Pencil TV Paper Toy

In years past, I saw a toy television that made use of a scrolling screen to tell a story. Now, thanks to Stanislov Stankovic, you can watch movies on your own DIY paper toy TV. Inside the TV is a long strip of paper coiled around two pencils. As the pencils are rotated, movie scenes on the strip of paper parade by in chronological order on the "screen" of the TV. Currently, three different movies/TVs are available for download: Dirty Harry, Kill Bill (vol. 1), and Dr. Stranglelove. Stankoic also offers a blank template so you can create your own movies. All the TV paper toy fun can be downloaded here.

Star Trek Communicator Papercraft

Here's a paper model of a communicator reminiscent of the ones used in the original Star Trek television series from the 60's. Purists will recognize that this model is not exactly like the original communicator props, but it is still a lot of fun to build, especially considering that it only has two parts (believe it or not!) The communicator template was created in Coreldraw by DeviantART member Frohickey and may be downloaded from his gallery.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe Paper Models

The "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" is a pretend kingdom that appears in the children's television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Most of the inhabitants of the kingdom are hand puppets voiced by the show's host, Fred Rogers. When Texas musician Francis McGrath had trouble finding a papercraft version of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, he decided to create one himself. Shown in the lower portion of the photo above is the result of his efforts. Templates for each of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe buildings (plus a template for the familiar red trolley) are located at McGrath's web page here.

Max Headroom TV Set Papercraft

Every once in a while it is nice to build a mindlessly simple papercraft and this Max Headroom TV set papercraft fills the bill. ^^ It is just a simple box based on the Cubee template, no glue required. Max Headroom is the lead character in the late 80's science fiction television show of the same name. Max is probably best known for his appearances as the spokesman in television commercials for "New Coke". The template for this papercraft TV was created by 7ater and may be downloaded here.

The Last Airbender Papercraft: Aang

Illustrator Keith Allen calls his paper model of Aang the Last Airbender a "paper sculpture". The unique thing about this particular papercraft is it built from a single piece of paper (i.e. the template has only one part). Aang, of course, is the main character in the animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. A copy of the template in .png format is posted here.

Lost in Space Papercraft: Landing Pod

Ron Caudillo is a well known designer of science fiction paper models. His Star Trek TOS models of the USS Enterprise and its bridge have delighted Trek fans since 2003. Less well known perhaps is his papercraft model of the landing pod from the 1960's televisionshow, Lost in Space. The pod was introduced in the third season of the show as a means to transport the crew of the Jupiter 2 spaceship down to the surface of alien planets. Pendercrafts.com has made the template for the LIS pod available in a zip file. The zip file also includes numerous Caudillo designs including paper models of: military vehicles, several BattleBots, a bus, puzzle cubes, a few office machines, as well as the aforementioned Star Trek models. Look for the download link at the bottom of the page here.

Doctor Who Papercraft: Heavenly Host Ornament

In 2007, the BBC offered a free download of a papercraft Doctor Who Christmas ornament. The ornament is of one of the angelic looking service robots known as the "Heavenly Host" from the Doctor Who episode entitled Voyage of the Damned. Despite their "holy" appearance, the robots can be deadly, their halos being used as throwing weapons. A download of the template for the ornament is still available here.

Disney Papercraft: Eden's Genie Bottle

I made this genie bottle papercraft as a favor to my DeviantART friend, Fractaljinn. Fractaljinn wanted a papercraft model of the bottle of a female genie named Eden who is a character in the Aladdin animated television series by Disney. The series ran from 1994 to 1995. You may notice that the papercraft bottle doesn't have a handle like the one in the image from the TV show. Although a handle is included as part of the template, I sort of liked the way the bottle looked without it, so I didn't attach it when I did my test build. As a convenience to Fractaljinn who resides in Europe, the template was created for A4 size paper, so if you are printing on US Letter size paper you will need to use the "scale to fit" option. If printing on A4 paper, the finished bottle is roughly 40cm (15.75") tall. Another feature of the bottle is that the stopper is removable. Because the majority of the construction of the bottle is done by curving pieces of card stock, I give this a difficulty level of 4 out of 5. The PDF template for the bottle may be downloaded here.

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Doctor Who Papercraft: Comic Strip Dalek

The extraterrestrial race of cyborgs known as the Daleks are considered by many to be Doctor Who's greatest enemy. The Dalek's battle cry of "Ex-ter-min-ate!" has been heard consistently on the good Doctor's sci fi television show since 1963. In the 60's and 70's Doctor Who's adventures appeared in comic strip form as well as on television. Pete D who runs a blog about the old Doctor Who comic strips created this papercraft Dalek based on their appearance in the comics.This particular Dalek is a red domed commander. The two part printable template for the Dalek is located here and here.

The Last Airbender Papercraft: Blue Spirit Mask

In the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated television show, in an episode entitled "The Blue Spirit", there is a mysterious character who wears a blue mask. This papercraft by deviantART member "Altenatecoppa" is a recreation of that mask. Even though there are some well done shading effects that make it look 3D, the mask is entirely flat except for the nose. A download of the template is available here. The build photo above is by deviantART member "Paperart".

Transformers Papercraft: Teletraan I Computer

The original Transformers animated television show ran from 1984 to 1987. In the show, the Autobots' base of operations was a massive spaceship known as the Ark. The Ark was operated by a semi-sentient computer named Teletraan I. Mandingo Rex of the Tformers forum has created a detailed papercraft version of Teletraan I for use as a prop with Transformer toys. A download of the Teletraan template is available here. Also available are printable sheets of wall and floor panels to build a diorama of the interior of the Ark.

Movie and Video Game Character Paper Toys

James Bowen, the creator of Ham Headz paper toys, is probably best known for his superhero paper toys, but over time he has added characters from outside the world of comic books. Pictured above are some of my favorites. Starting in the upper left and going clockwise are Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series of video games, King Leonidas from the movie 300, V from the movie V for Vendetta, and B. A. Baracus (played by Mr. T) from the A Team television show. You gotta love the mini 3D weapons Bowen gives his toys. Templates are available here.

Naruto Papercraft: Sage Mode Jiraiya

This Sage Mode Jiraiya paper model is an outstanding example of Korean papercraft. Jiraiya is a character in the Naruto animated television show which is based on a popular Japanese manga. Jiraiya is a Toad Sage, that is he has been trained by toads in the use of their secret arts. In battle, just before entering the altered state of Sage Mode, Jiraiya summons two elder toads to assist him with their abilities. The elder toads on Jiraiya's shoulders are my two favorite parts of this model. ^^ The template for this model includes the amazingly realistic rocky base shown in the photo. To download the template go here and click on the two red links just below the photo. I would give credit to this talented designer, but unfortunately I am unable to translate the Korean. :(

Car Papercraft: Clark Kent's '53 Nash Healey

In the 1950's American television show, Adventures of Superman, Superman's alter ego Clark Kent drives a snazzy Nash Healey sports car. In 2006, Richard Taylor created a papercraft version of the car, complete with a Clark Kent figure to go in the driver's seat. The two page template for the paper model may be found here and here.

Pokemon Papercraft: Boxy Pikachu

Here's a simple one piece Pikachu papercraft by Lee Urn Lun of Malaysia. As everyone knows, Pikachu is one of the main characters in the Pokemon video games and the Pokemon animated television show. This papercraft is a modification by Lun of his paper model bunny template. A download of the Pikuchu template is available here. The model in the photograph above was built by my young daughter. ^^

Saint Seiya Papercraft #2: Athena Statue

Here is another papercraft by Moustagua. Once again based on the Saint Seiya anime series, this is a papercraft statue of the Greek goddess Athena. In the series, Athena is assisted by warrior "saints" in her struggles against the other gods. This papercraft model appears to be heavily based on the real life gold and ivory statue of Athena that once stood inside the Parthenon in Athens. On the column is the traditional Greek winged symbol of victory and behind Athena's shield is a snake which is a symbol of Erichthonius, who legend has it was one of the early rulers of Athens. A PDF template of the statue may be downloaded here.

Saint Seiya Papercraft #1: Odin Statue

The Saint Seiya anime television series was popular around the world in the late 80's but wasn't aired in the US until 2003. Based on a Japanese manga series, the storyline of the show follows the exploits of mystical warriors called "saints" who fight for the goddess Athena in her struggle to protect Earth from other gods in the Greek pantheon. In the "Asgard" story arc of the show the saints encounter characters from Norse mythology. This papercraft Odin statue by French papercrafter, Moustagua, is presumably based on an image from this particular story arc. Odin is king of the Norse gods much like Zeus is in the Greek pantheon. With instructions in French, the PDF template may be downloaded at the bottom of Moustagua's page here.

Battlestar Galactica Papercraft: Colonial Viper Mk I

Papercraft designer Ninjatoes recently released a Colonial Viper Mark II model, but before the Mark II there was the Viper Mark I which appeared in the original Battlestar Galactica television series that aired in the late 70's. This papercraft Mark I is a rework by Fred Smith of a Viper template from a Japanese website. Fred has done a great job giving the Viper a weathered look and he also has designed a launch rail on which to display the starfighter. Fred's templates are available for download here. In addition to the red striped Viper pictured, there is also a template for a blue striped Viper.

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: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. There are very few gluing tabs and no instructions, so you are on your own when it comes to assembling it. One final note: unlike the photo which is a template customization by "Robo_117", the original template is labeled "Zyuranger" after the Japanese version of the show.

Burger King Paper Toy

From television commercials, you are probably familiar with Burger King's advertising mascot, "The King". Well, here is a paper toy version of the mischievous fellow. The creation of deviantART member "Archer-1", this papercraft king has been carefully detailed to match the features of the original King right down to each piece of jewelry. If you should feel like making a King of your own, the four piece template is located here. Hmm, strange, I suddenly feel the urge to go buy a Whopper. :)