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Step 9Flight Test
Your kite should take off in about 10mph winds. It's helpful to have a friend for getting it off the ground- stand about 30-50 feet away from one another, with the kite facing the wind. Once the sails catch the wind, the kite should soar straight up in the air very quickly. It will level off depending on the angle of how you attached the lines.
The kite is collapsible, which makes it a great urban traveler. Right before flying however, attach a few thin wood dowels across the top-most cells with wire- being careful to keep the sails spread into equal widths. The rigidity of the wood along the top is critical: without cross-bracing, your kite will fold up like an accordion and crash to the ground as fast as it went up into the air.
The kite is collapsible, which makes it a great urban traveler. Right before flying however, attach a few thin wood dowels across the top-most cells with wire- being careful to keep the sails spread into equal widths. The rigidity of the wood along the top is critical: without cross-bracing, your kite will fold up like an accordion and crash to the ground as fast as it went up into the air.
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Apr 18, 2010. 9:41 AMarticice
says:
why do girls like kites so much?? :^) :)
Reply
Apr 18, 2010. 7:55 PMjeffconnelly
says:
Who doesn't like kites so much?
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7
Aug 9, 2010. 8:17 AMmibz man
says:
the kite won't care the gender of the person flying it
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12
Aug 9, 2010. 2:12 PM
dombeef
says:
dombeef
says:
It might care about the age though, a four year old might drool on it
Reply
7
Aug 10, 2010. 6:26 PMmibz man
says:
i can't think of a 4 year old who flys kites. and if it was up in the air the 4 year old wouldn't b able 2 drool on it.
Reply
12
Aug 11, 2010. 8:19 PMdombeef
says:
dombeef
says:
If the 4 year old is carying it to the park maybe
Reply
7
Sep 10, 2010. 4:08 PMmibz man
says:
u got me there
Reply
12
Sep 11, 2010. 8:41 AMdombeef
says:
dombeef
says:
yeah
Reply
May 30, 2009. 3:40 PMbucklipe
says:
One of the pictures I'm looking for is the middle picture on the last step. That shows the edge view from one axis. If we could get the 2 other axis views that would help. Also is the optimum "wing angle" 105 degrees? I found some wing fabric in the paint department of Wal Mart. It is a two layer drop cloth. It is paper on one side with a thin plastic bonded to it. The paper side will facilitate gluing. The plastic side will shed the air smoothly. It is 4X10 feet and costs $3.77. Not bad...
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May 26, 2009. 7:52 PMbucklipe
says:
For those of us that are challenged in the department of spatial visualization could you post a side view that shows the stack of cells? This way we could see that you had say 4 cells on the table with 5 cells above them with 6 above them etc. Another from the front looking through the cells so we could see the cell structure clearly. Using both pictures would let us see that there were 16 wings in contact with the table with 25 above it and 36 above it. Or what ever the count is. It is a bit tough to catch the geometry with the current pictures. Thanks...
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May 15, 2009. 5:28 AMbustedit
says:
that looks so cool, and you guys are the cutest kiters i ever did see. it looks like a UFO in this picture, or that weird building in Spain (madrid?) that looks like a cave/apartment bldng
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May 15, 2009. 10:37 AMbustedit
says:
no, not THIS pic, but the last pic it looks as such, IMO
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