If you would like to know how pigs really can be made to fly, how a spider evolved specifically for the web or other interesting facts - read on!

The museum has a collection of Flying Pig prototype models, design proofs, etc. as well as almost all variants of production model kits. Most of the models are made up and on display in the museum with several being motorised so you don't even have to turn the handle, simply press a button to see the action.

Being an avid card modeller as soon as I saw the kits on sale in Cockermouth I made one of each. The craft shop told Rob Ives, he came to see me at the museum and the rest is, as they say, history. Well, not quite, there is a lot more to the story so, as the museum seems to be the unofficial but authorised recorder of Flying Pig, here is:

A potted history of Flying Pig

Rob Ives started making card automata for his own amusement in 1993 with a dinosaur model followed by the Mechanical Gentleman. Paper Locksmith came next in1995 after a lock was seen at an Association of Teachers of Mathematics meeting (in a former life Rob was a primary teacher specialising in maths). The Flying Pig web site was registered in 1997 followed by the second Tarquin book Paper Automata. Six models were designed but only four were used in the book. Using the remaining two models, Flying Pig and Mexican Peck, Rob started producing and selling them under the Flying Pig name. They were printed on A4 coloured card as opposed to the four colour printing of the current models and were first unleashed on the unsuspecting public in a craft studio, now renamed the Linden Tree, in Cockermouth with the second outlet in Paris, showing the power of the web, followed by the museum.

Early expansion

Expansion followed quickly necessitating teaching part time due to pressure of designing and selling kits. Eventually, around 2001, Rob went full time making card models with kits being sold worldwide especially in Japan and America. Taiwan produced models under license with the instructions in Chinese whereas Japan prefers English models with an extra sheet of instructions in Japanese. America and Japan now have their own sales distributors with kits being sold in many prestigious places such as MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art) and the Exploratorium in San Francisco - as well as the Cumberland Toy & Model Museum!

Launch of the web site and new ideas.

The Flying Pig website was launched and continued to evolve with downloadable models being introduced, on line ordering, feedback and now with a monthly newsletter and competition. The web site with its explanations on how mechanisms work is recommended as a resource in various design technology curriculum documents. In parallel Rob designed and published the Cardboard Engineering Resource Book intended for school use. This has proved very popular with innumerable school projects being based on its designs, as has the A2 poster of mechanisms which was initially produced as an insert in a design technology magazine. Two thousand laminated poster versions were also made and have sold well.

Die cutting and catalogues.

Two die cut models were introduced in August 2000, Bob the Dog and the Skiing Sheep, along with the first catalogue, a two sheet full colour booklet on thin card complete with its own model to make, the Cat O'Log. All the available models are illustrated including the snap-ups, elastic band powered flat models that spring up when released. A follow up to these was a commission to produce similar models to go inside greeting cards. By this time the early black on A4 coloured card models were being replaced with 4 colour stapled kits as reprints became necessary, these kits lost the initial plastic cover as they were designed to hang on standard shop wire sales frames, a small Flying Pig sticker holding the pages closed. Gradually, usually at reprint time, these kits subsequently changed from a vertical to horizontal format and encased in plastic covers designed to hang on the shop frames. The physical size of some models were scaled to fit the card sizes used in the new formats.

The second catalogue in August 2001 was printed on glossy paper and introduced Ewe Boat and Jungle Jim - where else but in card models can you have instructions that say 'tweak the bananas to .......' Catalogue three is the same size as the previous ones but instead of staples it is A3 size folded twice. It is in full colour and introduces the Cardboard Engineering Source Book, Bewitched, Cupid (a modified version of the original download), Paperoo and Catwalk but deletes the elastic powered pop ups. Sales of the latter had never been quite as fast as the rest and coupled with the fact that shops need to sell things quickly and display space is usually at a premium it is now doubtful if Surfin' the Web, the Exercising Fool, Jungle Jim, Cupid, and Paperoo will be reprinted once current stocks are sold.

Current production.

Meanwhile the trend has been to reprint models as die cuts, these being printed and die cut in China using a semi gloss card which takes glue well. Subsequently (May 2005) kits are now reverting to being printed and die cut in Britain, again as required, with the card now reverting to a matt finish. The first one, Mex Peck, has a small error, only one half of each cam is die cut. A few kits were sold before an insert strip of instructions was added - another variant to find for those of you into this sort of thing! This is not the first time an additional insert has been used, an earlier print of Flying Pig had one to show crank assembly details as some letters were accidentally missed off the back of the crank parts.

Experimental and unusual models.

Rob has also experimented with stronger models made from plywood but the only one to get to a semblance of a finished product was the Late Bird using laser cut out parts that included gears. These models were dropped due to cost. He has also made card models for promotional purposes, two examples produced for large companies were a snap up cube and, as if there aren't enough real ones around, a mobile phone - honest! An exhibition called 'Paper Cut' at the Fold Gallery in Kirkby Stephen exhibited black and white models twice normal size worked with electric motors as well as large organ pipes powered by paper bellows. Talking of large, one firm saw his Impatience and licensed it producing models four times normal size to promote their product. Motorised display models have been supplied to some sales outlets. For the more broad minded he has also produced a series of cardbawdy models.

Flying Pig has an excellent web site, to visit click here.

Some pictures from the museum collection.

The model that started it all off.

The first type of single swashplate and double tooth was changed to double swashplate and single follower for smoother operation and reliablity.

A prototype Impatience printed on the back of a Mex Peck. Finding the right type of card to use took some time so anything to hand was often used for proving models.

A mock up of the proposed Late Bird plywood kit. It was felt that the final kit price would be too expensive so was dropped.

The first catalogue and Cat O'Log.

The final proof of the second catalogue.

Proof sheet of the Pop Up Sheep.

No, it's not camera shake, just a print that went wrong.

One of the web site downloads.

Some large Flying Pig stickers - Wow!

So much for history, but why stick (pardon the pun) to the standard models?

Some of the models had, as part of their instructions, tiny reproductions of the parts to be assembled. By photocopying these on to paper, card being too thick, I made some tiny models. The 3cm tall Flying Pig works the same as his big brother if the handle is turned but Fool needs a pair of pointed tweezers to get at the 'finger' loops.

If you would like to make one click here for the additional instructions.

Another modified model, a repainted Cat walk. In this case it is 'LB', one of our cats. Since making the model he has unfortunately died but we now can remember him everytime we look on our mantlepiece. Opposite him is 'Hobbs', our other cat, but I have not included a picture as he is the spitting image of the standard model!

LB