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How to fold an origami hot rod

Fold one long red sheet into a strip. Reverse-fold the back into a low chopped cab and crimp a short spike up for the engine. Add a big back wheel and a small front wheel.

You need: Red paper 30 × 7 cm, a 7.5 cm and a 4.5 cm black square, glue and a white pen. Hard, 18 steps, about 35 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, red on both sides.
  3. Back post. Outside-reverse-fold the back end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge. It stands up as the back of the cab.
  4. Low roof. Not far up, fold the post forward on a slant, so the strip runs flat towards the front. The roof is low, chopped like a hot rod's.
  5. Front post. Fold the roof's end straight down on a slant, so it reaches the bonnet and leaves a slot of a window. Glue it there.
  6. Engine up. Just in front of the cab, outside-reverse-fold the long front end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge.
  7. Engine down. A little way up, fold the upright part straight back down over itself, square across.
  8. Bonnet. At the bonnet, fold the end forward on a 45° crease, so it runs on as the long nose. The engine pokes up in front of the windscreen.
  9. Nose. Fold the bottom corner of the nose behind on a slant, so the front sweeps up.
  10. Back wheel: new sheet. Set the car aside. Take the big black square, white side up.
  11. Back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  12. Back wheel: hub. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle. That's the hub.
  13. Back wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  14. Front wheel: new sheet. Set the back wheel aside and take the small black square, white side up.
  15. Front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle.
  16. Front wheel: hub. Fold each point back out a little for the hub.
  17. Front wheel: round it. Fold the four points behind to round it off.
  18. Build the hot rod. Glue the car over the two wheels: the giant one under the cab, the small one under the nose.

Vroom!

Draw a white flame along the side of the nose. Rev it up and race it off the line!

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