Easy Printable Pirate Ship Playset

The old family.disney.com website (later known as "Spoonful") had lots of great papercraft projects parents could do with children. But alas, the Spoonful website shut down in 2014. One of the Spoonful projects I liked, was this easy printable pirate ship. The playset included a 3D ship, cannons, and some 2D pirate figures (including a few skeleton crew members!) An archived copy of the playset's PDF template (along with instructions) may be found at this: download link. Besides paper, what else is required to build this ship are some drinking straws to hold the sails to the masts.

Other Spoonful Paper Projects:

Princess Paper Dolls
18" Jack Skellington Figure
3D Nemo Papercraft
Wonderland Easter Diorama
Teardrop Mickey

Jaws Orca Papercraft

If you have seen the 1975 movie, Jaws, then you know this boat. It is the Orca. The boat figures prominently in the movie as it is the vessel the three main characters use to track down the murderous great white shark. In the end the Orca is destroyed. This paper model is a 1:100 scale "micromodel" designed by Rawen. The one page PDF template for the model may be downloaded from MediaFire. In real life the Orca was a lobster boat that was repurposed for the movie.

Other Movie Related Papercraft:

Hellraiser Puzzle Cube
Moonraker Space Shuttle
Coraline Seeing Stone
MCU Infinity Gauntlet 
Fifth Element Stones

Disneyland Pirate Ship Paper Model

Once upon a time, there was a full size pirate ship at Disneyland in California. Although built to look like a ship, it was actually a restaurant building that didn't float at all. Through meticulous effort, Robert Nava has created out of paper a scale model of the restaurant ship. The Printable PDF template for the model may be download at Robert's website, The Disney Experience. Extensive instructions are included. The Disneyland ship fed thousands of happy people from 1955 until 1983, when it was demolished.

Other Papercraft Ships:

17th Century Warship
Bismarck Battleship
Easy Mayflower
Pop-up Galleon
Tall Ship Educational Papercraft

One Piece Blackbeard Pirates Ship

As you may know, the One Piece anime is all about pirates. In the earlier episodes of the show, the group known as the Blackbeard Pirates makes use of a ship that appears to be a simple raft. Upon closer inspection however, it can be seen that the "raft" is built of redwood sized logs that have been hollowed out. Gun ports line every side. This papercraft likeness of the ship was created by GoPaper. The PNG format template may be found at this download link. Sorry folks, no instructions for this model! It should be easy enough to figure out, though, if you reference the photos while you build.

Other Papercraft Ships:

Easy Mayflower
Captain Hook Ship Diorama
Zelda Wind Waker Ship Origami
Realistic Spanish Galleon
17th Century Warship

Papercraft Pokemon Cities

Pokecreation has created 3D papercraft dioramas based on 2D cities seen in the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl video game. Currently available in the collection are Snowpoint City, Sendgem Town, Jubilife City and Twinleaf Town. Each city includes a Pokemon Center and a Poke-Mart (of course!). The thing I like about these dioramas is that each element has it's own template. So, it is easy to print out, say one house or a boat, without printing out a lot of other stuff you don't want. The templates for these cities come in both PDF and Pepakura PDO format and may be downloaded here. Sorry, no instructions are available.

Other Pokemon Papercraft:

Life Size Eevee
Bulbasaur
Quilava
Suicune
Totodile

Bismarck Battleship Paper Model

The Bismarck was a German battleship that saw action in World War II. In its last battle in 1941, the ship was scuttled after sustaining heavy damage from British torpedo bombers and warships. This 1:400 scale paper model of the Bismarck was created by Zio Prudenziati. The PDF template for the model may be downloaded here. Only a few instructions are included in the PDF. My favorite part of this model are the tiny boats and seaplane on the deck of the ship!

Other Papercraft Ships:

Lilla Weneda Ferry
Mini Titanic
Spanish Galleon
1775 USS Enterprise
1910 Ocean Liner

17th Century Warship Paper Model

This papercraft is a free sample from a company that sells DIY 1:600 scale cardstock models of ships. Their products are intended for use in miniature wargaming. The sample model is of a specific historic ship: the Brederode, a 17th century Dutch warship. Building a ship of such a small scale takes patience, especially when putting together the masts and rigging which are made out of wire and thread respectively. The printable PDF template for the ship may be downloaded here. 

Other Papercraft Ships:

Ghost Ship
Vintage Santa Maria
Spanish Galleon
1:300 USS Enterprise
RMS Titanic

Easy Mayflower Papercraft

I don't know about you, but I have had a tough time over the years finding any decent free Thanksgiving themed papercraft. Most of it is too simplistic for my taste. Although still an easy build, this Mayflower paper model is a step up from the usual fare. The template for the model is offered by the Dorking Museum & Heritage Centre and may be downloaded here. The city of Dorking, by the way, is the city in England that six of the Mayflower's passengers called home before departing for North America in 1620. You will need more than just paper to build this papercraft. The instructions call for the masts to be wooden kebab sticks (a chop stick or a dowel rod might also work). 

Other Seasonal Papercraft:

Roast Turkey Origami
Cute Candy Corn Treat Box
Advent Calendar Village
Christmas Market Carrousel
Zombie Snowflakes

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

Tin Toy Boat Papercraft

Papercraft designer Patrick Pasques found an old toy: a windup paddle steamer. He loved it so much he decided to create a papercraft version of the boat. The original toy is shown in the lower photo, the paper model in the upper. Patrick offers a download of his creation on his website located here. Tin toys such as this one were popular in the early twentieth century.

Other Papercraft by Patrick Pasques:
Mexican Tarantula
Automata Skull

Miniature RMS Titanic Paper Model

To call this paper model of the RMS Titanic a "miniature Titanic" seems like something of an oxymoron. :) Because I have so very limited information on the model, I hesitated to post about it, but in the end the coolness factor of the project pushed me to go ahead. Here is what I know about the model... It was created in 2011 by a Japanese designer whose name may be "Masayu-i". The paper model is atypical in that it was designed to be printed on color paper rather than white paper. Due to the small scale of the model, a paper thickness of .22 mm or thinner is recommended. The colors of paper required are as follows:

・白（white）■
・グレー (gray) 70% ■
・グレー (gray) 50% ■
・くるみ (dark brown) ■
・べに (dark red) ■
・ベージュ (beige) ■
・ひまわり (sunflower) ■

I don't know the scale of the model (so don't bother asking). A download of the PNG template for the ship may be found here. Partial photo instructions may be found here.  The Titanic sank on her maiden voyage in 1912.

Other Papercraft Ships:
Spanish Galleon
Polish Coastal Ferry
USS Mount Vernon

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

Papercraft Wargaming Ship

This papercraft wargaming ship is a free sample from War Artisan's Workshop. The model is a miniature representation of the 1775 sloop-of-war, USS Enterprise (the first ship to bear the name!)  The scale of the ship is 1:300. Other materials required to build the model include toothpicks, wire, and thread. Tweezers are a must when assembling the parts! Photo instructions are included as part of the download.

Other Paper Model Ships:
Spanish Galleon
Viking Cargo Ship
The Santa Maria
Polish Coastal Ferry

Spanish Galleon Papercraft

As an educational outreach to teach the details of sixteenth-century Spanish galleons, the San Diego Maritime Museum offers this free paper model of the San Salvador. In 1542, the San Salvador was the flagship of the first European fleet to enter San Diego Bay.  A medium difficulty model and an advanced level model are available. Templates for both the 1:100 scale models may be downloaded here.  Earlier this year, the Maritime Museum completed a functioning full scale replica of the San Salvador.

Previous Papercraft Ships:

Pop-up Paper Galleon
Santa Maria Paper Model
Tall Ship Papercraft
Pirate Ship Paper Model

Pop-up Paper Galleon

Roger Pattenden is an professional designer of architectural paper models. This pop-up paper galleon is a free download from his website, Heritage Models. The model is described by Pattenden as follows:

 "The design is loosely based on drawings of 16th century carracks, trading ships with high fore and aft decks. They were the forerunners of the later galleons, which were highly armed warships."

The download for the ship includes both templates and detailed instructions with diagrams.

Viking Cargo Ship Papercraft

This papercraft Viking cargo ship was created by GrendelsMother64. According to Grendel:

"Knarrs were the workhorse ships of the Vikings (when they weren't looting and pillaging).  These were the ships that sailed across the North Sea, the North Atlantic, up the Volga River....bringing trade goods, loot, slaves and settlers to and from everywhere the vikings went."

Just the size for table top gaming, the papercraft template for this ship may be downloaded here.

Columbus Ship Paper Model: Santa Maria

Here is a simple paper model of the Santa Maria, the largest of the three ships Columbus used in his first voyage to the New World. The full name of the Santa Maria is La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción. The template for the ship may be downloaded here. The build photo is by Ellen McHenry.

Leonardo Papercraft Vehicles

The BBC's children's television series Leonardo features an imaginative story line that follows the adventures of a teenage Leonardo DaVinci. The kid's activity page for the series features four free paper models of Leonardo's inventions. Included in the set are a tank, a bicycle, a glider and a submarine.  The templates for the papercraft vehicles may be downloaded here.

Tall Ship Papercraft

I always wondered where the poop deck and the mizzin mast were on a tall ship. ;) Now thanks to Ray O'Bannon at Ravensblight, not only can you learn the parts of a tall ship, you can build a paper model of one as well. Ravensblight specializes in haunted papercraft so this is a ghost ship of course. The PDF template for the ship may be downloaded here.

Zelda Origami: King of Red Lions Ship

Origami doesn't get much easier than this. Take two squares of paper, add a couple of folds and you have a great looking King of Red Lions ship. The King of Red Lions is a talking sailboat from the Nintendo video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. This origami was created by illustrator Alex Griendling. The pattern for the boat may be downloaded here.