PL-4 Hybrid

Step 1
Fold an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper
down the middle of the long dimension.
Don't panic. Just look at the pictures. On the
left I'll show you what you're starting with,
and I'll mark (in blue) where you're going to
fold. On the right you'll see what you should
end up with after each step.
Step 2
Next fold the two upper corners in at a 45-
degree angle. Be careful here to line these
up, and do not let the flaps cross the middle
of the paper. Use the middle fold as a guide.

Step 3
Fold the upper point over and crease.

Step 4
Next fold the new upper corners in at a 45-
degree angle. Be careful here to line these
up, and do not let the flaps cross the middle
of the paper. Use the middle fold as a guide.
Step 5
Undo step 4. (We need the creases for the
next step)

Step 6
Using those creases as a guide, fold the
corners as shown. What we are doing is
building up an airfoil at the leading edge of
the wing.
Step 7
Using the edge of paper as a guide, fold
the corners again, as shown.
Step 8
Make the final fold for the wing leading
edges.

Step 9
Fold the tip over. Look closely at the
drawing, don't fold too much, we just want to
take the sharp edge off the nose.

Step 10
Fold the plane in half.
The angled lines below the picture show
what the plane would look like from the
back.

Step 11
Fold the wing over to form the fuselage.
Make the body nice and even. (You can see
that it's even if the trailing edge of the wings
makes a nice straight line)

Step 12
Flip the plane over, and fold the other
wing.

Step 13
Lay the plane out flat.

Step 14
Fold the winglets as shown. Make them
about 3/4 of an inch (About 20 mm).

Step 15
(Optional) Fold the trailing edge of the
winglets over to form small tabs. These tabs
slow the plane down a little, but they also
make it more stable, and you will get longer
flights.
 Step 16
(Optional - Part 2) Unfold the tabs and
adjust to about a 30 degree angle. (You
should make adjustments to these tabs based
on test flights)

Step 17
Uncrease the winglets. Inspect their
leading edges carefully, if they are twisted --
even a little -- the plane will not fly well.

Step 18
Flip it over, and shape the wings as shown.
Now take it outside!

PL3 - Square Nose

Step 1
Fold an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper down
the middle of the long dimension. Don't panic.
Just look at the pictures. On the left I'll show
you what you're starting with, and I'll mark (in
blue) where you're going to fold. On the right
you'll see what you should end up with after
each step.
Step 2
Next fold the two upper corners in at a 45-
degree angle. Be careful here to line these up,
and do not let the flaps cross the middle of the
paper. Use the middle fold as a guide.

Step 3
Fold the upper point over and crease.
Step 4
Undo Step 3. (We just need to mark the line
at this time.)

Step 5
Fold over the tip as shown.

Step 6
Fold again.

Step 7
Fold the corners over as shown.

Step 8
Fold the tip over.

Step 9
Fold the tips up.

Step 10
Fold the corners over.
 Step 11
Fold the nose over.

Step 12
Fold the plane in half.

Step 13
Fold the first winglet.
The angled lines below the picture show what
the plane would look like from the back.

Step 14
Fold the second winglet as shown.

Step 15
Fold the wing over to make the first part of
the body.

Step 16
Flip the plane over.

Step 17
Fold the to make the body.

Step 18
Fold out the winglets, and shape the wings
as shown.

PL-2 Gull Wing Paper Airplane

Step 1

Fold an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper down the

middle of the 11" side. Don't panic. Just look at
the pictures. On the left I'll show you what
you're starting with, and I'll mark (in blue)
where you're going to fold. On the right you'll
see what you should end up with after each
step.
Step 2

Next fold the two upper corners in at a 45-

degree angle. Be careful here to line these up,
and do not let the flaps cross the middle of the
paper. Use the middle fold as a guide.

Step 3

Fold each side, again using the middle as a

guide. The two sides must be very even.

Step 4

Fold the tip over, lining the pointy tip up

with where the other folds meet in the middle.
This provides both the proper center of gravity,
and it makes the nose blunt so you won't poke
your eye out.

Step 5

Unfold the tip. We'll be folding it back later,

but we needed to crease the paper in the right
place.
Step 6

Unfold the sides. The plane should look a lot

like it did at the end of step 2, but with some
folds we need to use as guides.

Step 7

Fold the outer part of each wing in, Line up

with the folds from step 3.

Step 8

Fold the outer part of the wing again. What

we are doing is making a really strong leading
edge and spar for the wing.

Step 9

Fold the wings one more time so we are back

to the correct leading edge angle. Note that the
leading edges of both wings are now 5 layers
thick. This gives us a nice rounded leaning
edge and it makes the plane handle crashes
better.
Step 10

Fold the tip back using the fold lines we

made in step 4. (Notice that the tip doesn't line
up with any part of the plane anymore, since
we rolled that material up into the leading
edges of the wings. That's why I made you
mark it with a fold.)
Step 11

Fold down the middle and crease.

Step 12

Do the first fold for the body. The body

should be about half the width of the blunt end.
(See the drawing)

Step 13

Flip the plane over and fold the other half of

the body.

Step 14

Unfold the wings so they lie flat.

Step 15

Now we'll fold the winglets. These winglets

are half the width of each wing, so you can just
fold them over so they meet the body.

Step 16

Almost done. Unfold the wings and winglets

and work them until you get the shape you see
on the right. There should be a very
pronounced Gull Wing shape in the wings.

Step 17

Flip it over and hold the body a couple

inches behind the nose. Now give it a gentle
toss. Have fun. (That's an order.)
PL-1 Joe's Favorite Paper Airplane

Step 1

Fold an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper down the

middle of the 11" dimension. Don't panic. Just
look at the pictures. On the left I'll show you
what you're starting with, and I'll mark (in blue)
where you're going to fold. On the right you'll
see what you should end up with after each
step.
Step 2

Next fold the two upper corners in at a 45-

degree angle. Be careful here to line these up,
and do not let the flaps cross the middle of the
paper. Use the middle fold as a guide.

Step 3

Fold each side, again using the middle as a

guide. The two sides must be very even. These
folds are the most critical for proper flight.
Don't crease these too hard, that creates a sharp
edge and reduces the lift. (The plane will nose
dive) If you leave these folds too rounded, the
plane will tend to rise into a stall. When you
get into flight testing, you can adjust the plane
my messing with the sharpness of these folds.
Step 4

Fold the tip over, lining the pointy tip up

with where the other folds meet in the middle.
This provides both the proper center of gravity,
and it makes the nose blunt so you won't poke
your eye out.

Step 5

Fold the plane down the middle and press it

flat.
Step 6

Next we're going to fold a winglet. The fold

should be parallel to the edge of the paper, and
about 3/4 of an inch (19MM) from the ends of
the wings. The little squiggles under the
drawing show you how it would look if you
held it up and looked at it from the back of the
plane.
Step 7

Flip the plane over and fold the other

winglet, using the first as a guide. Get them
both very even with each other.

Step 8

Next we're going to make the fuselage or

"body" of the plane. I usually fold the wing
over to split the blunt end evenly, so that half
ends up on the body, and half on the wing.
Again the fold should be parallel to the paper.

Step 9

Flip it over and fold the other wing to create

the completed fuselage. I usually run my
thumbnail along all of the fuselage folds here to
really crease the edges. Remember, DO NOT
crease the leading edges of the wings too much,
see step 3 for instructions.
Step 10

Almost done. Unfold the wings and winglets

and work them until you get the shape you see
on the right. There should be a very
pronounced "V" shape in the wings, and the
winglets should be at about a 90-degree angle
to the wings. Now give it a gentle toss. Have
fun.
1. Start with an ordinary sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" - 21.6 x 28 cm (U.S.standard writing paper
size). The exact size is not important, it should be rectangular and not square. The paper
should be at least 20 Lb. bond or copy paper.

2. Fold over the left hand corner as shown.

3. Crease

4. Result

5. Fold over the right hand corner.

6. Crease

7. Result

8. Carefully close in the sides as shown.

9. Fold down the center line from front to back.

10. Fold the resulting left hand tip up as shown.

11. Crease along the bottom edge.

12. Repeat the same procedure on the right section.

13. Fold the left hand point back.

14. Crease

15. Mirror the same folds on the right panel.

16. Bend the left panel as shown.

17. Crease from back to front only 2/3 of the way.

Note: to see a complete video of the folding instructions, go to Paper Airplane Google
Video. You can start and stop the video as needed to help while folding. The link will open a
separate window.

I have received a large number of requests for clarification of steps 17 and 18. For detailed
instructions of steps 16, 17 and 18, go to detailed instructions. For additional help go to the
animation to view an animated sequence of these folds. You can also view a Flash
animation if your browser is equipped with a Flash plug-in.

18. Study photos 18 and 19 carefully. These folds are difficult to describe. Try to duplicate
them as shown in the photos.

19. Mirror the folds on the right.

20. Turn the plane over and fold the point back and crease as shown.

21. Turn the plane over again. The result should be similar to the photo.

22. Crease wing as shown.

23. Moisten the crease with your tongue. Do this slowly and carefully or you could receive a
painful paper cut on your tongue.

24. Carefully tear off strip of paper. Save the strip of paper because you are going to need
it to make the tail.

25. To make the tail, fold down the center of the strip of paper to form a trough.

26. Tear as shown to form control surfaces. The folds should be parallel with the bottom of
the trough.

27. Fold wings up.

28. Fold the right wing down as shown in photos 28 and 29. Take special care to angle this
fold in such a way so that the leading edge of the wing is slightly higher than the trailing
edge.

29. Study this photo and you will see that the fold is not exactly parallel with the trough at the
bottom but slightly angled as described in photo 28.

30. The plane should look like this at this point.

31. Bend the wingtips up.

32. Insert tail into slot under wing.

33. Finished at last!

34. Aircraft shown with landing gears down. Note: the craft does not fly as well with the
gears down.

Preflight inspection -
Before you fly the model plane for the first time you should examine
it carefully looking directly at the front and the rear. Just like a real
airplane, the left and right side must be the same, that is a mirror
image of each other. If one wing is higher
then the other or the surfaces are not at the
same angle, or the tail is crooked, then the
plane is likely to fly poorly. Make any
adjustments to correct these problems now.

Flight techniques -
This is the fun part, learning to fly. The airplane can be launched
with force or softly. Launching it on a windy day directly into the
breeze causes it to climb into a half barrel roll. For a second it will
fly upside down and then flip over and fly a long distance with the wind. On calm days you
can launch it gently horizontally. It has a long glide path and will generally go in a
straight line or go into a gentle curve.

Fine tuning -
If you find that the plane is banking to the left or right, you can correct this by
experimenting with bends on the control surfaces. To gain extra control, cut flaps on
the rear edge of the wings and bend the flaps up or down as needed. You can also
try bending the wing tips down instead of up.

The tail flaps can be bent up slightly if the plane tends to dive. All changes should be made
with small adjustments and then a test flight to analyze the change.

Make more than one model airplane. You will find that they all have
unique flight characteristics, no two are alike. Choose the one that flies best and try to find
out why it flies so well.

Try making really large versions of this plane using construction or ledger paper. They fly
just as well only higher and farther.