Here on the Internet, it's common practice to engage in quite a bit of hyperbole. As an online culture, we love our bests and our worst and our lists and our exclamations of "this killed me" when we're particularly affected by something. Even if, you know, it obviously didn't because we're clearly alive and telling you about it (well, those of us who aren't haunting you, anyway).
But even though I'm frequently given to hyperbole myself, I want you to know that every superlative I use to describe Paper Modelling's new KTM 390 Duke paper crafting video is absolutely not an exaggeration. It is seriously mind-blowing, to the point where any and every description I offer (no matter how finely I hone it) won't do it justice.
Why? Because it can't possibly do so. Sometimes, you just have to see a thing for yourself. That's just how it is.
Back in 2022, we introduced you to Paper Modelling's Suzuki Hayabusa sculpture video, which was also beyond impressive in its own right. But over time, plenty of people have asked PM why he doesn't incorporate more color into his builds. They're intricate and beautiful works of art, every single one, but couldn't they potentially be even cooler with a splash of appropriate color?
So, he tried something new for this KTM 390 Duke build. He took a stack of empty candy boxes from a number of Japanese chocolates (looks like he likes Lotte, and they do make some very tasty treats) and reserved them to cut up as needed.
The amount of times my mouth was open as I gaped at this video, and the amount of times I was audibly yelling, "No. No, you are NOT" at each new step in his process, I kind of wish I'd been counting.
See, a lot of people who build something out of paper that has an engine inside would probably just content themselves with making a nice engine case. Make it the right size and shape, make it look nice, and stick it inside the frame. After all, no one's expecting it to run anyway, so why not?
Not PM, though. No, this guy essentially built a scale model out of paper, with all the little moving parts of the engine painstakingly carved out and slotted neatly into place. There's a tiny piston, and a tiny connecting rod, and camshaft, and gears, and clutch basket, and cylinder head. It's all there, and we get to see every last tiny detail patiently crafted in this video, even if you'd never know it was there if you just saw the finished model out in the wild.
If that's not enough insane intricacy for you, he also opted to put spoked wheels with knobby tires on his 390, a la a 390 Adventure. They're blocky dual sport tires, and he carves each individual block out and glues them carefully into place. He also crafts spokes and then laces the wheels.
Somewhere around the point he was starting to carve out the little hubs, I was audibly chanting, "No, you are not. YOU ARE NOT" over and over under my breath.
But he did. And he made tiny brake calipers, and slotted little brake pads into them. Later on, he made a chain out of paper. All the tiny links. You really do have to watch it to understand the level of craftsmanship this guy puts into his work.
Why the Paper Modelling YouTube channel doesn't have at least a million followers all around the world, I will never understand. Sure, it may be years between his videos, but when you see the level of detail he puts into each mechanical work of art he carves and glues together, it's not at all difficult to understand why.
Or that it's absolutely worth the wait.
