Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 19:18:07 -1000 From: rock@netcom.com (Anne Rock) Message-Id: Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Subject: Re: single-line postings Marty Akerman (marty@amc.com) wrote: [great description of Marty's latest kite deleted] : Ok, Anne, it's your turn now! Or, anybody else care to describe one of their : favorite single-line projects? Thanks for the great article, Marty! I hope to see your kite sometime. Er, I was hoping my kite aerial photo article would count as a single-line contribution, for a while :-) ..... I made one of (Jeff's) soccer balls this weekend, 5" per side, raspberry pentagons and black hexagons. I went to the park this afternoon, and eventually the wind came up magnificently, and I was able to fly a kite and attach the soccer ball to the line. I am sorry to say that the ball starts to look rather small if lifted very high (surprise surprise) and horrible thoughts about making a larger one entered my mind. Making the soccer ball was a way of doing something kite-related while avoiding decisions about the next kite. But, it's going to be a delta, and I'll write about it when it's done. I hemmed the edge of the opening, no stiffening. The ball stayed inflated quite well; occasionally a gust of wind would partially flatten the side facing the wind, but it never collapsed (I don't have a wind meter, but it was probably 12 mph+). Anne = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 13:48:17 -1000 From: marty@amc.com (Marty Akerman) Message-Id: <1993Jun14.234817.12848@amc.com> Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: single-line postings In response to Anne Rock's recent posting, I am going to describe one of my favorite kite projects. It's nothing fancy, or very unusual, but the color combo is catchy, and the tail really adds a lot to this one. This is a Delta-Conyne with a 10 foot wingspan. Plans are scaled up from the "Kites for Everyone" book. One thing I did differently from the book was to make the wing panels multi-colored, as shown below. The triangular box sections are purple, and the wings (starting at the wing root) are teal, purple, yellow, purple, teal, with hot pink wingtips. One other thing I did differently than the book was to *really* beef up the bridle attach points. I've made the entire keel sleeve out of dacron, and the attach points are heavy nylon ribbon wrapped around the keel sleeve and sewn in place. I had to use an industrial sewing machine to do this, as there are some places where I've got the dacron folded over to neaten the sleeve ends, which makes four layers of dacron and four layers of ripstop there. My machine just wasn't up to it. After I got into it, I figured out a way to have only two layers of dacron, and still have it look as neat. The kite has accessory attach loops at five points on the trailing edge: one on each wingtip, and one at each corner of the triangular box. I also made a matching tail that I'm really pleased with. It uses the same color progression as the kite itself, with each section in the shape of a chevron, or "V". The center section, where the chevrons change direction, is actually square. I made a diamond shape template that I used for cutting all the pieces of the tail, and made it in two halves. The final step was to run a seam down the long center of the tail, joining the two halves. There is also a 6 foot piece of 200# line at the tail end, to help reduce whipping and fraying. Oh, I didn't try to cut the tail pieces "on grain", as I felt they weren't going to be subjected to much force, and I wouldn't care if the tail stretched a bit anyway. This made it easier to make better use of my fabric. I seem to remember an error in the book's details, although I can't remember what it was at the moment. At one point, I made a small grocery bag model of what the kite looks like at the time the wings are attached, and I used that to help visualize what happens when this is all turned right-side out. Without that, I'm afraid I may have put the wings on backwards or something. I highly recommend the paper bag trick to anyone who has any doubts about a particular kite plan. I use 150# line for this kite. It will fly in a very light wind though, and many times 80# line would be overkill. It will also fly in much stronger winds, and I'm glad I brought the 150# stuff. It's a very lively kite in the air, and will descend downwind, and race upwind as the wind changes, making lovely fluttering sounds as it does so. It is capable of supporting 20 foot 4 inch diameter tubes on the wingtips and one on the center attach point (in place of the tail), just for some variety. A vague, poorly scaled ascii drawing of the kite looks something like this: _____ /|XXX|\ / |XXX| \ / | | | | \ Body length: 4 feet /| | | | | |\ Wingspan: 10 feet / | | | | | | \ / | | | | | | | | \ /| | | | | | | | | |\ / | | | | |XXX| | | | | \ / | | | | | |XXX| | | | | | \ ----------------------------------------- P t p y p t p t p y p t P --- | _ | P hot pink |/_\| p purple |/_\| t teal |/_\| p purple |/_\| y yellow |/_\| p purple Tail is about |/_\| t teal one foot wide, and |/ \| p purple 14 feet long | | y yellow |\_/| p purple |\_/| t teal |\_/| p purple |\_/| y yellow |\_/| p purple |\_/| t teal |\_/| p purple \_/ P hot pink It was a fun construction project, and continues to be fun to fly, and always gets compliments wherever I take it. Ok, Anne, it's your turn now! Or, anybody else care to describe one of their favorite single-line projects? Marty Akerman marty@amc.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =