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How to fold an origami tow truck

Fold one yellow sheet into a thick strip, then reverse-fold its ends: the front stands up as the cab, the back rises as a boom with a pulley head. Add wheels and a hook.

You need: Yellow paper 31 × 17 cm, two 8 cm black squares, a black strip 5 × 0.6 cm, scissors, glue and a black pen. Hard, 19 steps, about 30 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 thick strip, yellow inside and out.
  3. Slope the back. Cut the top edge on a slant from the middle down to the back end, so the back is half as tall. That end becomes the boom.
  4. Cab. Outside-reverse-fold the front end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge, wrapping it round the strip. It stands up as the cab.
  5. Windscreen. Cut the top front corner of the cab off on a slant, for a sloping windscreen.
  6. Boom. Outside-reverse-fold the thin back end up and back, so it sticks up at a steep slant. That's the boom.
  7. Pulley head. Near the top, fold the tip of the boom down over itself so it points straight down. The hook will hang from it.
  8. Hook: new sheet. Set the truck aside. Take the thin black strip, white side up.
  9. Hook: in half. Fold it in half the long way, so it is black on both sides. That's the cable.
  10. Hook: bend the end. Near the bottom, fold the end up on a slant so it points up and out, like the letter J. That's the hook.
  11. Back wheel: new sheet. Set the hook aside. Take a black square, white side up.
  12. Back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  13. Back wheel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle.
  14. Back wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  15. Front wheel: new sheet. Set the back wheel aside and take the other black square, white side up.
  16. Front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle.
  17. Front wheel: hubcap. Fold each point back out a little for the hub.
  18. Front wheel: round it. Fold the four points behind to round it off.
  19. Build the truck. Glue the wheels onto the bottom edge, one under the cab and one under the boom. Glue the top of the hook behind the pulley head.

Ready to tow!

Draw a window on the cab and a black stripe along the side. Hook up a toy car and tow it home!

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