The Skyhopper

The sky hopper was one of the last figures I created for my first book. I wanted it to be simple so someone who had never tried origami would be able to make it. Again I had to balance design and appearance. There were actually several designs that were close to what I wanted, but none that were just right: either the wings were in the wrong place, the cockpit was too short, or the figure was just too complex. One day at work, I was working with one of these failed attempts when I was needed back sooner than I expected. I hurriedly put the figure in my pocket. In the process, believe it or not, I accidentally added a new crease. While it wasn't the right fold, it did point me in a new direction that lead to exactly what I wanted. There was a lot of luck in the writing of my book but I'm still willing to take full credit for it.

The T-16 skyhopper is a two-seat craft powered by an ion engine and two repulsorlift generators. It is extremely fast and maneuverable, yet easy to fly. They are usually armed with a simple stun cannon.

Luke Skywalker raced his skyhopper against his friends in the twisting canyons of Tatooine. Sometimes they would stun the womp-rats they would find there. Little did Luke know how valuable this training would be in his attack run in the Death Star's trench.