Antique Papercraft Train

I couldn't find out much about the origin of this French antique papercraft train, but the style of the graphics have a definite 1930's flavor. The first page of the pattern for this locomotive announces that it is a "a real toy" with "easy assembly" and "no glue required". The picture above is a build photo by Patricia M. who runs the Agence Eureka blog. Patricia has the complete template for the train posted here.

Renaissance Crucifix Sundial Card Model

In the archives of the Germanic Museum in Nuremberg there is a Renaissance wood engraving that is thought to be the earliest paper model template ever created. The engraving was produced around 1529 by Georg Hartmann (1489 - 1564), a mathematician and designer of scientific instruments. When the template in the engraving is assembled it becomes a crucifix that also ingeniously functions as a sundial (the shadow in the photo on the right is at 11 o'clock).

There are numerous images on the crucifix. On the front is an engraving of the crucifixion of Christ that is very similar to a 1489 woodcut print by artist Albert Durer (1471 - 1528). Some sources suggest that Hartmann was a pupil of Durer's, which might explain the similarity. On the back of the crucifix is a bronze serpent on a cross and an image of Moses in reference to a miracle performed by Moses in Numbers 21:8-9. In the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ refers to Moses' miracle as a symbolic foreshadowing of his own crucifixion (John 3:14-15) thus explaining why Hartmann included an image of a bronze serpent on the crucifix.

As far as I know there are no free papercraft templates of the crucifix, but reproductions may be purchased from several different European sources. One such source is here. Also on the same web page is a photo of the cross unfolded if you are curious.

Antique Toy Circus Papercraft

The Victoria & Albert Museums of England are offering an antique toy circus papercraft on their website. The original template for the circus was created by a French company around 1930. The best part of this papercraft is that it is an automata of sorts. Twirl the flag on top and the performers spin around like a merry-go-round. In addition to the usual cardstock, a piece of cork and a barbecue skewer are also required to build the circus. The template for this papercraft may be found here.

1934 British Airplane Papercraft

The first thing you probably will notice about this airplane papercraft is that there is no color. The reason for the lack of color is the template was printed from a microfilm of an old newspaper. The original template was published on June 30, 1934 in “Boys and Girls”, the weekly children’s supplement to the Daily Mail, a British newspaper. The instructions claim the model will glide nicely if the nose is properly weighted. Look for a link to the template here in Brett Holman's article on the toy aeroplane at Airminded.org.

1915 Automobile Papercraft

Before I built this car, the oldest papercraft template I had done was a 1934 Eiffel Tower. This template however dates back to 1915 and is scanned from an old McCall's Magazine of that year. I am not sure if this car is supposed represent a specific brand of automobile or if it is just a generic representation of the automobiles of the time period. A download of the two piece template is available from the Antique Automobile Club of America at their website here.

Volkswagen Papercraft - 1974 German Love Bug

VW Beetle Series, Part 6
The template for this Herbie the Love Bug papercraft was originally published in a 1974 issue of a German Disney magazine for kids. I couldn't locate a picture of the finished model, so assembling this Beetle was largely a matter of trial and error. The template has four pages and if it were printed one page per letter size sheet the resulting model would end up being about 10" (25 cm) long. I chose to print two template pages per sheet which gave me a final model about half that size. A download of the template can be found here.

Antique Papercraft - 1934 Eiffel Tower

Here is a simple yet elegant papercraft of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is 8 inches (20 cm) tall and has only four parts. According to Agence Eureka, the blog where this papercraft can be found, this particular template was produced in 1934. The French instructions included with the template say to paste the parts on "strong, but flexible" paper implying that it was originally distributed on thinner paper, possibly in a book or magazine. Thankfully today, with the invention of the computer and printer, we can skip the pasting step and print a scan of the template directly onto heavy paper. A copy of the template for the tower can be found here.

Volkswagen Papercraft - Cabriolet Beetle

VW Beetle Series, Part 4
Here is a simple Convertible Beetle papercraft with only three parts. Judging by the notes on the template, the model must have originally appeared as a supplement in a Marabout-Junior book. Marabout-Junior was an imprint of Belgian publisher Marabout that featured adventure novels for young adults. It is likely that this paper model was created in the 1950's or 1960's making it one of the oldest papercraft designs I have built to date. A scan of the template can be found here.