From: Dave Kendall Subject: D.I.Y. Kites Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 03:18:13 -1000 Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, The University of Nottingham Message-ID: Hi, Just a quick note to encourage all you power-kiters and buggy freaks to see the light and start building your own traction engines. Last week I received the plans for a 3 metre square four line traction kite from Chris Sands (The so-called 'Sands 3m 4 liner'). Chris also flogged me a load of ripstop at a knock down price of 1 pound (uk) per metre (and it aint apparently seconds!), he even included some coloured stuff into the bargain (the rest being white). Anyway, with a bit of head scratching and discussion with the emminent self-confessed fanatic Paul 'Pull' Chandler (to whom I am in debt - let alone responsible for a good dousing on York racecourse - but that's a different story!), I managed to assemble my very own (and first) home made kite. It measures 3.23m wide (comprising of 17 cells of 190mm width each) and about 950mm deep, and is a sparless (bridled) foil. Despite it being my first attempt at sewing (with a machine) let alone building a kite, it worked suprisingly well, and with a bit of re-adjustment of the brake lines, flew perfectly. The advantages of four line kites are now obvious; ultimate maneouverability - you can fly these things completely inverted if you want - and there is NO problem taking them off after a crash - without the need to resort to flexifoil styled solo launch tricks. They are also easier to 'bleed' when the pull becomes too strong (yes this CAN happen - sorry to all those purist power freaks!), and can be 'hovered' in the power window of the wind forever it seems! The real reason I am posting this is to say ' WAKE UP ' and get sewing, if I can do it then ANYONE can. The plans are available from Chris Sands by return of post - I'll give anyone the address who's interested. They are easy to follow (if you have a bit of feedback), and seem to be quite accurate!! Including line, material and tools (such as washers and needles - see the plans and all is revealed!) the TOTAl cost of my new kite was a mere 15 uk pounds. Compare this to the commercially available equivalents (such as Skytigers 26 at 180 uk pounds+) which have slightly less surface area (this one is approx 31 sq.feet), it is a bargain. The real 'bargain' and value is in flying these things though! I am sure it flies much better than even the Hi-40 Skytigers (if only for the fact that I made it - and you cant beat THAT satisfaction!). So come one, get sewing, and in 20 hours and 20 pounds you too will have a four line traction kite! (Beats the hell outta my three stacked flexifoils six footers!) and it feels equivalent to the two stacked ten footers I tried some months ago (but dont quote me!). Chris also sent plans for upto 6m sq. kites in the same design, and I am now looking to get started on that - just try stopping me! (By the way, get a buggy for these babies, I did! And that is teh REAl way to kite!!!!) Dave Dr. D.Kendall QMC, Nottingham England, UK. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Subject: Re: D.I.Y. Kites Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 09:14:01 -1000 Message-ID: Dave Kendall writes: >I managed to assemble my very own (and first) home made kite. Yow! Way to go! >Despite it >being my first attempt at sewing (with a machine) let alone building a >kite, it worked suprisingly well, and with a bit of re-adjustment of the >brake lines, flew perfectly. Except that it doesn't fly perfectly. Nothing does. As you fly it, look at it very critically. What things is it good at? What is it not so good at? Which bits look imperfect? How could you improve it? You can't tell whether you've tuned it to the edge of it's ability until you've gone past that point, then come back to the optimum. Every time you fly with someone else, same design or different, study the differences and the changes they effect. > The real reason I am posting this is to say ' WAKE UP ' and get >sewing, if I can do it then ANYONE can. Yeah. The only people that can't sew are the ones that havn't tried... Andrew -- error: cannot open /usr/andrew/.signature: Permission denied = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =