Like many children’s books, Colossal Paper Machines is designed to foster a bond between parent and child. Unlike them, it won’t come from your kids asking you to read them the book before they go to bed. Instead, you’re likely going to do that bonding on a Saturday afternoon, getting your hands dirty with paper cuts and glue from putting together the book’s multiple paper models of oversized toy machines.
Created by paper engineer Phil Conigliaro with text from Theo Baker, the book covers a series of different transportation vehicles and construction machines, discussing their individual history and other interesting facts. Accompanying each discussion is a full-color paper model of that specific machine with parts that you can pop out of each page, fold, glue, and assemble into an oversized contrivance.
Colossal Paper Machines is a large-format book measuring 16.6 x 10.7 inches and consisting of 128 pages. Each model part is printed on sturdy card stock, with the outlines perforated for easily tearing out of the pages and folding. Glue is all you need to complete each build, with no tape or pins necessary.
A total of ten machines are included with each book, namely a dump truck, a space shuttle, an excavator, a ladder truck, a front loader, a concrete mixer, a steam locomotive, a steamboat, a dirigible, and a Chinook helicopter. These aren’t just simple models, either, as each one comes with detailed elements, including wheels that roll, propellers that turn, and, for the construction machines, arms that move.
Available now, Colossal Paper Machines is priced at $17.50.