Hello, fellow creators of Paper Iconic! Are you ready for another exciting project today?
Some papercraft models are easy to find. Others feel like a quiet discovery, the kind you only stumble upon after digging through old forum links and forgotten downloads. The Lotus E20 papercraft belongs to the second group.
Designed by Shunichi Makino at 1/12 scale, this Formula One model was originally developed in collaboration with uhu2 as an official papercraft project for the Lotus Renault GP team. At the time, it was shared openly on the team’s fanpage, almost like a gift to racing fans who also loved paper modeling.
But history took a turn. When the team was sold back to Renault on December 18, 2015 and rebranded as Renault Sport Formula One Team, the original fanpage disappeared. Along with it, this papercraft quietly slipped out of public view. Today, the files only remain scattered across the internet, preserved by builders who managed to save them before everything went offline.
Rebuilding the Lotus E20 now feels less like assembling a model and more like restoring a small piece of Formula One history, one sheet of paper at a time. The complete build uses six sheets of paper, striking a satisfying balance between detail, scale, and display presence.
The Lotus E20 competed in the 2012 Formula One season and is best remembered for ending Kimi Raikkonen’s long win drought with a legendary victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. That season, Lotus finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, proving that the E20 was not just beautiful, but genuinely competitive.
For this article, the images shown are not my own build. They feature a beautifully assembled version created by Reddit user @VighneshXO, whose work highlights just how impressive this papercraft looks once completed.
If you enjoy classic Formula One cars, historically significant papercraft projects, and designs that feel like a time capsule from a different era of racing, the Lotus E20 papercraft is absolutely worth your attention.
Grab the Lotus E20 papercraft template today to begin your creative journey! Shout out to Shunichi Makino, who created this papercraft project.
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