Kites & kiting

[Turtle]

Was thinking 6' X 12' as it involves the least non finishes edges....only one....was thinkin that the "lip" could be rolled over and minimally stitched where the spars (ribs) meet the > shaped part of the frame. (I think I could manage simple "button" type stitches with enough strength to hold)

 

 

10-4 Skippy. Which kite are you building again? :doh: Sorry.

 

Got my pockets sewed & sewn on but no wind and we have some lightning going on up above the marine layer rolling in from the coast. I am 70 miles E of Pacific Ocean, as the crow flies, and E of the Coast Range of mountains and W of the Cascade Range of mountains. Topping that I am near the Columbia River Gorge which funnels winds at times that are wicked. Areas on the river E of me are must do kiteboarding grounds...erhm...waters.

 

Not my jag, but whatever puffs yer sail.

 

Kiteboard the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon/Washington

 

Edited July 17, 2013 by Turtle

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Am/was thinking an overly simplified delta wing, built from what I can scrounge from my various stashes. But this morning the idea of using the somewhat heavy, water proof fabric for a small dinghy (perhaps even a kayak) crept in....now locked in serious debate with myself...after all it is wide enough that any seams could be above the waterline if properly planned....CRAP!

 

Like all of my stashed goodies, I like that it has potential to be useful, but I hate when there are multiple uses that are highly appealing....after all, I can really only use it for something once and once modified for one project it will be unsuitable for the other....dangit...time to take an inventory of my goodies and go from there.

 

Skippy..GRRRrrrrrrr

 

We gots folk that do that here as well.... on skis, snow boards and ice skates on the harbor at Erie when the ice comes too.

 

Another fun filled day trapped inside, already unbearable outside.

[Turtle]

Am/was thinking an overly simplified delta wing, built from what I can scrounge from my various stashes. But this morning the idea of using the somewhat heavy, water proof fabric for a small dinghy (perhaps even a kayak) crept in....now locked in serious debate with myself...after all it is wide enough that any seams could be above the waterline if properly planned....CRAP!

 

Maybe a boat/kite? You can also make a magnetically enhanced siphon to bail the boat.

 

Like all of my stashed goodies, I like that it has potential to be useful, but I hate when there are multiple uses that are highly appealing....after all, I can really only use it for something once and once modified for one project it will be unsuitable for the other....dangit...time to take an inventory of my goodies and go from there.

 

You can't go wrong with a delta. Any curtains you don't need? :omg:

 

Skippy..GRRRrrrrrrr

My bad Double-D.

 

 

We gots folk that do that here as well.... on skis, snow boards and ice skates on the harbor at Erie when the ice comes too.

 

Another fun filled day trapped inside, already unbearable outside.

 

I'm up early to vent the house. I put a large fan blowing out a window and then open others so their total open area is equal to the area of the out-flow window. Once I get the inside down to 70 or so, I shut everything and trap the cool air for the day and then hunker down. It works so well that I think I will go have a root-canal this morning before any kite flying. :unsure:

Edited July 17, 2013 by Turtle

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Nope, but it dawns on me i have a few tarps that are largely unusable thanks to some critter deciding that they were tasty....hrmmm....a couple bed sheets that the pups claws ripped as well....hrmmm indeed.

I'm up early to vent the house. I put a large fan blowing out a window and then open others so their total open area is equal to the area of the out-flow window. Once I get the inside down to 70 or so, I shut everything and trap the cool air for the day and then hunker down.

 

I do that when possible, sadly nighttime temps and humidity are little better than day. (humidity is actually worse at night).

 

[Turtle]

Nope, but it dawns on me i have a few tarps that are largely unusable thanks to some critter deciding that they were tasty....hrmmm....a couple bed sheets that the pups claws ripped as well....hrmmm indeed.

 

 

I do that when possible, sadly nighttime temps and humidity are little better than day. (humidity is actually worse at night).

 

 

 

Copy humidity. Only 25% here, which is muggy for us, but I recall Midwest Summers when temp was 98 and humidity 80+. You have my sympathy. How bout I come stay at your place and you come out here & have the root-canal? :lol:

 

I think I have a 20 X 30 camo tarp or 2 that I have never even opened. Good thinkin' Lincoln!

 

I was listening to the control tower and aircraft at PDX last night while I was waiting for it to cool off and I heard at least 2 pilots report being hit with a green laser coming from ~5 miles S of airport. I thought that was all in LA! Definitely no lasers on this boy's kites. :naughty: What the hell people!!! :blink:

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

@&$@ you! I did my best to AVOID that certain thread knowing full well it would be a waste of brain cells and valuable memory storage!

 

I think I have a 20 X 30 camo tarp or 2 that I have never even opened. Good thinkin' Lincoln!

That ain't no kite, that's a hang glider!!!

 

Copy humidity. Only 25% here, which is muggy for us, but I recall Midwest Summers when temp was 98 and humidity 80+. You have my sympathy. How bout I come stay at your place and you come out here & have the root-canal? :lol:

Ours is measured inland at the airport, fat lot of good that does for ascertaining the humidity for the City of Erie or the rest of the towns adjacent to the lake...have a good sized creek in the valley I reside in as well. Is claimed to be at 77% here....I'd wager it's higher. (you know it's high when you can see the air) Steady streams flowing from the A/C units, fifth emptying of the dehumidifier's 5 gallon bucket in the last 2 days.

 

Nah, -D.d-'s choppers are in prime condition (see ) thanx to decades of avoiding dentists and the products they recommend....if they worked as well as dentists would like you to believe I'd wager dentists would not be recommending their use so fervently...not exactly good for their wallets you know. Will stick to good ol salt water rinse and soda scrub.

Edited July 17, 2013 by DFINITLYDISTRUBD

[Turtle]

That ain't no kite, that's a hang glider!!!

 

Ours is measured inland at the airport, fat lot of good that does for ascertaining the humidity for the City of Erie or the rest of the towns adjacent to the lake...have a good sized creek in the valley I reside in as well. ...

 

Well I don't have to make a single big kite. I can make several smaller ones. 'Course I would want to put them up as a train so the pull won't be lessened from that of a single large kite. :lol:

 

As I may have said elsewhere to the tune of Baby Got Back...

 

I fly big kites and I cannot lie;

 

I fly big kites and I fly them high. :P

 

 

PS Just checked my personal hygrometer and it is reporting 48% humidity in da house.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Turtle

[Turtle]

Speaking of rigid kites, I recently ran across a new one on me. New to y'all as well?

 

Looks like a modestly challenging build.

 

 

Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 @ Wiki

 

 

Because of their low profile in the water, submarines could not see more than a few miles over the ocean. To solve this, the German admiralty considered a number of different options, including a folding seaplane (Arado Ar 231). In the end, they chose the FA 330, a simple, single-seater, autogyro kite with a three-bladed rotor.

 

The FA 330 could be deployed to the deck of the submarine by two people and was tethered to the U-boat by a 150 m (500 ft) cable. The airflow on the rotors as the boat motored along on the surface would spin them up. The kite would then be deployed behind the U-boat with its observer-pilot aboard, raising him approximately 120 meters above the surface and allowing him to see much farther — about 25 nautical miles (46 km), compared to the 5 nautical miles (9 km) visible from the conning tower of the U-boat. If the U-boat captain were forced to abandon it on the surface, the tether would be released and the FA 330 descend slowly to the water. ...

 

 

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

OOOOOOoooo! Nifty! Reminds me of a plane kite I had many many moons ago...was an airplane with spinning "S" shaped wings....just about the best low to high wind flyer I ever had (in flight it sounded like that spinner thing in your one video)....Also reminds me I have some Helo rotors from a little project researching the feasibility of much wider but stubbier slow turning rotors for helicopters buried somewhere around here....Hrrrmmm INDEED!

Edited July 18, 2013 by DFINITLYDISTRUBD

[Turtle]

OOOOOOoooo! Nifty! Reminds me of a plane kite I had many many moons ago...was an airplane with spinning "S" shaped wings....just about the best low to high wind flyer I ever had (in flight it sounded like that spinner thing in your one video)....Also reminds me I have some Helo rotors from a little project researching the feasibility of much wider but stubbier slow turning rotors for helicopters buried somewhere around here....Hrrrmmm INDEED!

 

 

:D I was imagining how to make fabric rotors. Not that I'm planning any actual build yet. I have never seen anyone flying one of these however, and think it would be a hit! Of course I haven't seen every-ones and their every-things flied as kites, and I have in mind a scaled down version. Well, here's a couple drawings from Wiki to put things in perspective. What scale do we think? 1/4? That would give a 6 foot rotor diameter and length of 3.5 feet. ?? I see they call it, a rotogyro kite. So we shall call it a rotogyro kite.

 

Specs:

 

Length: 4.42 m (14 ft 6 in)

Empty weight: 68 kg (150 lb)

Main rotor diameter: 7.32 m (24 ft 0 in)

Main rotor area: 42 m² (450 sq ft) 3-bladed rptop

 

 

 

 

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Why can't I find an actual pic of the real deal dangit! Wonder if my foster family has any...hrmmm, I think they still have the kite itself. Time to send an email or two.

 

 

A British rotochute rotary wing clider kite

 

Hrrrm,

 

 

Kite patents with images- http://kitepatents.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html#!

 

thought of you immediately, don't know why.

 

 

[Turtle]

Why can't I find an actual pic of the real deal dangit! Wonder if my foster family has any...hrmmm, I think they still have the kite itself. Time to send an email or two.

snip...

A British rotochute rotary wing clider kite

snip...

Hrrrm,

snip...

Kite patents with images- http://kitepatents.b..._archive.html#!

 

thought of you immediately, don't know why.

 

 

 

Impressive research there Double_D! :thumbs_up

 

All in all the rotorgyro kites look like a good way for a one-eyed man to get to no-eyed man. :Glasses: Also they look too delicate and/or bulky for trike kiting and they would be virtually impossible to see if flown to any appreciable altitude, i.e. high.

 

Must of thought of me on account of my exhibited preference for cellular kites. I have considered building tetrahedral kites many times but never made the leap for one reason or another. I recently read a kiter commenting how hard they are to assemble in the field. ? :shrug: Maybe someday.

 

No wind to speak of yesterday. Maybe this evening. Thinking if I can get the new-pocketed Conyne up I'll fly the parachute from the line. I have my eye out for a mid-size dolly so we can do some parachute drops from the kite. Speaking of that, back in the early days of the Washington International Kite Festival we had a 'Teddy Bear Drop' contest. We had a target on the ground and teams tried to parachute their bear the closest to win. I read now that all they do for the 'Teddy Bear Drop' is fly an airplane over & throw teddies on parachutes out to kids. :doh: How kitin' lame is that!!!

 

Well, I'm off like a dirty sock. :dogwalk:

[Turtle]

Borrowed a baby for parachuting. Her mother says her name is Cally, she has a clean diaper, a clean dress, she has eaten, and has permission to go parachuting from a kite as long as all owies get medicine.

 

Wind was too light to get her up high, but too light a baby and the chute won't properly deploy. Got enough vid to get the idea across. The trigger here is a second string, tied to a 6" stick which is passed through a loop on the end of a ribbon after it is passed through a ring in the flying line. The other end of the ribbon is tied to the same ring and the ribbon is wrapped around baby, chute, and cord. Pull the string & it pulls the stick out of the loop, the loop goes through the ring, the ribbon is loose and the baby is free to fall.

 

Rather than the fixed ring, which makes it necessary to bring the kite down to it to reload the baby, I have pulleys to attach to the flying lin and the kite can be left up and baby hauled up for each drop. I don't have enough secondary line right now so didn't set that all up.

 

My 2 kite accessory wishes at top of the list are a recording altimeter(about $50 from model rocket outfit) and a spring scale to measure line pull (about $12 at hardware store). Ah well...if wishes were altimiters and spring scales I would have them. :lol:

 

Here we goes thens. Say ouch!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgomKYb6_-w&feature=c4-overview&list=UUiDIgwwtUxDi7fxhELuBtxg

Edited July 27, 2013 by Turtle

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

LOl! would be just the thing for a crowded park or beach....especially if you had one that cries and coo's.

[Turtle]

LOl! would be just the thing for a crowded park or beach....especially if you had one that cries and coo's.

 

Perhaps a recording of a screaming infink played through a PA on the ground. Oh no! I dropped my blanket. :omg: :lol:

 

Working on the new kite today. Yesterday with the same wind & the bigger kite, I could have lifted Cally so fast & high it would have made her teeth rattle if she had any.

[Turtle]

Got the 3 longerons cut to length, sanded, and painted. The paint is more about sealing the wood from moisture than adding color. Black is my first choice because it's what I have on hand. Any color you want as long as it's black said Henry. :lol:

 

Well, I guess I better get to cutting the sails. I dread it. Wish me luck.

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

GOOD LUCK!!! WTF is a longeron?!?!?