FLYING LEONARDO

One of Leonardo’s small sketches shows a tiny man with wings strapped to his arms, stretched out as if to grasp the sky. Leonardo may have thought this practical at one point, but he soon realized he hadn’t enough strength to get off the ground. There is no tail in the sketch, and in fact this plane will fly without the tail, if you turn up the back edges of the wing a bit. The tail makes it easier to launch. You can also hook the rubber catapult under the chin and fly it high and far.

1 Use a round toothpick to roll Ballast Part (1). Fasten the end with a tiny bit of glue. Then attach Ballast Part (2) and roll and glue it the same way, followed by Ballast Part (3). Make sure Leonardo’s face shows on the outside! Remove the toothpick.

2 Mountain fold the Fuselage (4). Carefully overlap the top flaps and glue them together so they meet exactly. Make sure the Fuselage isn’t twisted.

3 Seal the back of the Fuselage with a tiny bit of glue.

4 Fold Reinforcement (5) and glue it inside the front of the Fuselage, flush with the front edge.

5 Securely glue the Ballast to the front of the Fuselage, using the tabs and the underside of the top flap. Make sure Leonardo’s face is showing!

6 Lightly fold Wing Parts (6) and (7), and glue Reinforcement (7) to the underside of Wing (6) so that the arms on part (7) show.

Here’s how it will look from the front.

And here’s how it will look from the bottom.

7 Glue the Wing to the top of the Fuselage over the gray area.

8 Glue the Tail (8) to the top of the Fuselage over the gray area.

9 All done!