Scotty Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 Hi all, Yesterday i ventured out for another time of mowing the flying field (r/c airplane flying field), and threw the kite in the back of the car hoping it might be windy. So after mowing for 3 hours, i was happy to see that it was really windy for a change (was dead still for about 3 weeks) Got out the kite, put it together, and it was pulling like crazy before i got the lines on it. Hooked up the lines, (here's my error) and got ready to launch. Goes up fine, pulling my thumbs back and taking a few steps back, but even with the strong wind, it falls slowly to the ground over and over again. Nothing like see a kid practicing shuttle launches with a kite After thinking about what was happening, the hampster in my head started running in his wheel, and then it hit me. "The sail has to be angled the wrong way" Sure enough i walk out, n00b that i am, bottom lines which are a tad longer were on top, and the shorter lines were on bottom. flipped em around, and BAM! Pulled back, kite goes up, kid goes flying onto his face. Not kidding. i dont think the winds were higher then 20 mph gusts, i just wasnt expecting it. after getting up, i took off again, and managed to stay in the air 10 minutes before coming down. I was going crazy YAY! IT WORKS!! So i preceeded to do some spins, practice slides from right to left (spar on top) working on keeping it in one spot, inverted hovers, sideways hovers, and some reverse (lots of work to do there) i think the best thing i said to my mom after flying was "If John Barresi was here, he would either be crying or laughing hysterically" Another fun day at the flying field, but flying something different then normal thank you for reading my embarassing story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 Hey Scott... Glad to hear you got it going. You should be good and hooked now ! And at least there wasn't someone with a camera during your embarassing moment, like me, I've always got my wife with her camera waiting for something to happen... http://www.ferob.com/kite/Draggin.jpg ~Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted August 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 that's exactly what i looked like a few times lol same facial expression too havent gotten any flying in since then though, no wind at all past 2 days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant man Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 good tp see you are flying and in time youll be better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Great story Scott!! If it's any consolation... The first year that I had a Revolution, it flew really poorly... Hated it, and I sold it after about 12 months... A few months later, come to find out I had the vertical spars on the FRONT of the kite instead of the back. *sigh* Oh yes, I have had my equally silly moments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted August 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 they're supposed to go on the back of the kite? :confused!: hahahaha just kidding although i did make that mistake too, first day i tried it. Tops of the trees are moving, might have enough wind today to get some more time in. KITING IS FUN! YAY!! wow im hyper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Lingenfelter Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Oh yes, I have had my equally silly moments. Had John? lol Had? Life is more sweet with a few embarrasssing moments in it. Like John and Monkey's dance off routines this weekend.. Forget the kites! They had to do 30 seconds of dance on the field. Pointing and laughing was deservedly allowed, no encouraged. Ewwww, John I'm not sure you should ever wear that shirt again! Way to shake it Johnny boy. Monk, the only reason I'm not giving you a bad time is because we missed your 30 seconds of fame. but you won, so you probably slapped your bottom a few times. BB Penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkey Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Oh yes, I have had my equally silly moments. Had John? lol Had? Life is more sweet with a few embarrasssing moments in it. Like John and Monkey's dance off routines this weekend.. Forget the kites! They had to do 30 seconds of dance on the field. Pointing and laughing was deservedly allowed, no encouraged. Ewwww, John I'm not sure you should ever wear that shirt again! Way to shake it Johnny boy. Monk, the only reason I'm not giving you a bad time is because we missed your 30 seconds of fame. but you won, so you probably slapped your bottom a few times. BB Penny You know that was the sexiest 30 seconds you've ever seen on a kite field Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLAMAGUY Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 You know that was the sexiest 30 seconds you've ever seen on a kite field hmmm. maybe the most frightening too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Monk, the only reason I'm not giving you a bad time is because we missed your 30 seconds of fame. but you won, so you probably slapped your bottom a few times. Ummmm... It was me that slapped his bottom a few times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted August 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 got some really good wind on thursday, and a little video that my friend shot. couple crashes and bumps, but nothing broke yet. http://www.scott.rchomepage.com/Rev.wmv enjoy! and help/criticism is appreciated. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 Great vid Scott! You're on the path... Just keep at it. My only recommendation from a control standpoint, is to try spending an hour in hover mode... Applying only minute reverse inputs, forward inputs, and turns. The idea is to keep the kite in a hover... And change the orientation or position a little bit at a time, very slowly. As a training drill, this has been very effective for me. Again, nice work... And thanks for the KL plug! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVflyer Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 add some knots on the bottoms of your leaders so you can "tune" the handles for more brake. Place the leading edge resting on the ground and practice backing up to waist or head height (inverted). You may need to shorten the bottoms to do this more effectively. When the kite willl back-up from inverted, you have the handles tuned properly. Now try again and see how much more slowly you can control the kite. Lots of newbies begin their training with WAY TOO MUCH forward drive. John's advise of a tiny rocking motion of adjustments is dead-on. The Rev 1.5 kite is all about control, imagine you want to "park it" on top of a fence post. Imagine how carefully you'd approach such a stationary object. You wouldn't want to damage your new kite!!! That is the control you are after and it will take some time. But bad habits are much tougher to break later on, so learn with a huge dose of "DOWN" in your tuning. Later on you'll be darn glad you did it this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant man Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 adding knots on your brake lines will help with better control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 okay guys... I'm struggling with control to the point I measured my lines. The red pair is a good inch longer than the black pair. Everything says they should be the same length. Of course the instructions, yeah I even read the book and watched the DVD, say there is a white pair and a black pair. To make things worse the red and black pairs aren't really pairs. Red and red with white dots and black and black with white dots. Confused? Me too. Now here is where it gets good... My way of thinking matches red and right. Black is left over get it?...Now because one of each color has white dots I put those on the top and the solid colors on the bottom. Humor me... tell me it was logical. I spent a lot of time flying into the ground. As I said I measured the lines and the reds are longer so I redo the connections with new logic. I notice the top connections on the bridle are red and the bottoms are black. Sounds good to me. Red line is top left, red with white dots is top right, black with dots bottom right well you get the picture. Wind from the Southwest at 10 - 15mph all my WORK day... I get off work and wind is zero gusting to 2.5mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 I always do black = bottom... Using "B" as the common item, Black/Bottom... You could use the white dots as your right side indicator. Ah, re-reading your post... This is exactly what you did, spot on. The red lines might be longer, if they were used as the top at any point, because of stretch... There is more pull on the top lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nckiter Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Grandpa, The critical part of line marking is a system that works for you. You just need to be sure your handles and bridle connections match up. My lines sets are marked like yours, solid red and broken red, solid black and broken black. Reds are my right and blacks are the left. Solids on top, broken on bottom. This was a hold over from dual line sets with red = right and black = left, and is common in my area. The other critical issue, especially if you are still gaining experience is EQUAL line lenghts. Good luck, it sounds like you are hooked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilh Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Where do you folks buy four different sleeving colors (e.g., red, broken red, black, broken black)? I use just white sleeving, with red and black permanent markers. I have one red, two red, one black, and two black, but I would like to find more sleeving colors. I've always alternated which lines I put on the top vs. bottom every time I go out so as to even out the stretch. I only have to remember which is top vs. bottom as long as it takes to walk the length of the lines. --Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 got some really good wind on thursday, and a little video that my friend shot.couple crashes and bumps, but nothing broke yet. http://www.scott.rchomepage.com/Rev.wmv enjoy! and help/criticism is appreciated. Scott Dude nice video Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Where do you folks buy four different sleeving colors (e.g., red, broken red, black, broken black)?I use just white sleeving, with red and black permanent markers. I have one red, two red, one black, and two black, but I would like to find more sleeving colors. I've always alternated which lines I put on the top vs. bottom every time I go out so as to even out the stretch. I only have to remember which is top vs. bottom as long as it takes to walk the length of the lines. --Lee Mine came that way from the kite store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kite Shoppe Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Where do you folks buy four different sleeving colors (e.g., red, broken red, black, broken black)?I use just white sleeving, with red and black permanent markers. I have one red, two red, one black, and two black, but I would like to find more sleeving colors. I've always alternated which lines I put on the top vs. bottom every time I go out so as to even out the stretch. I only have to remember which is top vs. bottom as long as it takes to walk the length of the lines. --Lee Lee, I actually use bridle line as the 'sleeving' on everything under 150# lines. Bridle line is available in lots of different colors. Red, Black, grey and hi-vis yellow are the most common colors I stock. Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nckiter Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Lee, Yup, we use markers also. I'm going to check out the bridle line like Theresa mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Lingenfelter Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Do we need 4 different sleeving colors? Color doesn't concern me because my lines are the same length. If the ends are larks headed together and you attach them to a handle and attach them to the kite it's connected to one side of the kite. When you pick up the handles again just shake it and you can determine if it's the left or right. I always check this whenever I pick my kite back up. I do usually attach the last alphabet of the colors to the bottom of the handle..... ie. green/orange.. O being the last letter of the alphabet between the two and it goes on the bottom. Since I do have various colored sleeving over the years, I've learned to adapt. Parking my Rev upside down. Leading edge on the ground, and stake my handles with the top of the handles around the stake so a wind or person can't easily launch it accidently. Now when I go to attach the lines to the kite I know that the longer of the two lines is the bottom line. WaLa! BB Penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant man Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 keep the black on the bottom and the whites on the top the 2 loops with red dots on them put them on the right handle and the other ones on the left handle that will help you in time youll get it down in your head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVflyer Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 sleeving is another tangle point just waiting to happen! It screws-up the unwinding of your lines, it tangles on the kite during slack-line tricks, it's murder on the handles too, if you have the metal triangle attachment method. It's usage is entirely elective, . . . it is not worth the trouble in my opinion. How can you make a miniscule adjustment if you use sleeves on your flying lines? I've NEVER had the lines fail at the knots in a dozen years of sport kiteflying. Instead of a simple loop (used for the larkshead) try tying a mini knot into the loop, so you have an easy way to remove the flying lines at the end of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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