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How to fold an origami combine harvester

Fold one long green sheet into a strip, double its back end over into a tall body, bend up a cab and reverse-fold the front down into a low header. Add a folded yellow reel and two wheels.

You need: Green paper 31 × 10 cm, a 6.5 cm yellow square, 7 cm and 4.5 cm black squares, glue and a white pen. Hard, 23 steps, about 40 minutes.

Steps

  1. Edges to the middle. Start white side up. Fold the top and bottom edges in to meet along the middle.
  2. Fold in half. Mountain-fold it in half along the middle, so the top half goes behind. Now it is a long thick strip, green on both sides.
  3. Header lip: fold over. Fold the short front end over to the left, front and back layers together, about a third of its length from the end.
  4. Header lip: fold back. Fold it straight back out a finger's width further left, leaving a small pleat. It makes a ledge on the header.
  5. Back end up. Outside-reverse-fold the long back end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge.
  6. Double the body. Fold the whole upright part forward on a slant, so it lies flat on top of the strip. Now the body is twice as tall.
  7. Cab. Fold the end of the top layer straight up on a slant, so it stands up at the front as the cab.
  8. Shape the cab and back. Fold the cab's top front corner behind on a slant. Then fold the pointed back end of the body straight behind, so the back is square.
  9. Header. Fold the bottom strip's front end straight down on a slant, front and back layers together, so it hangs in front of the cab.
  10. Cutter bar. Near the bottom, fold the hanging end forward on a slant, so it runs along low down in front. That's the cutter bar.
  11. Reel: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the yellow square, white side up.
  12. Reel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  13. Reel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows: the reel's axle.
  14. Reel: round it. Fold the four points a little way behind, so the reel looks round.
  15. Back wheel: new sheet. Set the reel aside. Take the small black square, white side up.
  16. Back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  17. Back wheel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle. That's the hub.
  18. Back wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  19. Front wheel: new sheet. Set the back wheel aside and take the big black square, white side up.
  20. Front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle.
  21. Front wheel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little for the hub.
  22. Front wheel: round it. Fold the four points behind to round it off.
  23. Build the combine. Glue the body behind the big wheel, so the wheel sits under the cab. Glue the reel over the header and the small wheel under the back.

Harvest time!

Draw a big white window on the cab. Roll it through a field of paper wheat!

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