Some folds are quite the journey, Ryu Jins are no exception. I have already folded the 1.2 and the 3.5, but had not tried the 2.1, relegating it to the “when I have time” pile:
Holiday time is a time of recharge, paper folding therapy is my thing so I embarked on the super-duper-complex journey with HUGE bits of paper. I decided to fold it in 2 halves (two 140 x 70 cm rectangles of red duo Ikea Kraft paper).
As a bit of paper engineering, Ryu are masterpieces of fitting so much on a single square. The 2.1 is laid out in a similar morphology to the 3.5, with 2 halves of the model on opposite edges of the paper. The Ryu 1.2, in contrast, uses the diagonal and is symmetrical about that.
Pre-creasing is exhausting, it took me the best part of 4 days, on and off. The size of the sheet (to me) was a little small, knowing the level of detail coming, but I do not have a huge table, so decided to see if it could be done.
The front half of the model has a glorious section of pleated scales (mine ended up being 6mm square), a set of legs and the head.
The back half has a simplified tail and legs straddling a longer set of scales. After folding the front half, I had to partially collapse the back half before being able to graft the 2 halves together. With the model as one piece, then scales, legs and finer details were added, patiently.
I really tried for accuracy and tidiness and have identified a compounding error with my gridding technique that only really matters on HUGE grids, useful to know and easy to remedy in future folds. There are some interesting stressful points for me (the first 2 collapses of the head give me the collywobbles – so much can go wrong, after already having put in weeks up to that point. Pulling the feet is much easier in a 2.1, the 3.5 legs were a recurrent fail point for me.
The folded model is about 1m long, all up, and presenting it is a problem unless curled up a bit. I embedded a wire spine enclosed in the layers for pose and rigidity, and also added wires in the legs to allow me to pose them. The claws are lovely with their menacing thumbs, so I decided to pose it atop a “turret” of sorts, looking menacingly like it is actually holding on. I curled the body and then pinned it to to a paper-covered box (so I can remove it later if I decide)
It joins an interesting collection of Satoshi Kamiya Ryu Jins folded by me – the full family (well, nearly). I will need a break before attempting another in the series – folding like this takes a toll on you physically.
Quite a journey, I am indebted to the continuing support and astonishing resources afforded by Mr Daniel Brown, and RyuCentral, the Discord I found resources to help complete the fold.
No, I will NOT fold you one, no it is not for sale, sorry.