be found here.

Other Vintage Papercraft:
Lincoln Log Cabin
Madonna Fountain
Lone Ranger Frontier Town
Renaissance Crucifix Sundial

1956 Ford Thunderbird Paper Model

Here's an antique paper model of an antique car. This papercraft 1956 Ford Thunderbird was created in 1957 by Otto Ravensburg, a German designer. The model is definitely not for beginners! One factor contributing to the difficulty is that the instructions are in German and do not include any images. A download of the template may be found here. Thunderbirds were first produced for the 1955 model year.

Other Papercraft Automobiles:
1968 Shelby Mustang
80's Pontiac Firebird
1993 Dodge Viper
1972 AMC Gremlin

Vintage Ocean Liner Paper Model

At first glance you might think this 1910 ocean liner paper model is the RMS Titanic, but it is actually another ship from the same time period: the SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie. Originally a German ship, the Cecilie was eventually taken over by the US Navy and renamed the USS Mount Vernon. The Mount Vernon served as a troop transport during World War 1 until she was torpedoed in 1918. A scan of the template for the model may be downloaded for free here. The scale of the papercraft is 1:200. Instructions are available in German only.

Other Papercraft Ships:

1775 USS Enterprise Sloop

1542 San Salvador Galleon

Polish Coastal Ferry

Vintage Papercraft Village

In  1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper published a fifteen part series of papercraft buildings for children. Although billed as "fold-up houses", the collection also happens to include some commercial buildings as well. Because the models are monochrome, they somewhat remind me of architecture you might see in the black and white cartoons of the period in which they were produced. Scans of all 15 buildings in the series may be found here.

Other Vintage Architecture Paper Models:
Lincoln Cabin
Six Castles
Lone Ranger Frontier Town
Printable Dollhouse
Moorish School Building

Vintage Lincoln Cabin Papercraft

I was unable to determine the origin of this antique paper model of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. The template is written in Danish and seems to be part of a papercraft series of famous houses from around the world. I think it is likely the model was published by the Danish magazine Illustreret Familie-Journal. A scan of the template may be found here. To give you a sense of the scale of the model, the flagpole is a toothpick.

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in a one room log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. The exact appearance of the cabin in which he was born is not known. The structure depicted in the paper model is a reconstruction built in the late 1800's. At the time the replica cabin was built, it was believed that some of the logs used in its construction came from the original Lincoln family home.

Six Vintage Papercraft Castles

I love these six little vintage papercraft castles, but their origin is a mystery. The only clue to be found is that the templates for the castles list the publisher as "Edivas, Barcelona, Spain". There is no date to indicate how old they might be. From what information I was able to find, it appears that these six castles are part of a paper model series that includes at least nine models. Scans of the templates may be viewed here.

Vintage Disney: Cinderella Castle Paper Model

The German website "Seite 42" (Page 42) has hundreds of scans of paper model templates from old Disney magazines. This 1978 Cinderella Castle is one of the more elaborate of the models. The six part download of the template may be found here. If you don't know German, you will have to make do with the diagrams, photos, and numbers in order to complete the model. Build photos by Dickie Raye Stewart.

Vintage Madonna Fountain Papercraft

This antique papercraft was published by Imagerie d'Epinal, a 19th century publishing company based in France.  The model is entitled "Fontaine de la Madone" (Fountain of Madonna). "Madonna" is in reference to the statue of Mary with the Christ Child that adorns the top of the fountain. I was unable to determine if the fountain depicted in this model is real or fictional. As the Epinal company is known for publishing models of romanticized scenes, I suspect the subject of this model is fictional. The 2D figures in the model include a man watering his horses in a side basin, a woman praying in front of the statue, and a man who is apparently getting a drink of water with cupped hands. A scan of the template for the fountain may be found here.

Vintage Papercraft Lone Ranger Frontier Town

In the 1940's, Cheerios did an advertising tie-in with the Lone Ranger radio show. On the backs of Cheerios boxes were printed papercraft templates for the various buildings of the Lone Ranger's frontier town. There were nine different box backs in all. Additional buildings, along with four base maps, could be ordered by mail. Scans of each and every part of the frontier town may be viewed at the Trilling Days memorabilia website. According to the site's author, when fully assembled, the base map of the town covered nearly 15 square feet!