NojRemmah

Hey all, Looking to design my first kite and thought I'd start a thread to chronicle my ideas and get some input. The idea is a giant Giraffe Kite. Now i've never designed a kite and hell i've only been flying for a few years now, and intermittently at that, with SE Mi inconsistent winds and some health setbacks, i thought it would be fun to tap my engineering skills and put them to the test by breathing flight into lands most majestic animal. My first thoughts were to just get/make a large sled, paint it to look like a giant giraffe head and throw a long tube to be it's neck floating in the breeze. I think this will be a good basic start to learn the proper techniques and slowly hone my ideas in. Once that is up in the air and i decide I'm not impressed enough (i mean a giant giraffe head peaking over the trees as you drive through the forest to get to the lake sounds pretty sweet to me, but come on we all know the journey won't end there) i'll move into figuring out how to make the monstrosity i have imagined in my head. Bonus points, I imagine i'll be working on a few miniaturized versions to figure out the proper internal baffling and how to bridle this, and for that I'm toying with the idea of doing Ostrich ground display's as ground displays that i could eventually turn into line laundry. With all that, before i dive into my own research I have a few questions. What is the most economic fabric to use in projects like this. Just run of the mill ripstop nylon? Is it smarter to design a giraffe as line laundry under a big lifter sled or do you think incorporating the sled into the giraffe can be accomplished? I think my biggest hurdles will be, how do i keep 2 separate entities afloat, connected by a long neck that ideally would be allowed to lurch around in the wind. Wish me luck. I think the biggest reason i'm writing this is to put my commitment out into the world so that I HAVE to start and stop just thinking about it. Can't wait to update this thread and get some pictures/builds going!

Wow! Someone is surely gonna go home happy!

I've got an STD Limited Edition coming that should arrive tomorrow! Couldn't stand the itch any longer waiting for my back-ordered Skydog Dream On so landed on this. Only problem is it'll be my first kite so probably can't help answer any questions. I'll be happy if I get her in the air on Sunday! From Kent at AWOC : He also mentioned 5-10 mph is best for STD. UL is better situated from 2-6 mph

Welp I pulled the trigger and should be expecting my first kite within the next week. I landed on the Dream on by skydog and cannot wait to get in the air

Well isn't that refreshing? Even if it was automated, it's been quite some time since I've been personally welcomed on a forum! Where to begin? well isn't that the greatest question of them all? As I sit here in analysis paralysis debating how to introduce myself, I find it quite the humorous situation. See I've been staring at kites for a couple weeks now.... Hold up, lets back up! New to the world of kiting, so much so you could say I'm an Embryo. I've been fascinated with flight since i was a child, dreams of being a test pilot were soon squandered when I grew too tall to fit in an experimental cockpit. Ok private flyer here i come, well a triple stroke grounded me for life at 30, and with that my dreams of ever flying. I pushed it to the back of my mind and went to school for aeronautical engineering, if i can't fly em i can at least design em, am i right?!? Well, that it turns out wasn't quite for me. I'm now a full ride drop out. That got me into metal work (ha I'd love to see a metal kite fly, maybe I'll start designs!) which got me a workplace accident and fucked my bowling arm. I can't quite roll a ball and have been looking for a solid hobby since, fast forward 3 years and ya know what? I missed the Detroit Kite fest by mere hours. Hell I didn't even know kite fests were a thing until i saw the last remnants packing up as i went for an evening cruise around Belle Isle. And that my friends, a mere happenstance of borderline perfect timing has reminded me of my lifelong passion and interested me in this new (to me) hobby. So with that, I wrap up my longwinded introduction, Hello and Howdy-Do to you all. Hopefully I glean some insight as to how to even begin my journey down this rabbit hole, throughout these forums, and pretty soon I'll be wrapping up lines not just text! May the wind forever guide you, -Derek