Many years ago I had a very little experience of making airplane models of wood from kits, and also just a few plastic car models. At the time I remember wondering if I would ever get the chance to "build any model I wanted". There was no internet then, and whatever paper modeling was going on was unknown to me. Now, decades later, I find that a huge number of plans exists, most for free download, and so in the world of today I literally can "make any model I want". But I didn't think of it again for many years.

All of that is for another time and place, but I did what most people did, I guess - got busy working and paying the bills and going to rock concerts...

For quite some time I was vaguely aware that, for instance, some people were making things of paper to use in decorating their homes for the Winter Festivities, whatever they all may be, including some things like stars, but with large numbers of points. Somewhere along the line I found that geometers and trigonometers and such people speak of "polyhedra" - Greek for many faces or facets. "Geometric solids" is a term you might encounter. Consider a soccerball - a solid having a symmetrical array of faces, some hexagonal (six-sided) and some pentagonal (having 5 sides). As a matter of fact there are 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, and that thing is not a soccerball, it is a truncated icosahedron. Here is one that I made and stellated. There will be a page on this sort of thing when I get to it.

Maybe a point was just made - that paper modeling is a bit more sometimes than folding a sheet of paper and flying it across the room.

Numbers of polyhedra will be discussed, and precise directions will be given for the production of my stellated soccerball and some others.

Also for quite some time I was vaguely aware that some very detailed models were made, of airplanes, of classic cars, of space vehicles and so on. Little by little I became aware that people are busily making science- fiction- movie robots, cartoon characters, game vehicles and scenery, every sort of stuff for model train layouts; historical dioramas; architectural and industrial cut-away models; solid terrain maps - ah, but the list goes on longer than one's patience to write it all - and the point is made: that there is indeed a large territory here.

I have tried to look over the general case of paper modeling as such and to get some idea of the look of the whole territory, then to have a closer look at some of its expressions.

If I have a "favorite" area, I guess it is the building of antique cars and aircraft. I guess every paper modeler has made the Red Baron's famous red triplane - well, so have I, twice. And I did a rather nice Model A Ford delivery truck. Yes, those are crayon colors. My color ink cartridge was empty that day.