How big can a maple seed model be? I don't know. These folded models range from 1.5x to 4x larger than the basic design. Larger models need stiffer, thin, but foldable materials, so these were made from bond paper, aluminum foil, and a carbonless copy sheet. All of the models work fine.
The question that I haven't answered is, "How big a model can be made?" There are limits to the size of plants and animals. An ant as big as a dog would suffocate because its breathing system would not be efficient enough to provide it with oxygen. But a robot ant doesn't have that problem,and could be much larger than a dog. Similarly, a model maple seed might be built using titanium struts and carbon-fiber cloth, or (for those of us on tight budgets!) from large sheets of cardboard using a glue gun. The idea of making a big model with a weight distribution and wing loading proportional to the origami maple seed is intriguing. How fast would it spin? Could it carry cargo, such as a raw egg, safely to the ground? Could it be powered with a model airplane engine in the "seed chamber" so that it would rotate and fly? This would be similar to Jack Northrop's Flying Wing, used as a model for the B-2 Stealth Bomber, but would be a helicopter instead! A "flying wing helicopter" might look a lot like a UFO!
