Incredibly Detailed Model Plane Made of Paper

This incredibly detailed model plane is made entirely out of paper. The 1:60 scale replica of an Air India Boeing 777 was constructed out of manila folders by 22-year-old Luca Iaconi-Stewart from San Francisco.

Luca estimates he has spent up to 10,000 hours on the model. He says: "I took an architecture class in high school and we built simple models from manila folder before moving on to the final versions. I really liked the way the paper felt, and how easy it was to use, and I guess that led me to start this project. I also wanted to challenge myself and see how far I could take this concept, and here I am still working on it after 5 years!"

Luca is not able to work from the blueprints: "As far as I know, they're considered trade secrets and are not released publicly by Boeing. However, I do have the general exterior dimensions (from Boeing), the training manual (which has over 6000 pages of detailed diagrams), and the seatmap from Air India, in addition to hundreds of pictures."

The model isn't complete yet - he still has to design and build the wings and the main landing gear. He says the most challenging component are those with moving parts or unusual shapes. "The engines, unfortunately, have both, so they were the most difficult to design and build so far. The wings, once complete, will probably overtake them in terms of difficulty."

See Luca's Flickr set for more photos of his amazing model plane.