This is a new, very unusual way to create a star octahedron model. The polyhedron itself was discovered in 1619 by the German mathematician and astronomer Johann Kepler.

In one of our previous articles, we told you about a challenging task to make a polyhedron having just six identical figures. In November 1984, an article in the magazine called "Quantum” described how to make a stellated octahedron with similar principles.

The author of the article, Igor Glushkov (from Obninsk, Russia), offers the following idea. The stellated octahedron (the other name: Kepler’s “stella octangula”) can be cut into 4 equal parts and get a challenging task out of it. The main aim is to assemble these parts to get a polyhedron. Download net.

Each of the parts can be made of cardboard. To assemble a polyhedron, you will need 4 printed sheets of that model.

A dotted line indicates the fold lines.

The steps are as follows:

1. Print  4 sheets
2. Cut out every item
3. Glue every detail
4. Assemble the polyhedron.

The red-painted area should be inside the polyhedron, while the blue one is the outside.

Finished model of the polyhedron - Stellated octahedron.

Geometric dimensions* = 190 x 170 x 170 mm

* - when using a model presented at www.polyhedr.com