Halo Papercraft: Banshee Aerial Assault Vehicle

The Banshee (also known as a Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft) is an aerial assault craft appearing in the Halo series of video games. The Banshee is part of the arsenal of the Covenant Empire which has been described as "a religious hegemony of multiple alien species". This papercraft Banshee is the work of Brandon (aka z8-0) at DeviantART and may be downloaded from his profile here. Brandon also has several other papercraft Halo vehicles available for download including a Sentinel, a Ghost, and a Wraith.

WWII Paper Models: Spitfire and Panther Tank

These two World War II papercraft models are free samples offered by the commerical paper model company, Paper-Pro Modeling. Most of Paper-Pro's products are deformed models that don't require any glue to assemble. On the left is a British Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane and on the right is a German Panther tank. Look for the download links for these models on the right hand side of the page here.

Star Wars Papercraft: Mini Republic Gunship

The Light Armored Assault Transport (LAAT), also known as a "Republic Gunship", first appeared in Star Wars Episode 1. StarWars.com describes these gunships as "rugged, combat-equipped repulsorcraft... covered in weapons, offering air-to-ground and air-to-air support as well as serving as an infantry transport." This papercraft LAAT was created by "Starfreak" and at 1:430 scale, is only 4 cm (1.5") long. This model is only for those who own a pair of tweezers and a load of patience. ;) The PDF template may be downloaded here.

Blue Angels Fighter Jet Papercraft

When I was young, my dad took me to see the Blue Angels Aerobatic Team, so I had to smile when I saw this papercraft. The jet which the Blue Angels used in the late 50's and mid-60's was the F11F Tiger. The F11F was the second aircraft of the U.S. Navy with supersonic capabilities and also the first fighter known to have caught up with the bullets of its own gun. The template for this F11F (as well many other 1:60 scale aircraft by German designer Christoph Stahl) may be found here.

NASA Papercraft: ARES Mars Airplane

The folks at NASA are working on a pilot-less, rocket-powered airplane to perform an Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars ("ARES" for short). If eventually deployed, the ARES Mars Airplane will record information previously unobtainable on the atmosphere, surface and interior of Mars. The ARES design team has posted a 1:36 scale papercraft version of the Mars Airplane that actually flies. Look at the bottom of the page here to find the template.

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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.

1960's Science Fiction Television Papercraft

In the early 60's, long before British television producer Gerry Anderson produced TV shows like Space:1999 and Thunderbirds, he created two shows, Supercar and Fireball XL5. Each of the productions was a science fiction children's show that featured Anderson's signature marionettes which later became so well known on the Thunderbirds show. These two papercraft were created in 2001 by Pierre Fontaine as an homage to the shows which are now largely forgotten. Free template downloads of the retro spacecraft are available here along with a template for a papercraft Queen Anne style house.

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 (download here). The lower model is a Pitts S-1S at 1:45 scale (download 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.

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. Look for the link on the left hand side just under the word "Ornitoptéra".

Studio Ghibli Papercraft: Flapter

This papercraft comes from the 1986 animated movie Castle in the Sky, the first official movie release from Studio Ghibli. The flapter is a machine that flies by means of four vibrating insect-like wings. In the movie two young characters, Pazu and Sheeta, make use of the flapter in their adventures which eventually lead them to a legendary flying castle in the clouds. This papercraft was designed by "Orca", Japan, 2005. The template may be found here, while instructions in Japanese are located here. The wings may be built with either cardstock or clear plastic (as is shown in the photos).