Zebra Paper Airplane Folding Instructions

Zebra Paper Airplane Folding Instructions

Zebra Paper Airplane Folding Instructions
Difficulty:
Medium
Synopsis:
This sleek flyer is folded to fly rather far. Although it may have a few tricky folds, it is well worth making.

Instructions

1. Fold the sheet exactly in half by bringing the long edges together. Make a tight crease and unfold when finished.

2. Fold the left edge over to meet the center line crease just formed. Make a sharp crease.

3. Repeat on the right. Bring the right edge over to the center line. Make a new crease and flatten.

4. Turn the sheet over from left to right. The flaps formed by the previous tow folds are underneath.

5. Make a corner crease by bringing down the upper right corner to the center line crease. The top edge of the paper should end up exactly along the center line crease.

6. Repeat on the left. Make a corner crease by bringing down the upper left corner to the center line crease. The top edge of the paper should end up exactly along the center line crease.

7. Make another typical paper airplane crease by bringing the corner on the right over to the center line crease. The diagonal edge formed from the previous corner crease should end up along the center line.

8. Repeat on the left side. Make the typical paper airplane crease by bringing the corner on the left over to the center line crease. The diagonal edge formed from the previous corner crease should end up along the center line.

9. Reposition the paper and turn it over so the flaps just created are underneath and the nose is pointed toward the top.

10. Open the left flap from the center line outward. Form a new crease which runs from the lower left corner up to a point about three finger widths from the tip of the nose. Press the layers flat.

11. Repeat on the right. Open the right flap from the center line outward. Form a new crease which runs from the lower right corner up to a point about three finger widths from the tip of the nose. Press the layers flat.

12. Bring the nose downward all the way to the bottom edge of the paper. Make sure the nose hits the center line exactly and make as tight a crease as possible.

13. Position the plane to work on the upper left corner over and down to form a new corner flap. The top edge should end up exactly vertical, parallel to the center line about a finger width to the left of it. Make the crease as tight as possible.

14. Repeat on the right. Bring the right corner over and down to form a new corner flap. The top edge should end up exactly vertical, parallel to the center line about a finger width to the right of it. Make the crease as tight as possible through the many layers.

15. Bring the nose back up to form a new crease as far up as the new flaps just formed will allow. Make the crease as tight as possible.

16. Turn the plane over keeping the nose pointed toward the left.

17. Fold the plane exactly in half along the existing center line crease. All edges should line up if everything was folded evenly.

18. Position the plane so that the nose points to the left.

19. Make the first wing crease by bringing down the top layers. The new crease should be about one finger width above the bottom edge and parallel to it. Press down all the layers as well as you can.

20. Bring the wing flap up forming a crease along the flap on the top layer.

21. Turn the plane over from left to right. The nose should now be pointing to the left with the main center crease at the bottom.

22. Bring the other wing down to form the second wing crease. Try to match the other wing crease beneath it as closely as possible.

23. As before, bring the wing tip up to form a crease along the existing flap line. This should match the wing tip beneath it when finished. Press down hard on all the creases.

24. Open the wings and adjust all the angles so they are the same on both sides. The dihedral angle should be set strongly downward at about 45 degrees. The wing tip flaps should be angled upward at about 45 degree angle.

THE THROW This sleek zebra fighter can be thrown very hard and will fly at the highest speed of any of the fighters. Throw at any angle, but be careful of people around you since nose is very sharp. If it spirals, the dihedral is set too flat and should be adjusted downward.