Up in the sky! Doing tricks! Is it a European starling? Is it a flying burrito? No! It's this soon-to-be world-famous paper airplane! It glides! It boomerangs! Follow these simple instructions to build the greatest paper airplane ever! (I apologize in advance for any misunderstanding of my ASCII instructions. I am a beginner. Be kind.)
Step 1
Blank piece of rectangular paper, preferably printer or notebook. Fold the upper corners to where they meet in the center of the paper.
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Step 2
Fold the triangle towards you, making another rectangle.
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Step 3
Repeat Step 1.
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Step 4
Fold in half vertically.
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Step 5
On each half, fold wings that are twice the size of the resulting base. The picture is now the side view of the airplane.
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Step 6
Now fold each wingtip up, using half the width of the wing.
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/________\/______________|
What you have now is the unaltered form of the plane. From a 3-D view, the conventional position would look like this:
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|/
However, to throw this plane correctly, it needs to be pinched at the apex of the middle fold. Done correctly, the plane will look like this from a front view:
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wing wing
Hints and Tricks
If your plane is diving to the floor, or doing something other than what you want, fix it by adding flaps. Just make two cuts the desired width from each other, and fold up or down, or just fold one. The best place for these flaps is the back of the main wing(the wing you folded first). To boomerang your plane, fold only one flap, or try creating flaps on the side wings(the wings you folded second). There are so many things you can do to this plane, and get funny, wild, or spectacular results. Try throwing the plane differently. I discovered that you can throw the plane backwards, and it will flip upside-down and fly forward. To do this, you put your index finger inside the middle crease with the plane facing you. Then put your thumb on the other side of the paper, underneath the plane, and your middle finger the same place on the other side. To throw, flick your wrist downward, letting the plane go when it is pointing at the floor. As I said before, this plane is very versatile. Use your imagination, and go crazy! Please /msg me any problems or tricks you have discovered.