How to Construct a Hot Air Balloon

Hot air balloons are a fascinating means of transportation. Follow these steps to build one for yourself.

1. Research hot air balloons and try to figure out what kind you want to make. This article will only tell you how to make one kind (optional).
2. Decide how many panels you want your balloon to have, this will determine the size and shape of the balloon
3. Cut out as many panels as you need (we used 8) the panels used in this specific demonstration have a rectangular middle with a triangle on both sides, the tips of the triangles are cut off
4. Make sure you cut it so the triangles are on the side that makes it longest
5. Also, be sure to make sure you cut one triangle with a larger cut off, although still the same height (after cutting) as the other triangle
6. Glue the panels together so that it makes a bulb. this will not be easy. I would recommend you have at least three people and you put individual panels together into 4 groups of 2 and then put those together into 2 groups of 4 and then into the full balloon. putting the last piece on will be hard and there are two ways to do it
7. You can go inside and glue it, or you can glue it from the outside and then pull the balloon inside out so that there won't be wind resistance against the "seam"
8. Make sure the top and bottom match and also that you use the same overlap on each "seam"
9. The triangle with the larger cut off will be where you inflate the balloon from, so you can close off the other end now
10. Inflate the balloon with a small fan on low so that you can find any holes that you need to patch up

• when the balloon is flying, watch to see if it tilts to one side this can be fixed by putting a very small weight on the other side. make sure yo use something like a paper clip or it will drastically affect the tilt
• Tissue paper is good because it is light and will fly easily, but be careful when you're gluing, because it rips easily

• lots of paper
• scissors
• glue
• any other materials you might want to alter the balloon with
• a fan