#diamond kite

[delfindakila]

YSA GERNALE Saronggolang Diyamente, akriliko sa kambas, 2022 #artPH

[castakiteusa]

[picturekites]

Little Star - Flying Behaviour

As with the majority of diamond kites, Little Star will only fly with a tail attached. The tail I made for it is a bit shorter than required, the kite spins in the sky and flies sporadically. However, during one flying session, I thought I would weigh the kite tail down to improve the kite's stability. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a (clean) handkerchief, why not tie this to the tail I thought. It would be funny, right? Well, it was both funny and the ideal tail improvement, it provided both weight and drag to the tail to allow the kite to fly incredibly stable. Since that day I will only fly this kite with two handkerchiefs, one for the kite and an additional one to wipe the tears of joy from my eyes.

Little Star

The first kite I made was the "Little Star". The reason behind its construction was that when my wife and I were expecting our son, I wanted

[picturekites]

Little Star - Construction

This kite's sail was made from ripstop nylon and fixed together with venture tape. Each sail panel was cut out using a small butane-powered soldering iron and metal ruler. Using this hot-cutting technique melts and seals the nylon fibres to stop the edges from fraying. The sail panels are layered so that the darker colours are on the near face of the kite, therefore, when light shines through the sail no dark silhouetted lines are visible between panels.

All sewing on the kite and the original carry bag was done by hand (I did not have access to a sewing machine at the time). The sewing thread used was black Sew-All thread.

The tail is just over 4m long and made from 50mm wide strips of ripstop nylon.

Materials

70gsm Ripstop Nylon (PU coated) 4x4mm Ripstop

6mm Venture Tape

4mm Fibreglass Tube Spars

4mm End Caps

4mm Plastic Dihedral Connector

25mm Hook and Loop

25mm Dacron Tape

15daN Bridle Line

13daN Flying Line

Little Star

The first kite I made was the "Little Star". The reason behind its construction was that when my wife and I were expecting our son, I wanted

[picturekites]

Little Star - Kite Plan

Dimensions are in millimeters.

Little Star

The first kite I made was the "Little Star". The reason behind its construction was that when my wife and I were expecting our son, I wanted

[picturekites]

Little Star

The first kite I made was the "Little Star". The reason behind its construction was that when my wife and I were expecting our son, I wanted him to have a homemade kite as a gift when he was born.

Contents

Kite Plan

Construction

Flying Behaviour

A good starting point for anyone new to kite making is the diamond kite, it is a classic kite shape and relatively easy to construct.

Small kites are quicker and cheaper to make, however, they are more difficult to make accurately. Any small imperfections will have a greater effect on the stability of smaller kites because perfect symmetry is harder to maintain.

[wat3rm370n]

Red kite in a cloudy sky.