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Night Flight Kite w/ Lights


riffclown
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Just laying out the panels for now.. The Lime strips will be backed to allow light strips to be inserted.. Will even up the stripes for sure on panel assembly to give 1.25"-ish  wide strips.. Due to all of the weight for the light assemblies, I'll be minimizing weight everywhere else that I can.

LE will be Yellow 1.5 Ripstop.

Planning for seal-able pockets on the center panel to hold battery packs.

 

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Dual Panel Light test video. Sail tension will hold the LEDs in place. Batteries powered one panel for nearly 2 hours last night and are still going strong. Continuing the battery life test using both panels this time. 

 I will acknowledge this will be a heavy sail and will have a fairly narrow wind range..  HOWEVER, when it will fly, this is going to be a blast to fly in the dark.. Will complete the center panel, edge bind and finish getting ready for the Leading Edge hopefully this weekend.

This is not a "performance" stunt  kite. This is a night display you can steer.. hopefully..

 

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Wholeheartedly concur with the both of you.. I realized that  it was easier to find battery operated holiday lights and just switch out the heavy battery pack with the button cell holder.. finding the lights on a flat ribbon was priceless..

 

A little update on the kite.. I figured out how I want to finish the center.With a weave pattern inspired by Eliot Shook

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Honestly it's a totality of decisions.. Due to dual layers in the stripes AND sheer size, the sail without frame weighs as much as a Rev with a frame.. This will work but will need a bit more breeze just to be air-worthy..

FWIW,  I'm actually toying with the idea of splitting the halves and making this a single line diamond kite. I can always keep that as a fail back plan..

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20 minutes ago, SparkieRob said:

Make it the front kite of a progressive stack. Or a stack of some sort. The other kites will divide the weight.

Sent from a Galaxy 8 Far Far Down Under.
 

 Since the smallest kite of the stack goes in front on a progressive stack, the sheer magnitude of that comment makes my head spin.

IF this thing flies as designed, then great.. if it doesn't it will be folded and made into a diamond SLK..

 

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On 2/16/2018 at 1:42 AM, riffclown said:

This is not a "performance" stunt  kite. This is a night display you can steer.

When finished, the next step is to find a night time kite festival :). On the other hand, in any place and time (with or without a festival) I'm sure that it will look great.

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Leading Edge is 130"  (4X SkyShark 8P). LE Sleeve is attached with no screening. This kite is going to be a monster...

I need to finish a bit of transitional sewing on the Trailing Edge and ready the pockets for the electronics. After, edge binding and the rest of the framing and I'll be ready to reinstall the electronics.. Flyable by ?????

 

130inchLeadingEdge.jpg

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