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How to fold an origami submarine

Fold a triangle, pleat its top point into a conning tower and snip it flat. Fold the ends into a bow and stern, then glue on dark tail fins and a periscope and draw portholes.

You need: A 15 cm square in yellow (or any bright colour), a small dark grey square and strip, scissors, a glue stick and a white pen. Medium, 12 steps, about 10 minutes.

Steps

  1. Hull: triangle. Hull first. Put the square white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner to make a triangle.
  2. Hull: point down. Fold the top point (front layer and back layer together) down so it touches the middle of the bottom edge. The new top edge is the deck.
  3. Hull: pleat up the tower. Fold that point back up on a line about 1 cm below the deck, so it sticks up above the deck. That's the conning tower.
  4. Hull: flat-top the tower. Snip the tip of the tower off straight across, about 1.5 cm down from the tip, so the tower has a flat top.
  5. Hull: point the ends. Fold both bottom corners behind on a slant, from about 5 cm in along the bottom edge up to the middle of each end, so the ends come to points.
  6. Hull: blunt the bow. Fold just the tip of the right-hand point behind, about half a centimetre, so the bow is blunt. The left point is the stern.
  7. Tail: new sheet. Set the hull aside. Take a 4 cm dark grey square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  8. Tail: fold in half. Fold the left corner over to the right corner, making a triangle with its fold standing upright. Those are the tail fins.
  9. Periscope: new sheet. Set the tail aside. Take a 2 × 8 cm dark grey strip, white side up, standing tall.
  10. Periscope: fold in half. Fold it in half along its length, left edge over onto the right edge, and glue it flat.
  11. Periscope: turn the top. Fold the top end over to the right on a slant, about 1.5 cm down, so it sticks out sideways like an eyepiece.
  12. Glue it together. Glue the periscope behind the tower, eyepiece facing the bow. Glue the tail behind the stern, fold upright, so the fins stick out above and below.

Dive, dive, dive!

Draw three round portholes, a seam along the hull, and a hatch on the tower. Then take it on a deep-sea mission!

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