SnipFold

Stationary Sail Windmill

A tall gabled mill house with four broad paper sails on an eight-millimetre-deep folded hub. The rotor is a stationary decorative assembly, glued permanently to the front wall.

Materials

  • 200-240 gsm cardstock
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Blunt scoring tool
  • PVA glue
  • Tweezers

Finished size: 104 wide x 52 deep x 118 high mm; house footprint 44 x 44 mm

Steps

CutValley foldMountain foldGlue area

  1. Cut floor and wall pieces

    Check print scale. Cut all five perimeters, retaining every 5 mm tab. Score the five tab hinges on each gable and the bottom hinge on each side wall. Keep the 44 x 44 mm floor flat.

  2. Raise and glue the walls

    Fold all wall tabs inward 90 degrees. Glue W1 and W2 bottom tabs onto the inside of opposite floor edges with 5 mm overlap. Fit G1 and G2 at the remaining ends: bottom tabs lie on the floor and vertical tabs lie inside the side walls. Align edges flush; the rectangular walls are 80 mm tall and gable apexes 102 mm tall. Leave the four sloping roof tabs dry. Hold square and let all eight floor/corner joints set.

  3. Attach the door

    Cut D1 and glue its entire back to the outside of G1, centered horizontally. Leave its bottom edge 2 mm above the floor: door edges are 16 and 28 mm from the left corner. The door is a flat decoration.

  4. Fold the mounting hub

    Cut H1 with all four outer flanges. Score eight hinges. Valley-fold the four 8 mm walls 90 degrees toward the printed back of the 24 mm square face. Mountain-fold the four outer 4 mm flanges 90 degrees so they point outward parallel to the face. Corner edges meet without extra tabs; leave them unglued.

  5. Mount the stationary hub

    On the outside front wall measure a center 22 mm from either side and 66 mm above the floor. Center H1 there with its square face parallel to the wall and projecting 8 mm forward. The face spans heights 54 to 78 mm; outer flanges extend to 50 and 82 mm. Glue all four 4 mm flanges flat against G1. Support the wall from inside through the open roof and press until set. Let dry before adding sails.

  6. Close the pitched roof

    Score R1 down its central 44 mm ridge and valley-fold the printed underside 90 degrees from flat, leaving a 90 degree interior ridge angle. Each slope is 31.11 mm wide. Dry-fit with ridge on both apexes and all four outer edges flush with the walls. Glue one roof slope to the corresponding front and rear 5 mm sloping tabs; press while the other slope remains lifted. After setting, glue the other two tabs and lower the free slope. Hold gently until dry.

  7. Glue the upper and lower sails

    Cut the sails without folding. Apply glue only to each dotted 8 x 8 mm root patch. With H1 center as origin, aim S1 up and S3 down. Each narrow root begins 4 mm from center and reaches the hub edge at 12 mm; the broad tip is 52 mm from center. Keep roots centered on the vertical axis. Press each root flat to the front of H1 and let set. The lower tip remains 14 mm above the floor.

  8. Complete the fixed four-sail rotor

    Glue S2 left and S4 right using the same 8 x 8 mm root patches, 4 to 12 mm from hub center on the horizontal axis. All four sails lie in one plane 8 mm in front of the wall; roots do not overlap. Keep the broad blades flat, support root bonds until set and allow full drying before standing the house upright. Verify four secure attachments. This is a stationary display, not a working windmill. Physical assembly remains pending.

Notes

The 3D model shows each piece in its finished, idealized shape; the exploded view only spreads the pieces apart. It is not a paper-physics simulation: curved shapes are forming guides, not exact physical folding or proof of developability, and intermediate fold shapes are not supplied.