[Prev][Next][Index]

3.2 Neue Lenkdrachen und Einleiner, bauen und fliegen



The title translate to something like "New Stunt Kites and
Single-liners, Making and Flying". As the other "Making and
Flying"-book by Wolfgang Schimmelpfennig, this one is in German
and with very instructive drawings. It contains six stunt kite
plans, and I think they are all designed by the author:

   Solar Fire     A silent, fast 3/4 dart.
   Bel Air        An ultralight, 4-batten, Hawaiian Maui-type
                  kite. Precise and with a large wind-window.
   Relax II       An 8' dart with a very curved LE and four
                  battens. Fast, tight turning and a high pull.
   Scanner        A sort of Hawaiian Maui with a small keel and a
                  "Navy Target Kite"-type rudder.
   Heavy Duty     A 3/4 delta with scalloped TE, keel and
                  winglets perpendicular to the main-sail. A high
                  wind kite with a high pull.
   Paradox        A quad-line kite which can also be flown as a
                  single-line kite. It looks like two 4-cell
                  Tetrahedron kite flown side-by-side.

The three single-line kites are: Samurai (a Genki variant),
Starflake (a facet kite), Starbird (a flat star-something kite).


Bernhard Malle, November 1993

Since a few weeks, there is a new book from Wolfgang 
Schimmelpfennig available called "Neue Lenkdrachen und 
Einleiner" (New Stunt Kites and Single Liners). Wolfgang has 
already published one book on stunt kites, one about single 
line kites and one about making kites with kids (all of them 
available via the Kite Lines bookstore). The new book had 
been announced for August, but has only recently appeared in 
the book stores. 

In his new book you can find plans for six stunt kites 
(Solar Fire, Bel Air, Relax II, Scanner, Heavy Duty and 
Paradox) and three single line kites (Samurai, Starflake and 
Starbird). The book ressembles very much his other books: 
there is an introduction, a chapter about how to be creative 
with colors and forms when building kites, one chapter about 
materials and techniques. The book contains a lot of nice 
color pictures, but the names of the creators and kite 
builders (Peter Lynn, George Peters, Peter Malinski or 
Schimmelpfennig himself) are very rarely given. 

The plans themselves seem to be as detailed and good as in 
all the other books of Wolfgang. As I am not an expert of 
stunt kites I cannot say much about the different kites. 
Nevertheless I have the impression that most of them are 
already well known and not really new. As Wolfgang never 
mentions any inventor or original designer of the kites, I 
get the impression that he has invented them all by 
himself...... 

There is one kite that is a little bit extraordinary: the 
paradox is a quadline kite. It is build like a box-kite and 
consists of seven panels. Wolfgang mentions in his 
description that the kite can also be used as single line 
kite if you add a tail to it. It seems that Wolfgang thinks 
that everyone knows, which handles to use for a quadliner, 
which length of kite line and which flying technique. 

The chapter about the single line kites is introduced with a 
two side picture of Wolfgangs soft-kites "Big Boss" and 
"Jake the Snake", two stunt kites. The Samurai is based on 
an ordinary genki, but a little bit modified to better fit 
for the design of a samurai. The Starflake is kind of facet 
kite and if I remember right, I have seen the same design 
also in a book of Jim Rowlands or Margaret Gregor. The last 
plan in this book describes the Starbird. This kite is a 
combination of flat star kite and an Eddy in the lower part 
of the kite.The book ends with some very general tips about 
tuning a kite and some safety rules. 

As a conclusion I am disappointed by the book. There have 
been so many advances in kite design in the last years and I 
have the impression that none of them are reflected in this 
book. Wolfgang, who has developed "Jake the Snake" 
(softkite), a new paraflex (soft stunt kite), who seams to 
be a good friend of Peter Lynn and other well known kite 
builders, could have put some more effort in finding new and 
interesting designs. 


Publisher    - Falken-Verlag GmbH, Postfach 1120,
               D-65521 Niedernhausen/Ts, Germany

ISBN         - 3 8068 1353 1



Return to Kite Fliers's Site