LEONARDO’S FLYING FISH

The flying fish is a rarity among Leonardo’s many sketches of flying animals. That’s because flying fish don’t actually fly the way birds and bats do. They speed up under water, pop out above the waves, spread their long pectoral fins, and glide smoothly across the water. But they can’t fly continuously. Still, Leonardo looked carefully at everything that was capable of sailing through the air, and the flying fish didn’t fail to catch his eye.

1 Crease Wing Parts (1) – (3) about 10 degrees on each side, and glue them together as shown.

2 Glue Reinforcement (5) to the center of the bottom of Stabilizer (4).

3 Crease the Fuselage (6) on the center line, but not so much that it doesn’t bulge. Fold the glue tabs, and glue together the back half of the top.

4 Glue the bottom of the nose together.

Seen from the bottom.

5 Glue the three large Ballast Parts (7) – (9) inside the bottom of the nose, flush with the front.

7 Repeat step 5 with the four small Ballast Parts (10) – (13).

7 Slip the Wing into the slot in the Fuselage, but don’t glue it yet.

8 Glue the nose together at the remaining three glue tabs. Make sure it isn’t twisted!

9 Fasten the Wing into place with small fillets of glue.

10 Slip the stabilizer through the back slit, center it using the marks, and fasten it into place with small fillets of glue.

11 Slip the Rudder (14) into the slit at the back of the Fuselage and glue it into place.

12 Fold and glue together the Hook (15) as shown.

13 Glue the Hook to the bottom of the nose. All done!