How to Fold Five Incredible Paper Airplanes | WIRED

what we're about to make is the boomerang plane and what you want to do is start with a short side of the paper up us letter size paper so we're going to start by folding it in half the next thing we're gonna do is find the center of this crease that we just made and we're just gonna make a little pinch we're not going to make a full fold we just put that corner to that corner and then carefully make a pinch right there and now we're gonna find the one-quarter point just halfway between the center and that corner and again we're just gonna make a pinch we're just marking the one-quarter point now we're gonna use the one-quarter point and this corner to make a crease that runs right straight here and so we'll just use those two landmarks to make a crease folding that one corner over so now we're gonna do what's called a squash fold and to start the squash Bowl we're going to lift this corner that we just folded and you'll notice that you've got two layers here we're gonna open up this layer and that original center crease that we made that's holding the page in half we're gonna use that crease and press it right down to where those layers meet and now we're gonna take this flap in the front and we're just gonna fold it behind now we're gonna start the post complicated part of this plane is taking these corners up here and putting them in these pockets so let's start by moving the corner where it's going to be it's going to be right straight at the bottom of this triangle see we've got a little flap that we've created this is the pocket that I was talking about pocket looks right there so this corner is going into that pocket the first move is to put it down there about as far as it's going to go into the pocket so let's do that I'm just leaving about two millimeters of space at the bottom of the pocket for that to fit in there let's go and do the other side at the same time so now we're going to actually narrow this point small enough to fit into the pocket you can see it's much too wide so we're going to start by moving this guy up and you have to be able to see the pocket underneath here I'm going to lift this for just a second this crease that we're making here is going to make it so it fits into that pocket there so we're making that just narrow enough to go in there all the way down to the point and it's kind of weird move there and hold that up so you can see that this is the edge of the pocket and this is the new crease that we made here and now now that it's thin enough we're gonna put it into the pocket so you just kind of press the pocket open and take that corner and put it in there we're gonna use the front of the pocket here as a limit and we're gonna try to get this corner here as close to this Center crease as we can so again the front of the pocket and try to get that corner to touch the center crease now we're gonna flip it over and insert the corner into the other pocket ready to give you an OK look at that open up the pocket just enough insert that flap in there and this corner just touching the center crease again are the limits the next move is to broaden the wings out again we folded the wing tips down to the center of the plane so we're gonna move them back to the outside there's one side done we'll flip it over and do the other side and now we're gonna do something real crazy we're gonna squash that flat so we're gonna start by picking it up and opening the two halves of the plane and notice that as I squash a flat you've got these two corners here you want to keep these two corners lined up at the center press them together at the center and then squash the whole thing flat now we're going to flip it over so this folds right straight down line up the corner the top point with the center we're gonna follow this crease right here fold the plane in half and remember these little layers that we use as limits here they are right next to the layers here that we're gonna use as limits for the wing folds so leave this guy fold in half we're gonna pull the wing over the wing fold is going to be parallel with the main center crease the wing folds the wings are gonna be the same height at the front and the tail of the plane and the crease is going to be parallel with this Center crease that's a really important deal and you fold it over just enough so you can see a little triangle forming right here at the wing crease so take care that these guys are parallel we'll flip it over into the other side so now let's do winglets and winglets should be parallel with the wing crease so wing crease here winglet is going to be parallel here this comes up that much it's about a third or a little bit less than a third of the whole height of the wing and you want this crease to be parallel with this crease moving the same direction so let's flip it over make the other wing match so unlike most paper airplanes the boomerang plane the wings are going to droop positive dihedral helps the plane rock back to neutral this plane the wings are actually drooping in a negative dihedral or anhedral fashion and that along with where the center of gravity is helps the boomerang plane circle back now we're going to pull the boomerang - and the folding is very similar to the boomerang one first couple of moves are gonna be very familiar if you just fold with a boomerang plane and we're gonna fold it in half and again we're gonna find the center point on this crease right here making a little pinch and now we're gonna find again the quarter point by measuring the halfway point between the center point and that corner and we're gonna use this quarter point we're actually going to make a crease all the way up this time and we're going to use that as a reference point to begin the folding sequence here so let's move that quarter point over line everything up perfectly make a nice sharp crease so now we're going to fold this corner over and we're gonna fold it over in such a way that it just comes to rest against this vertical crease here so we're folding the corner over it's going to hit there and then again you're going to the top-left corner here and again we're gonna run the same sequence after we get this small triangle made we're gonna do a squash fold just lifting that flap opening it up and then moving the center crease down to the center of those layers and pressing it flat of course we have to fold this flap behind before we start moving those guys into pockets so let's start by bringing this corner down just short of the bottom of the pocket make a crease let's flip it over make the other side match again we're taking this corner just short of the end of the pocket here [Music] and now we're gonna narrow this corner so it fits inside this pocket here so we're gonna take this corner and put it into the bottom of the pocket here so we're narrowing it right here and now we're gonna put it in there and again we've got this weird bubbling configuration and this time the front of the pocket is still going to be where we want to go in terms of the limit and the back of the plane you're gonna try to line up this edge with this edge you're gonna try to keep these edges this one sticking up here right here kind of parallel with this guy here so here we go we're bringing that down we're gonna squash it flat using that front of the pocket as a limit and try to keep that edge parallel with the back edge here now let's flip it over and now once again we've moved the wingtips to the inside of the plane and we want to widen those out so we've got enough you know airfoil there to keep the plane aloft so we're gonna make a crease that goes from the front of the pocket to this rear corner here I'm just gonna move that layer up do the same thing to the other side let's flip it over and now that we've got our wingtips fanned back out we're going to squash fold the whole body of the plane and we do that by opening up the center crease we're going to open this crease here and start moving these two corners these guys here are going to move down you can see these guys we're gonna move them down as we pull the layers to the outside [Music] so we're gonna take this corner and move it up just so that it's right along this edge so these guys started here and they're going up like this and now we're just going to reverse the direction of these creases so that those two tabs are sticking to the inside there's one done so I've just started here and I'm just tucking that under using the crease we just made as a reference and we're going to do the same thing for the other side and if you feel underneath here you can feel all the layers kind of integrate there I'm going to take my thumbnail and just follow that right there and that's going to provide a reference for moving this fold over to here this is again we're making the landing gear here so I have a reference we're moving this layer over so here we go let's move the layer over and now we're moving this fold over now we're going to go ahead and make wings we're gonna follow this Center crease and fold it with all the layers on the outside and you're gonna do an exact measurement here it's you're going to measure it using one of the layers on the other side so you have to pull it over and now you're seeing this layer here this layer where this layer ends is going to hit the corner of the plane's fuselage here so you want to roll this over and when that layer just touches the corner underneath you have to keep peeking and sort of doing this a little bit by Braille you get a little bit closer to the nose and roll that over and hit right there so let's flip it over the main thing is to make the other wing match and when I fold this corner up to make the winglet don't go past this layer right here this is really importantly or not to go past just go to that or just a little bit short of that and the winglets should be parallel going the same direction as the main wing crease this little crease here making the winglet same direction as the main wing crease let's flip it over make the other wing let match very good okay so the folding is now complete but it's all about the adjusting on this guy even more so than the boomerang one so we're gonna start by lifting the wings up and lay the plan on its back and now we're going to lift up those landing gear bolts and now we can flip it over now we're looking at the top of the plane now let's lift those winglets up and now you're gonna do a couple of things of this plane that you would never do to any other paper airplane because this guy flies a lot slower and it doesn't fly very far so step number one is to make a weird adjustment on the nose here we're actually going to bend the nose down a little bit like that so that the nose intersects the wing crease with this weird little bend here and that's important when the plane is upside down believe it or not there's a little bit of a trick right here helps keep the nose up when the plane is upside down the other thing we're gonna do which you would never do any other paper airplane is work the main center crease back and forth flex it back and forth a bunch there it is the boomerang to it ready to fly we're gonna do the bat plane which did not start out to be the bat plane I think this is the second plane that we're doing that didn't start out to be whatever I wanted it to be so the first thing we're to do is take creases from this corner to this corner the long diagonal here so here we go we're gonna fold it from this corner to this corner it may take you a little bit of time so I got pretty close so now we're gonna open that up we've got this corner this corner now we're going to do this corner to this corner and I'm using my thumbnail to sharpen these creases you could use a folding tool some people like to use a ballpoint pen cap now we've got a big X in the page and we're gonna make a crease that hits the center of both of these outside edges here just flip it over and we're gonna fold it in half just like you would start almost any regular paper airplane that crease is gonna go just like that we're gonna do what's called a waterbomb base this crease that we just made down The Sitter just press right straight down where all of the creases meet just until the paper pops like that now let the sides come in and the top come down so the next move is to take the right hand side and just following this layer underneath here we're just going to move it over you can move this think of just moving it as far as you can move it really moving that layer over now we're going to take this corner move it to the top and now we're gonna swivel the whole thing back to the right-hand side that it came from so we're gonna do the same thing with the left side we're gonna swing this guy over looking pretty good you can see the shape is starting to form now we're just gonna add a little more weight to the nose by taking this top down to the bottom just pulling straight down now we're gonna fold about a third of this distance here we're gonna fold this guy back up how can you tell how much a third is well the part on top of this crease and below the crease will be the same distance that's how you can tell how much up there it is okay we're gonna flip it over and we're gonna fold it in half I'm just rotating a little bit so I can fold it in half and again match up these corners here these guys here match those guys up don't worry about the center these corners here so much don't worry about those all right now though there's a little bit of mojo here with making the main wing crease and you really want to hit it where the layers are there's a little gap in the layers you can kind of feel that if you just pivot the wing over a little bit you can start to feel where the loose part is just let that fold happen right there where the loose part is and flip it over and now make the other wing match the other wing should move down in a very similar way we're gonna take this long edge and put it against this edge right here we're gonna unfold that then we're gonna take this shorter edge up here and move it right against the same raw edge here so and now you've got this crazy-looking thing here and we're gonna pinch that corner together like that okay let's flip it over and make the other wing match now we're looking at the the underside of the plane and we're going to fold them over start at this corner and go over about so that you're three millimeters at the trailing edge so it's a really thin little slice of wing here you need to do both sides you could hold the wings together like this and make sure that they match and now we're gonna use our thumb and kind of round off the leading edge here this is an important adjustment keeps all of the layers on the wing go in the same direction and kind of lock together a little bit we've folded with heavier paper to get you through the folding process first time but this thing will really flaps so much better if you use a really lightweight paper like nine pound onion skin or if you can find one of those things called a phonebook you can go back in time and find a phonebook rip out the pages that's really nice lightweight paper that flaps really well so the key here is to get the leading edges kind of lock together with a little curve there and you'll have to play with the leading edge droop and the trailing edge of elevator to get the right flapping motion [Music] so really the tumbling wing next which really isn't an airplane at all in the conventional sense it's not made to fly so much as it is just going to fall in an organized fashion so we're gonna take one strip of paper here it's about two inches wide and the length of a phone book page around 200 millimeters by 50 millimeters if you're into the whole metric thing and the first move we're going to do is just fold that strip of paper in half now we're going to fold down about two millimeters both edges together we're going to hold this guy together as we fold both edges down about two millimeters two to three millimeters just right straight across take your time okay so that's really the hardest move is to fold both of those top layers down at the same time now we're going to unfold everything those two top layers and the center layer so now we're gonna put a winglet on either end one end is going to go up and one end is going to go down and so we're just going to fold over about a thumb width so that's going to be you know 20 to 22 millimeters flip it over and then fold this up what we've really got here is one end up and one end down you want to make these guys have 90-degree bends here and when we're getting ready to get this guy to tumble this top edge is going to point the direction of travel so if this top edge is pointing away from me the planes going to rotate backwards and move forward like that and the other trick to getting it to fly straight is to watch the wing droop here what do we mean by wing droop well you've got one long edge down one long edge up so if it's turning to the right like we can make a turn to the right if we just add a lot more angle on one edge than the other now when I throw it it's going to veer off to the right so if it's bearing off to the right smooth that out so again top edge pointed the direction of travel and we're just gonna drop it and let it tumble there it goes so this plane has such a low sink rate that you can counter that sink rate by walking forward with a piece of cardboard with the top of the cardboard lean slightly back you're scooping up air and as long as that air is moving up the same speed the planes moving down it surfs right there on that wave of error this is gonna be the world record plan it's named after my wife it's named Suzanne short side of the paper up we're gonna take the top of the page and put it against the side of the page we're gonna make two diagonal folds here standard kind of diagonal folds we're going to take the right-hand edge just from the creased corner down to where this crease meets the edge of the page and we're gonna lay it against the diagonal fold we're gonna take this creased corner and bring it just to the end of this crease right here fold the top down and now you'll see those diagonal folds on the other side what you want to do is line up the diagonal folds the top layer of the diagonal with the very bottom layer of the diagonal on both sides and that's how you know you're hitting the center of the X dead center what I find to be the easiest way to do it is to follow the creases on this side but if you can see them clearly on the other side and that works for you go ahead and use it flipped over we're going to take this flap right here and fold it up over those two corners and when we do the next move to fold the plane in half the whole thing will be locked together so let's fold from the top all the way down to the center of this edge to fold the plane in half you can flip it over and make sure the rear corners and the nose are perfect the center corners don't worry so much about don't spend a lot of time trying to line those guys up the rear corners and make sure you're hitting the nose cleanly now here's the pro way to do it make sure wings a little bit wider makes the plane a more efficient glider if you start here and don't make the crease but see you've got a little triangle that you can see here made up from this raw edge and the back of the fuselage if you keep pulling the wing down just until that triangle disappears that is a much better place to make the wing crease it makes the tail much broader gives you much better lifting characteristics so let's make the other wing match that should be an easy task does it flat keep going you've just folded the world-record plane so clearly it's not true that you can't fold a good plane so let's look at a couple of simple adjustments that are going to work on this plane or almost any other paper airplane so the first thing we do we're gonna give it what's called positive dihedral angle and what that does when you hold on to it where all the layers lock and just lift the leading edge of the wings now you've got some upward sweep there and what that does is put the lifting surface up over where all the way it is so if the plane is flying along and it gets rocked to one side just like a pendulum the weight swings back underneath the wings and that's called dead-stick stability so now the plane is going to fly along the lift is back here it pitches the nose downward as the planes going forward what does that do that allows me to gain speed the plane is being slowed now I'm pointing the nose at the ground gaining speed which is good but now I keep gaining speed at 9.8 meters per second per second it's gonna crash into the ground really hard so I bend in some elevator back here and the air goes down the top of the wing hits that bend gets kicked up which pushes the tail down which lifts the nose and voila now the nose is level again so enough up elevator so at the right speed the plane noses up enough to just achieve horizontal stability that's the whole trick with any glider you're constantly balancing that center of gravity center of lift and a little bit of up elevator to get that perfect flight and that's how you break a world record [Music]

Channel: WIRED

Views: 4,689,274

Rating: 4.8273931 out of 5

Keywords: airplanes, origami, paper airplanes, paper folding, paper airplane, paper plane, paper aeroplane, plane, airplane, how to make a paper airplane, best paper airplane, best paper airplanes, paper airplane guy, john collins, paper airplane folding, the paper airplane guy, paper airplane record, fold a paper airplane, fold paper, folding paper, paper plane folding, paper plane instructions, paper plane tutorial, paper plane how to, wired

Id: JhYZy1ugI3Q

Length: 21min 18sec (1278 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 30 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Very interesting :) My favorite was the bat plane , it’s epic how it flaps !