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How to fold an origami race car

A real project. Fold and cut a long red body with a cockpit and an air intake, then a yellow helmet with a visor, a rear wing on a stalk, a front wing and an orange flame, and glue them between the body's layers. Add a big rear tyre, a smaller front tyre and a number, then bend the car a little so it stands on the table.

You need: 8 pieces: half a 15 cm red square, 4 black pieces, yellow, orange and white squares (sizes in steps). Scissors, glue stick, black pen, white gel pen.. Challenge, 35 steps, about 40 minutes.

Steps

  1. Body: fold in half. Start with the body: half a 15 cm red square (15 × 7.5 cm). White side up, fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold on top is the top of the car.
  2. Body: mark the cockpit. Fold the right end over to the left, creasing a little left of the middle.
  3. Body: open it again. Fold the end back out. The crease marks the front of the airbox, just behind the driver.
  4. Body: cut the cockpit. Snip down the crease from the top fold, just over a quarter of the way. From there, cut along to the right end: this lower, open-topped front is the cockpit.
  5. Body: snip over the airbox. Snip along the top fold from the crease back about 2 cm, over the airbox.
  6. Body: cut the nose. Point the nose: from the cut edge 3 cm past the crease, cut a slope to just above the floor at the end. Then cut up to the tip from the floor, 3.5 cm from the end.
  7. Body: open the air intake. Fold the airbox's two loose top corners down on a slant, from the top snip's end to the cockpit snip's bottom: front one towards you, back one away. White shows.
  8. Body: slope the tail. Fold the top corner at the back behind, both layers together, from halfway down the back edge to the top edge, about 3 cm from the back.
  9. Helmet: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take a 3 cm yellow square, white side up.
  10. Helmet: top to the middle. Fold the top edge down to the middle.
  11. Helmet: leave a visor slit. Fold the bottom edge up until it stops just short of the top flap. The thin white slit between them is the visor.
  12. Helmet: round the top. Fold the two top corners behind, so the helmet is round on top.
  13. Rear wing: new sheet. Set the helmet aside. Take a 7.5 × 2.25 cm black strip, white side up, lying flat.
  14. Rear wing: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge, so the strip is black on both sides.
  15. Rear wing: turn down the stalk. Fold the right end straight down on a 45° crease from the top edge, just right of the middle, to the bottom edge. The top is the wing, the hanging end its stalk.
  16. Front wing: new sheet. Set the rear wing aside. Take a 4.5 × 3.6 cm black piece, white side up, long side across.
  17. Front wing: fold in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge.
  18. Front wing: slope the endplate. Fold the top right corner behind on a long slant, and just the tip of the top left corner behind.
  19. Flame: new sheet. Set the front wing aside. Take a 5 cm orange square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  20. Flame: make a kite. Fold the two edges by the left corner in, so they meet along the middle.
  21. Flame: narrow it. Fold the slanted edges to the middle again, making a long thin point.
  22. Flame: fold back the end. Fold the wide right end behind, about a third of the way along.
  23. Glue the parts inside the body. Glue between the layers: helmet in the cockpit by the airbox; wing stalk and flame's wide end in the tail, wing up; front wing under the nose, endplate past the tip.
  24. Rear tyre: new sheet. Now the tyres. Take a 7.5 cm black square, white side up.
  25. Rear tyre: corners to the middle. Fold all four corners in so their points meet in the middle.
  26. Rear tyre: tips back out. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle: the hub.
  27. Rear tyre: round it off. Fold the four points of the square behind, just a little, so the tyre looks round.
  28. Front tyre: new sheet. Set the rear tyre aside. The front tyre is smaller: take a 6 cm black square, white side up.
  29. Front tyre: corners to the middle. Fold the corners to the middle, like the rear tyre.
  30. Front tyre: tips back out. Fold the points back out further this time, so the white hub is bigger.
  31. Front tyre: round it off. Fold the four points behind to round it off.
  32. Number: new sheet. Set the front tyre aside. Take a 2.5 cm white square.
  33. Number: round it. Fold the four corners behind a little, so it is nearly round.
  34. Glue on the tyres and number. Glue the number on the side, under the helmet. Glue the big tyre under the back and the small one under the nose, half of each below the floor, bottoms in line.
  35. Stand it up. Bend the car gently along a line just behind the cockpit, nose towards you, and stand it on its tyres.

Lights out!

Draw a dark visor on the helmet, a big 7 on the number and white stripes on the engine cover and the nose. Line up a few in different colours on the grid!

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