It all started with the ‘add-on’ to the Transamerica Pyramid model. On a trip home, I sketched the airplane and the way the parts of the plane might lay out on a page…

When I got back to San Francisco, I cut out some pieces and taped them together

I mocked up the parts in Corel Draw, and then had a model (which still had to be taped together, since I had eyeballed all the parts). Note the wheel-style propeller (I didn’t think the paper would be stiff enough to support a ‘bladed’ propeller). Also there were way too many segments in the wing to fold. And a tiny stabilizer in the rear!

Next version was all about getting the parts into proper proportion. The tabs are all reshaped.

By this time I was ready to have other people try assembling it. Maike is doing a great job here! Plus, I was getting interested in how the graphic design and color scheme would shape the final assembled look.

A small ‘AHA’–the plane is mostly enclosed space, and so it has an inside and an outside. I put my colorful design on one side and left the other side minimally decorated so that you can decorate it yourself!

Here is the finished product…

… with a lot of airplanes built along the way.
