Maserati Race Car Papercraft

The Maserati 250F was the car that Juan Manuel Fangio drove to victory in the 1957 World Championship. This paper model of the race car was created by Grand Prix enthusiast Paul Cheard using Adobe Illustrator. Cheard estimates that the ten piece model takes about 3 to 4 hours to build. A free download of the template is available here.

Simple Sea Serpent Papercraft

Sometimes simple papercraft can be the most fun to build. This paper toy sea serpent by artist Laura Schlipf gets my vote in the fun-to-build category. Despite being Laura's first papercraft design, she has added some creative touches like including an extra page of "humps" in the template which may be printed out as many times as desired to make (as she puts it) a serpent that is "reeeally long". The three pages of the template may be found here.

Related Papercraft:
Loch Ness Monster

Star Wars Papercraft: X-Wing Starfighter

There are quite a few different papercraft models out there of the X-Wing starfighter from the Star Wars movies, but what sets this one apart is its cartoonish looks which I find kind of cute for some reason. This model is the creation of Al MacDonald who does the online comic "Diary of a Crazed Mimbanite". The style of the X-Wing somewhat matches the style of the online comic. Al has also created a TIE fighter to go along with the X-Wing. Both templates may be downloaded here.

Alan Moore Paper Toys

Alan Moore is the UK comic book writer who brought us Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V for Vendetta. Despite his excellent writing abilities, I always thought Moore's looks were a little creepy. These paper toys turn up the creep factor a notch by adding glowing red eyes to the mix. Both these toys are available from Mustard comedy magazine as part of their paper toy series of celebrities who have appeared on the cover of the magazine. A download the PDF templates is here.

Hover Tank Paper Models

These hover tank paper models were intended to be used with science fiction themed tabletop wargaming, but I think they are they are kinda cute in and of themselves. Since the scale of the models is 15mm (1:120), the template for one tank is small enough to fit on a single sheet of paper. Each of these tanks was designed by UK miniature gamer Jermey Claridge and may be download from his website here. There are three other tank models available in addition to the three pictured above. Also, each of the tanks may be built with either a plain metal, desert camo, or woodland camo color scheme.

Power Ranger Papercraft: Morpher Belt Buckle

It has been a very, very long time since I have watched an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but I do remember the power morpher belt buckles they had with the dino power coins. "It's morphin time! Mastodon!" A member of the Rangerboard forum known as "TheGreenRanger" has created this papercraft version of the dino buckler morpher. The template for the buckler includes all six dino coins so you can build whatever version you wish. The five parts of the template are here. There are very few gluing tabs and no instructions, so you are on your own when it comes to assembling it. 

Half-Life Papercraft: Headcrab Zombie Mask

I consider this papercraft project something of a failed experiment, but I thought I would post it anyway just in case someone else might be able to do something with it. My original goal was to take a 3D model of a headcrab zombie from the Half-Life video game and turn the zombie's head into a full size hollow paper model that could be worn as a mask. Well, that was a nice idea, but after I did a test build it became apparent that the thing was a little too strangely shaped to work well as a mask. Still, someone else might be able to modify it to get it to work. For those unfamiliar with Half-Life, headcrabs are parasitic creatures that attach themselves to a human host's head eventually turning the host into a zombie. The faint skull image that appears on this papercraft model is presumably the host's skull showing through the headcrab's tightly stretched skin. Details of the template are as follows:

Scale: 1:1 estimated

Finished Size: 15.7"(40cm) x 12.6"(32cm) x 13.8"(35cm)

Number of sheets: 12

Number of parts: 34

Difficulty: 3/5

Download (includes lined & unlined PDF's and a PDO)

Previous Half-Life Papercraft:9mm Glock Handgun

Vehicle Papercraft: Morris Commercial Light Van

UK paper model designer Pete Watson has a passion for British road and rail transport models. His website offers dozens of 00 scale trams, buses and commercial vehicle models. One of the free models he offers is this Morris Commercial Light Van. The time period for this delivery van is not mentioned, but my guess is that it was used in the 1950's. A download of the van template is available here.

Iron Man Helmet Paper Model

The 2008 Iron Man movie has inspired a lot of great papercraft and here is another one to add to the list. This full size Iron Man helmet was created by a Texas papercrafter known online only as "DungBeetle". In addition to this movie accurate helmet, DungBeetle is also working on some 1:1 scale armor, but as of yet the helmet is the only piece to which color has been added. A free download of the helmet is available here. The download includes both PDF and Pepakura PDO templates.

Cute Paper Dice Birds

These cute papercraft birds may not look like dice at first glance, but in the lower right corner of each face there is a small number. The bird dice come complete with a nifty carrying case with a hinged lid. The templates for these are available here at a Japanese website called "Mongo Village". If I knew Japanese I could tell you more, but it appears these birds are characters that live on an imaginary island.

Star Wars Papercraft: Darth D2

What do you get when you cross the Star Wars characters Darth Maul and R2 D2? Uh... Darth D2? It is perhaps not the best designed R2 unit papercraft around, but the idea behind it is pretty amusing nonetheless. Kim Lang, who designed this Sith droid in 2009 also designed a normal R2D2 papercraft to be its companion. Both templates may be found here on Lang's website, 365characters.net. Lang's goal in starting 365characters was to create one fictional character or creature every day for a year. The project is scheduled to be completed in May 2010.