How to Make a Miniature Plane From a Coin

by Yobonoc

23K17233

Intro: How to Make a Miniature Plane From a Coin

This is an instructible on how to make a coin into a tiny plane. it doesnt really have a purpose, but its quite a cool thing to make.
i originaly made it because a guy from college said he had one is grandad had made. i couldnt find one on here, or on the internet after having a quick look, so i just went for it and this is a step by step on how i made mine. if you make one, then please post your pictures!
(the back left fin has broken of mine so thats why its missing in the photos)

STEP 1: Heat and Hammer Your Coin, Then Bend It in Half

this first step is to choose your coin, i used a 10p piece for mine, (about the same size as a quarter) i choose a 10p because its silver in colour as opposed to the coppery colour of a 2p, this was purely for aesthetics, you could use any coin, but id recomend about this size.
i used a blowtorch to heat it up and hammer it out so it was flatter, slightly larger and didnt have the pictures on either size. the unheated coin is abit too thick, but be careful not to hammer it too thin. (in the picture is a 50p aswell because i hadnt decided what coin i was going to use)

once its hammered out, get the coin in a vise and bend it in half. it needs to be bent equaly so both the sides meet level at the top. once its bent, heat and hammer it again so its flat along the fold. you want to have no gap between the sides at the folded side, but it needs to have a gap at the sides that meet at the top. i forgot to take a picture of that bit and its hard to explain but it should make sense in the next step.

STEP 2: Cut the Basic Shape and Unfold

now youve got your folded coin, you need to cut out the basic shape of the wings and tail.
i put mine in a vise and used a jewellers saw (very very fine hacksaw) and cut down into the rounded side. you need to cut down like i have in the picture to mark out where you want the wings and the tail fins to be. you also need to cut out a wedge on the spine to make the upright tail fin.

once youve done this, you need to 'unfold' the wings and fins. this is where the whole thing about having the gap when there sides meet comes in. i put mine so it was in a vise held by the spine, then used a chisel to bend out the wings, the picture may help here. you want to bend it out so that it looks roughly like a plane blank.

STEP 3: Final Shaping and Mounting

this is the last stage, all thats left to do is to shape the blank into your desired plane shape. mine is based roughly on a spitfire.
i used the smallest files i could find to shape and polish it up abit.
i also hammered out the wings abit more on mine so they were longer and thinner.
you could spend forever doing this part using sandpaper, files, everything.
so if you finish one, post a picture!

i mounted mine on a coin i had that has a cool design, i just cut a triangle shape and bent it up, then super glued the plane to it.

good luck and thanks for reading

31 Comments

Planestorm 10 years ago

These would also make fine tokens for board games like Monopoly.

Yobonoc 10 years ago

Yeah that's a great idea!

blueangelical 10 years ago

Now that was loads of fun, much better than sitting at my desk at home working. This was 2nd attempt, 1st one I hammered it out and did it but it was too thin and broke in half, this one I just bent and cut it etc. did it cold, no heating. Worked fine on old coin. Excellent ible, cheers.

Yobonoc 10 years ago

Sweet, looks really good! I found it easy to do it without hearing as I went because it was abit of a slower process, meaning I could take more time on it.
Your welcome, and thank you for making one!

blueangelical 10 years ago

Hiya, fantastic. Question please, after you've bent out the wings and fins, what do you do with the excess on the bit in front of the wings, under the cockpit place or do you just leave it and shape it, cheers.

Yobonoc 10 years ago

Yeah you can just shape and make it into the underside of the nose, that's all I've done, but you could cut it out to make a flatter underside

Seagrey 11 years ago

Woot! I am making this for my dad for Father's Day. Thanks very much for this great idea! I was wondering if it could be..soldered to the base coin?

Canadianthunder 11 years ago

is there another way to cut out the wings and tail fins without a jewlers saw

sdfgeoff 11 years ago

I just used a coping saw with the tiniest fretsaw blade I could find.

Yobonoc 11 years ago

yeah a jewlers saw is just a tiny hacksaw blade so a hacksaw would be okay i guess, it would just be a bigger cut obviously but you could counter than in your shaping before and after

Yobonoc 11 years ago

you're very welcome, and thank you!

GBoss13 11 years ago

Thank you so much for this project! I've been dying to look for something to make for long time now (although I actually made this about a month ago now). I mde it similar to yours, with my own little touches. I used one US quarter, and it took a couple hours straight to make it, excluding my first failed attempt before this. I'm giving it as a gift to my girlfriend this winter :)

Yobonoc 11 years ago

aah brilliant thats so cool! i love the curve in the wings!
well done!

mrlunna13 11 years ago

Nice Instructable, I really like the planes! Probably because I am a coin collector, but looking at those coins getting destroyed like that makes me cringe. I hope one day to have coins fron every country in the world. Those are very beautiful coins.

Yobonoc 11 years ago

thank you!
and i see the appeal of coins, i have quite alot myself, i try not to destroy the nicest ones!

OrionTech 11 years ago

You said this doesn't really have a purpose. Sure, it does! Gaming Miniatures! Metal miniatures are ridiculously expensive. This is an awesome alternative! Plus, you can make any type of piece: planes, people, tanks, etc. All it takes is some imagination! Thanks!
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