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How to fold an origami motorcycle

Fold a red strip in half, cut the tank and belly, then reverse-fold the thin front end down into a silver fork. Add handlebars, a seat, an exhaust, a headlight and two round wheels.

You need: Red paper 21 × 7 cm, two 11 cm black squares, a black piece 7.5 × 2 cm, a grey strip 12 × 1.5 cm, a small yellow square, scissors and glue. Hard, 20 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. Start white side up. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge, so the strip is red on both sides with the fold along the top.
  2. Cut the body. Cut from under the tank in a long slant up to the front end, leaving it as thin as a finger. Snip the back corners to round the tail.
  3. Handlebar post. Outside-reverse-fold the thin front end up and a little back, wrapping it round the body. Its white inside makes a shiny post.
  4. Handlebar grip. Near the top, fold the tip of the post over on a slant so it points back towards the seat. That's the handlebar.
  5. Seat: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the small black rectangle for the seat.
  6. Seat: shape it. Snip the back top corner round, and cut the front end on a long slant down, so the seat slopes into the tank.
  7. Exhaust: new sheet. Set the seat aside. Take the grey strip, white side up.
  8. Exhaust: in half. Fold it in half the long way, so it is grey on both sides.
  9. Exhaust: tip. Cut one end on a slant, so the pipe ends in a sporty point.
  10. Headlight: new sheet. Set the exhaust aside. Take the little yellow square.
  11. Headlight: round it. Fold the four corners a little way behind, so the light looks round.
  12. Back wheel: new sheet. Set the headlight aside. Take a black square, white side up.
  13. Back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  14. Back wheel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle. That's the hub.
  15. Back wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  16. Front wheel: new sheet. Set the back wheel aside and take the other black square, white side up.
  17. Front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle.
  18. Front wheel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little for the hub.
  19. Front wheel: round it. Fold the four points behind to round it off.
  20. Build the bike. Glue the body over the two wheels, with the post above the front wheel. Add the seat on top, the exhaust along the bottom and the headlight in front.

Vroom vroom!

Draw a silver fork from the body down to the front hub, black grips, a black engine and a white flash on the tank. Vroom!

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