14 Lovely Paper Airplanes (And How To Make Them)

This is a big airplane made from newspaper. It's better for outdoor flying and maybe doesn't fly great but it's very old-school and charming. There's a good pictorial by Instructables.

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This one flies gently if made well. The instructions are not very detailed but I believe the drawing is clear enough. There is cutting involved - it is not your ordinary origami paper airplane!

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A military paper airplane with an interesting tail. There are very good detailed instructions on the page regarding the tail. The rest is not shown but it's kind of straightforward.

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Not exactly folding instructions here. You can motorize every paper airplane that is made of cardboard or other robust paper.

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Simple and fun paper airplane designed for long and good flight. Appropriate for both outdoor and indoor flying. There are no drawings but the video hosted at Metacafe is clear enough.

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This one looks really well - it's assembled paper airplane that doesn't fly. The instructions are very detailed, sized, and there are a lot of picture. The only small problem is they are in French. There are also more great models on the site.

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I really loved this one - at least the one that the author made. Bond paper, cool old outlook, good level of detail. If you decide to make it, say a good word to the author!

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The mirage paper airplane is good for kids - easy to make and flies well. It's an origami aircraft so no cutting or assembling is involved. The site contains also instructions how to fly it.

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If you are a fan of military aircraft you are going to like this link. McDonnell Douglas is an impressive one and the instructions on the site are good. I can't wait to see your photos!

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Simple but elegant fighter aircraft. Note that the link gives a .pdo file. You can open such files wiht Pepakura Viewer and perhaps convert it to something else.

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An interesting origami airplane and some of the most detailed folding instructions I have seen, with a lot of photos from the folding process.

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Here's a good video showing how to make a paper helicopter that really flies. While it doesn't look so much like real helicopter, it flies quite well.

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If you prefer more realistic ones, even if they don't fly, here are prototype drawings. There are no instructions but I guess you can figure out which part where goes.

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Enough military stuff! Here's a good airliner, concorde, in the form of origami airplane. Available as screen instructions and downloadable PDF file.

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