Date:	Sun, 19 Dec 1993 21:47:56 -1000
From:	q01@clark.edu (Luis D Glass)
Message-Id: <2f3lbc$1ec@clark.edu>
Organization: Clark College, Vancouver, Wa.  USA
Subject: bridle question


I have a question about my kite.  The kite is the Phantom Bantam, and  
I'm making the bridle.  Does anyone know if there is any science to it?
Or more specifically, where is the best place to put the pick point? I'm
thinking of putting the points over the centroid of each wing.  I built 
my kite from a pattern out of Christine Schertel's book, "Skywork Exper-
ience".  It didn't explain how to make the bridle, and hence I'm having 
to struggle building it from scratch.  I've read Richard P. Synergy's
book, "Stunt Kite Basics : Making all the Right Moves".  It explains how 
to scale an existing bridle, but not how to make one from scratch.  

If there is anyone out there with any advice, I would appreciate it.  
I've looked through the archives at ftp.hawaii.edu, but I must have
missed the article if there was anything like this there.
 
BTW, this is the first kite I have ever built, if you couldn't tell.  

Thanks,

Luis Glass
q01@clark.edu
luisg@up.edu



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Date:	Mon, 20 Dec 1993 05:45:04 -1000
From:	jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)
Message-Id: <2f4ha0$i24@umd5.umd.edu>
Organization: University of Maryland at College Park
Subject: Re: bridle question

In article <2f3lbc$1ec@clark.edu> q01@clark.edu (Luis D Glass) writes:
>
>I have a question about my kite.  The kite is the Phantom Bantam, and  
>I'm making the bridle.  Does anyone know if there is any science to it?

Of course there's science to it.  But there's also guess work.  And the
bridle can have a *tremendous* impact on the way a kite flies with respect
to precision, oversteer, etc.

The Phantom (and I'd assume the Bantam is the same way) has a rather simple
bridle; all 3 legs are the same length--in this case, about 27.5" (already
included is a bit extra to hitch around the spars).  So, make one 27.5"
length and one 55" length.  Put a mark right in the middle of the long
piece.  

Unlike most kites, the Phantom doesn't use it's static line as an outhaul.
The long line should run between the upper and lower spreaders *on the
leading edge*.  The short leg will go from the t-fitting to the bridle
point.  You'll probably want to put the mark on your main leg a bit below
the clip.  

I would guess that the Bantam would work pretty dandy with a 3/4 scale
version of these lengths.

Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka     | "Everything is still with a fear of never coming out |
|Suffering Bad Grammar|  Never following through / Never ever finishing      |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu |  What we wanted to do."  -- Melissa Ferrick          |


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