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Icarex
In article <930829181645@dbell.dseg.ti.com>, dbell@lobby.ti.com (Dick Bell) writes:
>Marty, Can you tell some of us what you think about the material "Icarex"
>I have the sample swatches at home but this only gives me color choices.
>Some people say they do not like it for certain kites because it does not
>stretch and thus the kite does not break--in correctly. I think that
>the sheen of the material is very good and reminds me of carington but
>again...with-out the stretch. I plan on using the material on a "BOL"
>when winter shows up here and I have more time on my hands. Also-
>do you have any brochures of your kites?
For some kites and in some applications, it is a dream fabric. For
other kites it will reduce performance. It depends on whether the
stretch in the fabric is important or not.
As an example, Dean Jordan's Pro, made with Carrington fabric was
often a wonderful kite. Just as often it was a dog. Sometimes the Pro
would need breaking in, other times when it was broken in it would fly
terribly. The reason for this was the fabric stretch. Carrington
stretches enough that the shape and the tautness of the sail would
change with age.
The Icarex and the Carrington/Icarex Pros fly uniformly well. The lack
of stretch has turned a sometimes good/sometimes bad kite into a good
kite with a pretty long life.
Another example, Katana II's in moderate to high wind are better
flyers in Carrington. The kite is qualitatively smoother in straight
lines and sweeping curves. Snap stalls and skates are easiler to
control with Carrington than with Icarex.
In really light wind, things reverse. The Icarex Katana II flies in
lower wind with greater forward velocity and more precision. The kite
is more agile and responsive.
I sort of like the colors, but I'm not wild about the hot pink. I miss
having a good rasberry too. I do like the royal blue and the purple, I
made a K-2 out of black with purple and it looks great...
One thing worries me though. Icarex shows creases and wrinkles more
readily than other types of ripstop used in kite making. I've also
heard that the finish cracks. If this cracking leads to deterioration
of the coating, then there will be a real problem. Once the coating
goes, the fabric starts stretching, especially across the bias and you
lose a lot of the UV resistance. Only time will tell whether this is a
problem or not...
--
Marty Sasaki Harvard University Sasaki Kite Fabrications
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