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Stunt Kite Tails?


cyenobite
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I'm sort of repeating this topic from what I've read about "kitepilot" posted about the Trlby tail winding question...

I noticed on my stunt kite (the hype by HQ), it has a little hollow tube in which I could attach a string loop, and then add a tail...

This is more of a general overall question...

Can you add a tail to a stunt kite in general?

How drastically does it effect it's flight? I assume it drastically inhibits the kite from doing many of the more complicated tricks, but what about general loops, etc...

In all the photos I've seen on the web, etc, I've not seen too many people do this, is it for a good reason?

With my limited skill, I can basically imagine myself tying the tail into one big knot! :)

Thanks for any advice, hints, etc

Newbie Stunt kite flyer

Cyen

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You can add all the tail you want... as long as the wind is blowing hard enough to carrry them. They do not effect your looping and in fact can be used as a tool to slow you down in high winds.

You can tie the end of your tails to other kite tails on other kites. We do this and it's a lot of fun on duals and quads. Yup, seen 3 duals with their tails tied together.

So go add even more color to the sky and enjoy!

BB

Penny

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Glad you asked; this question is a crowning touch to the tail discussion. I have experience with tails on my Beetle. They’re fun, like scribbling across the sky with a Crayola!

Two weeks ago a yellow schoolbus parked near my wind window and let off a passel of kids that were on a park fieldtrip. They all gathered in a group as the chaperone counted noses and watched me fly my kite in giant loops, lazy eights, and corkscrews. Enjoyed listening to the children ooh and ahh over my flight demonstration. I even began to show off a little. OK, show off a lot!

The 100 foot tail makes me look more skilled than I really am. Plus, a tail shows your flight characteristics well. You can tell whether a large circle is aligned to where it began, or how much the kite drops while doing tight spins.

Started doing my stunt tails with crepe paper, the party decoration stuff usually twisted and taped across a room. A two hundred foot roll costs two buck at the department store, and gave me two short tails and a long one. After two or three flights with each tail, they’re trashed. But the fun is worth twice as much as they cost.

My favorite kite shop staff liked my tale (snicker) of the schoolbus and suggested I try a five dollar hundred foot plastic tube tail. The tube fills with air and is more demonstrative than a streamer. They were right, but didn’t mention what a pain in the butt plastic tails are. The plastic doesn’t always allow an airfill the full length of the tube, so it becomes half tube and half streamer. Plastic tube tails also twist in several places and create sausage balloons that are difficult to pack away. Then there’s my Trlby stack with three long problematic plastic tube tails. Hence my question you referred to on the forum. And several imaginative and workable solutions (tried all but one suggestion, and they all do work very well. Where DOES Codykiteguy find that extension cord winder??? :) )

Last week a kite flyer invited me to try his Prism E2 on 100 foot lines, with seventy-five feet of ripstop tube tail. Now THAT’S a tube tail I gotta have! Wider in diameter that the plastic tubes, follows along behind the kite like a rollercoaster on tracks. Beautiful to watch and great fun to fly! Easy to pack up too because the ripstop doesn’t hold the air when it’s not flying. Like Penny says, the tail does slow down the kite. But you’d be doing slow and exaggerated ballet movements anyway and it’s not a problem.

I fly with just one tail that is tied to the spine. Tying to the bottom of the spine inhibits maneuvering to some degree because it adds extra drag and weight to the bottom of the kite. I tie to the spine at the center T which puts the tail nearest the pivot point of the kite, like the setup of Trlby. I think that works best.

Sheesh! How Do I get sooooo long winded? :( kitepilot

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wooo hooo nice team there Bosley!

Hugs Kitepilot! sounds like you have made a spot for yourself out there . Great to hear. I want pics!

When you get a chance, try two trilby tails on your beetle. Not at the spine but at your extenders at the trailing edge... nowwwwwwwwwwwww your scribbling rainbows.......

It's taken me a year to find you trilby lovers out there.. about time too, I was about to *HIGH TAIL** it outta here...

OK.. its early and no coffee... and i have been staying up till 3 am sewing lmao.... eek

hugs Mousie

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Tails can be added to any stunt kite - and I prefer 2 tails per kite.

They do slow the kite down, and somewhat limit you in the tricks arena, but I have axeled my 5-stack of Adrenalines, with 2 tails on every kite at the time. (Yep, 10 tails 45 feet long). When you do it correctly, it looks totally awesome - - - but when you screw up, the mess is pretty awesome too.

It took nearly an hour to straighten them all out the last time I flubbed the trick. :devil:

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  • 9 years later...

Tails on Rev.'s are even better then duals. You can wiggle the kite back and forth, or up and down any size and get the effect on the tail. The speed control and reverse add such a dimension to tails. You do have to be careful of wing wraps, but it's not that hard. BB Penny

I agree, tails look good on kites and also revs. Here I have attached tube tails to my rev:

  • Like 2
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  • 2 weeks later...

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