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How to fold an origami jumbo jet

Fold a long blue body, pleat a step behind the nose for the hump, round the nose and slim the tail with folds. Fold grey strips into tapered swept-back wings and a tailplane, and glue them under the body.

You need: Blue: a 4.5 x 20 cm strip. Grey: a 21 x 5 cm strip and a 7.5 x 2.4 cm strip. A glue stick, a black and a white pen. Hard, 17 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Body: edges to the middle. Start with the long blue strip, white side up, standing upright. Fold the two long edges in to meet along the middle.
  2. Body: hump pleat. Fold the top end down on a crease 4.5 cm below the top.
  3. Body: fold it back. Fold it back up on a crease 4 mm lower. The step it leaves is the back of the jumbo's hump.
  4. Body: round the nose. Fold the two corners of the nose behind on slants.
  5. Body: round it more. Fold the four new little corners behind too, so the nose is smooth and round.
  6. Body: slim the tail. Fold both long edges of the tail end behind on slants, so the tail tapers to under 1 cm wide.
  7. Wings: new strip. Set the body aside. Take the long grey strip, white side up, long side across.
  8. Wings: in half. Fold the strip in half the long way, top edge down to the bottom edge. It is grey on both sides now.
  9. Wings: taper them. Fold each long edge behind on a slant, from the middle out to 6 mm in at the end. Both halves now get thinner toward the tips.
  10. Wings: sweep them back. Fold the left half up on a slanting crease through the middle, so the two halves open into a wide V.
  11. Wings: square the tips. Fold the very end of each wing behind, so the tips run straight front to back when the V points up.
  12. Tailplane: new strip. Set the wings aside. Take the small grey strip, white side up, long side across.
  13. Tailplane: in half. Fold it in half the long way, top edge down to the bottom edge.
  14. Tailplane: sweep it. Fold the left half up on a slant through the middle, just like the wings, into a small V.
  15. Tailplane: square the tips. Fold the very end of each half behind, like the wing tips.
  16. Tailplane: turn it. Turn the tailplane round so its V points straight up.
  17. Glue it together. Glue the wings and the tailplane under the body, the wings just behind the hump and the tailplane near the tail.

Cleared for take-off!

Draw four black engines on the wings, black cockpit windows, a curve for the back of the hump, a black tail fin line and white upper deck windows.

How to fly it

  1. Taxi it along a table runway, then lift off with a big engine roar.
  2. Fly it round the world: from the kitchen to the bedroom and back.
  3. Line up toy passengers to board through the front door.

What to fold next