I'm building a new kite!

Hi Folks,

I have started building a new kite.......YIPPEE! After I got the 'gift' of fabric I had to do something 'special' with it!

I have started a 'build' thread on the kitebuilder.com forum, partly so that fellow forum members can follow along and give me tips and pointers if required and partly so that anyone who comes along later and wants to build a similar shaped kite can hopefully gain from my experiences and problems (hopefully there won't be too many).

If you are interested in following the 'build' as it progresses the thread can be found here.........

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will be able to read the posts to the thread but will not be able to add comments unless you are a member of the forum (it's free to join if you haven't already). If you haven't heard about the 'gift' of fabric I received anonymously then that story can be found here.............

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you on the forum if you are interested in seeing fabric used as an engineering material ;-).

Reply to
Larry Green
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Larry, thanks for posting the kite site. I loved reading it. I've had a love affair with kites all my life but have never tried to build one. We have a bedroom at our little summer cottage that is known to all as the kite room. For years we had all the kites flown by our children and grandchildren mounted on the ceiling and walls. We finally had to take them down because they became so dust laden. I still have kite photos I've taken and needlepoint pieces I have made on the walls. I love your design and hope it comes out just as you picture it in your mind's eye. Keep us posted as to your progress. Juno

Reply to
Juno

Glad you enjoyed it Juno.

Well if you bookmark that link it will keep on working ;-). This is going to take my wife and I a while to complete as there are a *lot* of bits of fabric to sew together (over 300 of them!)

I am hoping to update the page every day or so as we work on it so just check back whenever you feel like checking on progress. I will try to post a reminder when it is complete though.

Reply to
Larry Green

I did bookmark it and I will be folloowing along. Have fun making it. I anxious to see the progress. Good luck to you and your wife on such a big undertaking. I know it will beautiful. Juno

Reply to
Juno

If you want to see some more of our kites go to........

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scroll down the left hand column of buttons until you get to the 'Larry & Karen Green' button and that will take you to a page with 'most' of our kites on it (the site is in need of a major upgrade for the new flying season!) Fair winds!

Reply to
Larry Green

very impressive! I love the one with the patchwork wings! :) Maybe I could get James building some...

Do you need special rip-stop or will any light weight stuff do? I'm sure I have some in the stash that is unused because I had no idea what to do with it! Part of a bargain bail of light weight waterproof fabrics...

Reply to
Kate Dicey

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Hmm.......patchwork wings........that must be the eNPW5 you are talking about. Very curvy, black central panel and jigsaw puzzle pieces making up the outer wing sections. That is actually what is known as a sparless power kite, it has no 'frame' and takes its shape solely from the pressure of the air inside the kite and the profile (the shape of the kite in the air) is controlled by the length of the bridles. Basically it is just a finely engineered piece of cloth with lots of string fastened to it! They develop a LOT of power and can cause injury to the unwary!

Funny story time.............that kite is only 2.5M^2 in area (tiny in terms of power kites) but even that can be a handful in the wrong conditions. A buddy of mine was flying it one day and he is a very experienced flier. The winds were medium strong but prone to very hard and unpredictable gusts. He was doing fine until a sudden gust caught him unawares as he was trying to take a breather from the intense work-out he was getting. The kite literally ripped him right off his feet and dragged him 10 feet down the field, face down! Now this guy is no 10 stone weakling, he is well over 250 lb., built like the proverbial brick sh..... out-house and has hands the size of bear paws but that kite tossed him around like he was a rag doll!

Now here is the kicker! That entire episode was caught on video by my wife! Another buddy who was there begged and pleaded for a copy of the file. A few days later he emails us a copy of the file to which he has added a musical backing track! Now when you play it you see him dragged off his feet to the 60's tune 'Wipeout'.........LOL.

What is even funnier is that after he has been dragged across the field I appear in the shot with concern written plain on my face and I stand there for a few seconds looking left at Rick lying bleeding on the ground and then right at the kite which is still fully inflated (Rick STILL has the control handles in his hands and is REFUSING to let go of the kite)and thrashing around on the ground like a Tasmanian Devil in a sack! You can see me thinking 'What do I do!', go help Rick or take care of the kite! I look back and forth a few times before finally making the right decision! I take a flying leap and land on top of the kite squishing all the air out of it and turning it into a pile of cloth on the ground instead of some crazed monster. Heck, Rick would be fine, skin heals but if the kite had been ripped to shreds I would have had a major sewing job on my hands to put it back together again! ;-)

One of my biggest 'downs' since becoming ill is that I am no longer able to fly my power kites. I just do not have the strength to fly them anymore and am totally exhausted (to the point of collapse) after just a few minutes in even a light wind! :-(

You can build a kite out of almost ANYTHING! I have used nylon lining material, bedsheets, ripstop clothing grade nylon and even plastic shower curtains! However, the 'better' kites all tend to use a specific type of ripstop nylon (RSN) that is ideally suited to the task. It was originally developed for use as sail material for sailing boats and wind surfers. It is a 'coated' ripstop and has a urethane coating that seals the pores so that it is non-porous. It comes in rolls and actually feels more like slippery paper rather than 'cloth' as it has a slight 'stiffness' to it. It takes a crease well (ideal when doing a double fold hem or a flat-felled seam) and doesn't fray when cut with scissors although 'most' kite builders cut their parts out of the fabric using a 'hot cutter' (basically a temperature controlled soldering iron) to heat seal the cut edges. They 'hot cut' as the fabric is subjected to a lot of friction from the air and a piece of non-ripstop nylon with an exposed raw edge will fray in seconds to the point where it starts to disintegrate. You can use non-ripstop nylon but you have to make sure all edges are hot cut or all edges are hemmed with a minimum of a double fold hem so that the raw edge is not directly exposed to the airflow.

If you can get James interested in building kites he will have a hobby for life! The vast majority of the world's kite builders are male and we all use sewing machines to achieve the creations we build. A sewing machine is just another power tool! Some of the 'top' builders are travelling the world free of charge as they are 'sponsored' to attend international kite festivals. Another buddy of mine went around the world TWICE in the 80's taking his creations to kite festivals and all he had to cover was his transport costs to the nearest international airport! All his flights, hotels, food and sight-seeing trips were covered by the festival organizers.

HTH

Reply to
Larry Green

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