Prop Airplane papercraft

These papercraft models of propeller driven airplanes are free samples from the Hairston Aviation website. On top is a 1:60 scale model of a Cessna 172 and the lower model is a Pitts S-1S at 1:45 scale (downloads here). Besides these two free ones, there are dozens of other airplane model templates available for a few dollars a piece. All the models are the work of James J. Hairston, an aviation enthusiast who started building card model aircraft when he was a kid during World War II.

Doctor Who Papercraft: Adipose

In the "Partners in Crime" episode of the newest Doctor Who television series, there appear hundreds of cuddly little alien creatures called "Adipose". The oddest thing about the Adipose is that they are composed entirely of human body fat. This makes sense considering "adipose" is the medical term for fat tissue. The fatty papercraft pictured above is the creation of Sponzar of the Hunkydorky blog. You can grab a template for a papercraft Adipose of your own here.

Star Trek Papercraft: Medical Tricorder & Scanner

Here's another papercraft from the Star Trek Voyager Elite Force video game. This is the medical tricorder and scanner used by Starfleet medical personnel in the game, including the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) doctor. Like the Starfleet PADD papercraft I did previously, the textures on this model are a little too grainy for my liking, but since I thought this model would interest enough people I went ahead and posted it. If I had the time, I would pull the PDF into Photoshop and redo the textures. The template info is as follows:

Scale: 1:1
Finished Size:
* Tricorder - 3.5" (8.9 cm) x 8" (20.3 cm)
* Scanner - 4" (10.2 cm)
Number of sheets: 2
Number of parts: 6
Difficulty: 1/5
Download

A while back, I had a request to do a standard Starfleet tricorder papercraft, but I found that the 3D model in Elite Force is really rough and doesn't look much like the tricorders from the Voyager television show. So, unfortunately, this medical version is the best I will be able to do in the way of tricorder papercraft.

UPDATE 9/12/12: A improved version of this papercraft is available here! 

Other Star Trek papercraft posts:
Hirogen Shuriken
Terran Empire Knife
Starfleet PADD
Klingon Knife
Hypospray
Borg Cube

Special Edition Doctor Manhattan Boxpunx

I have seen more than a few Watchmen paper toys since the movie was released this year, but this Doctor Manhattan paper toy is the only one I have seen so far from Boxpunx creator Jason Harlan. To commemorate an interview he did earlier this month at giantkillersquid.com, Jason created this exclusive "Dr. M" Boxpunx which is only available on the Giant Killer Squid website. The template may be downloaded here.

1960's Batmobile Paper Toy

This paper toy was modeled after the Batmobile that appeared in the 1960's Batman television series. The boxy shape is due to the fact that it is a customization of the "Foldskool" paper toy template by Marshall Alexander. The template for this Batmobile is the creation of paper toy designer Matthijs Kamstra [aka MCK] and may be found on his website here.

Steampunk Gas Mask Papercraft

Parts of the Tron 2.0 video game take place in the "real world" as opposed to the electronic world inside a computer, so there are 3d models in the game of real world people and items. I think this gas mask appears in a scene in a laboratory. I chose to label this papercraft model "Steampunk" instead of "Tron" because of the way it is styled and also because it just wasn't all that Tron-like. ^^ The finished model is sized to be wearable but as the paper strap is not elastic you will need to modify the strap in some way if you want to be able to take it on and off. Adding velcro to the paper strap or replacing the paper strap with a real elastic band are possibilities. Here is the template info:

Scale: 1:1
Finished Size: 4.5" (11.4 cm) height (not including strap)
Number of sheets: 2
Number of parts: 7
Difficulty: 2/5
Download

Perry Rhodan Discoverer Starship Papercraft

Despite its looks, this papercraft is not some alternate version of the Death Star or a training remote from Star Wars. This is a starship from the long running German science fiction book series, Perry Rhodan. In the books, the Discoverer ("Entdecker" in German) starships are said to have a diameter of 1800 meters (5906 feet) and operated by a crew of 500. This papercraft was created by Marco Scheloske and Raimund Peter. A download of the template is available here.

Related Posts:
Tron Recognizer Papercraft

One-Eyed Monster Paper Toys

It's hard to pass up a good cartoonish monster paper toy. ^^ Here are two of my favorites, both with a single eye. Each of these was created by Maximiliano Garcia Luna who brought us the Eye of Providence paper toy which also had a single eye (hmmm, I am sensing a trend here). The templates for these papertoys are found here and here.

Star Wars Papercraft: Imperial Starships

These Imperial starship papercraft models were created by "Da~Wind" in 2006. I am no expert when it comes to Star Wars spacecraft, but I believe that both these ships have only appeared in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (i.e. comic books, video games etc.). My experience with these type of ships has been through the Star Wars: Empire at War video game. The upper starship is a Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser which is said to be one of the older types of vessels used by the Imperial Navy. The lower starship is an Interdictor-class Star Destroyer. The distinguishing feature of these ships are the domed structures that contain gravity well projectors which prevent enemy ships from escaping to hyperspace. The templates for these ships are available in Pepakura PDO format only, but the nice thing is that the PDO files are unlocked so you can make changes to the layout and scale of the template if you desire. The templates may be downloaded here. While you are there check out the extensive collection of Homeworld paper models by Erick Muñoz.

Star Trek Papercraft: Hirogen Shuriken

For lack of a better term, I call this weapon a "shuriken", although at 12" (30.5 cm) from tip to tip it is way larger than most real shurikens. In the Star Trek Voyager Elite Force video game this object appears on a wall of weapons inside a Hirogen starship. The Hirogen are an ancient nomadic alien species whose culture revolves around "the hunt". The weapons displayed on the weapon walls inside their ships are those used for the final kill of the wounded prey at the end of the hunt. Papercraft template info is as follows:
Scale: 1:1 (estimated)Finished Size: 12" (30.5 cm) acrossNumber of sheets: 3Number of parts: 12Difficulty: 4/5Download
I have numerous works in progress for Elite Force papercraft, but I am finding that the more complex 3D models are taking a significant amount of editing in order to make them papercraft ready. This may slow down how often I am able to release Star Trek models in the future. Those video game designers just aren't always thinking about papercraft when they design their 3D models. ^^

Previous Star Trek papercraft posts:
Terran Empire Knife
Starfleet PADD
Klingon Knife
Hypospray
Borg Cube

Astronomy Papercraft: Heart Globe Earth

Here's another fascinating glue-less Earth globe papercraft from Canadian designer David Swart. Starting with the geometric form of a Pentagonal Hexecontahedron, David added slotted tabs in a way that makes each of the globe's faces heart shaped. A template of the globe is available here. David's previous slide together creation was a globe puzzle.

Customizable Papercraft iPod Cover

I think it's cool when people come up with programs that create custom papercraft. iPapercraft.com has an online program that allows you to create custom papercraft iPod covers. First, enter what size iPod you have. Second, upload an image. Third, hit the button and out comes a PDF template. For the template pictured above, I chose an iPod Nano size and uploaded a colorized version of the 1888 Flammarion Woodcut. If you look at the template closely, it is obvious that some trimming will need to be done to get the cover to fit together correctly, but that shouldn't be too difficult for the average papercrafter to figure out. :)

Related Posts:
Astonomy Paper Models #2

UPDATE 8/14/17: Sorry! This online program is no longer available. :(

Coraline Papercraft: Seeing Stone

I finally saw the movie Coraline last weekend and was inspired to do a papercraft of the "seeing stone" from the movie. The stone is given to Coraline by two elderly ladies after she asks their help in finding her lost parents. Later Coraline finds that when she looks through the hole in the stone the world appears black and white while whatever object she is seeking glows red. I am happy with how sturdy the final model turned out. Except for the gluing flaps, there are no folds. I instead curved the paper for a more rounded look. Here are the specifics of the template:

Scale: 1:1
Finished Size: 3.5" (8.9 cm) x 3.5" (8.9 cm) x 0.75" (1.9 cm)
Number of sheets: 1
Number of parts: 6
Difficulty: 3/5
Download

Other papercraft of mystic artifacts:
Headpiece to the Staff of Ra
Eye of Agamotto
Masonic Medallion
Phial of Galadriel

Retro Rocket Ship Papercraft

This brightly colored papercraft reminds me a lot of Flash Gordon's rocket ship from the old 1930's movie serials. Officially entitled "Zootian Intergalactic Biz Booster Rocket", this paper rocket was released as a promotional item by the Zoot! Advertising Design company during the 2005 Christmas season. A download of the template is available here.

Paper Star Wars Lucha Libre Masks

Artist Randy Martinez has re-envisioned the masks of four Star Wars villains as if they were Mexican wrestlers. These fanciful Lucha Libre masks include General Grievous, Darth Vader, Darth Maul and Boba Fett. Each one of these printable masks is available here at the kids section of starwars.com.

Da Vinci Papercraft: Ornithopter

Among Leonardo da Vinci's numerous designs are plans for an ornithopter. An ornithopter is a machine that flys by imitating the flapping motion that birds use. Some examples of fictional ornithopters seen in movies are the aircraft that the Wookies use in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and also the "flapters" in Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky. This paper model of Da Vinci's invention is offered by Czech Radio Leonardo here.