Leaderboard

Felt really good in my novice hands but had a row of tree behind me that although they had lost their leaves made the already gusty inland wind more turbulent. A bit more responsive as you say than my first build (due to lighter weight?). Looking forward to test it in clean winds.

I've grown tired of attaching and detaching my lights, so I'm building one for a permanent home. Fingers crossed. 11 panels (5/1/5). Based roughly on the B-series because of the straight lines, but slightly different dimensions to help with the weight of the rig, plus some other refinements. Planning on midnight blue, fluorescent green, and white/reflective trim. The lights will ring the kite and be held in with the sheer trim. Here are the lights in action, held with packing tape on a Djinn.

Done, signed, and now have a video up. The vented sail won't be done any time soon, I've got hours of soldering left. Sadly I have learned that while most parts hold up well, the solder joints are a weak point. They're a tiny blob of tin, silver, and copper, and are brittle. While it can hold up for most flying, too much stress or jostling can break a solder joint. I learned from prototypes that a hard crash can break a solder joint. Folding and rolling up the kite can break solder joints if it puts too much pressure on the wire. While putting on the bridle and spars I already had two break off, but they're easily soldered back on although I need to be careful not to melt the sail. It looks much nicer than the taped-down version I was using, and should be a lot more solid than before. Forecast looks good, so I'll probably get the first flight at Kite Fest Louisiane. Thanks for the help and support, and hopefully when I get back I can post a video of it in flight.

Two more checkmarks for the full sail. ✔ Sew on LED light strips on both kites ✔ Final soldering for joints on LED light strips on both kites (48 solder joints. Eeek.) And while I haven't sewn on the final cover/trim, the LEDs are taped into place: Remaining for this kite: ⬜ Sew on LED strip covers (bonus task) ⬜ Tie bridles ⬜ Attach bridles, elastics, and endcaps ⬜ Create kite bags for both kites