Blimp Zeplin

Teach your kids they will love this one and you can obviously try it in your office too hahaha :)
Andy





This is a paper "airship", "zeppelin" or as we say "blimp". Cut a long strip of writing paper as shown and notch each end as indicated below:

______________________________________________________________ 

 <--Notch                                                                                               

    ___________________________________________________________  

Bend it over and slip each noch together. You will end up with a shape similar to a fish when looking through the opening: Be careful not to fold it at the front, it should be a curve.

That is all there is to assembly. Now place a small pebble (you could also use blue tac or soft silly putty) where indicated and squeeze the stone with your thumb and forefinger. Throw the stone and paper belt straight up. If you do it right the stone will lift the paper to an altitude until the stone begins to fall back to earth. The stone falls out of the loop and the airship begins to spin over the axis and gently returns to earth. When it spins it blurs together and looks just like and airship.

Try it and if you break any windows, please don't blame me. Also this could be a very dangerous toy, you could hit yourself your parents or your friends so only make it and throw it where it is safe to do so.

Blimp/Zeppelin Flying Lesson

Simply dropping the blimp off a balcony, stairwell or out of a high window is the safest way to fly it. It works best out doors where it can fly a long distance. You should drop the blimp parallel to the ground (not nose first or tail first) for the best results. Throwing the blimp with a stone in its nose is your second option you could also use blue tac or soft silly putty. This takes practise and requires you to be very careful you don't hit anyone. Throw the blimp with the stone grasped between finger and thumb vertically upwards and you can get it very high indeed. It will glide a long way floating like a blimp on the air currents. The first people I showed it to called it the flying fish. I like this name a lot!