Materdaddy Posted June 13, 2018 Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 I purchased a large TRLBY stack a couple years ago, and when visiting the seller's house, he nearly gave this kite to me not knowing what it was. I also didn't know, but was curious so I bought it. I haven't had time to research the kite, but I'm assuming it's some sort of tetrahedral kite based on the shape of the pieces. Does anybody recognize this, have any links that might help me figure out what it is, how to assemble it, value, etc.? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Materdaddy Posted June 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted June 13, 2018 Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 No but some were for sale locally real cheap. Not knowing either maybe I shouldn't have passed them up. Stacking is pretty intriguing and would have been a pretty cheap place to start.A 5 stack on Ebay at $111.00 with $18 .00 for shipping. 4 days left on auction. Think you got something special. Oldie but goodie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted June 13, 2018 Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Sorry - never flown one. How many individual panels are there? I believe the finished assembly is triangular in shape - like a rack of bowling pins - 6 panels would be a row of 3, a row of 2, and one at the top. Add or subtract rows depending on # of panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted June 13, 2018 Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Read up a bit and man I should have got those kites. Some US made others Taiwan. Some cloth, rip stop or a poly. Any of them would be a cool score. Haven't read the archives here yet but will. People have made a 20 stack out of them 👽. Wow !!! Skipped over the historical importance of Trlby. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted June 13, 2018 Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Now I know for sure what a Star Dancer is. Don't know if I should thank you or throw curses. Another kite on the wow I want that too list LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kansas Flier Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 On 6/13/2018 at 11:21 AM, Materdaddy said: Does anybody recognize this, have any links that might help me figure out what it is, how to assemble it, value, etc.? It looks like a Tetrahedral kite. If I counted correctly you have ten sails. That would make a Tetrahedral kite that would be three sails tall. Which would be one sail on top, three sails on the second level, and six sails on the bottom. Something like >Here<. Although it's not the instruction for that kite, like you won't be tying knots to hold the kite together, it should give you an idea of how the kite will look. The first picture of the kite is how the kite flies as seen from the side. I believe the bridle connection to the line should be closer to the top of the kite. The picture in Step 7 should give you an idea of how the kite will assemble. In the picture for Step 9, the spot that the top purple arrow is pointing at, I believe should be the the place you connect the kite line(as opposed to the first picture of the kite in flight). This is where I connect the line on my Tetrahedral. If you want to attach a tail, It should attach at the bottom on the kite, below where is lower purple arrow is on Step 9. Yes, on the same edge you attach the flying line. That edge will be the closest to the ground when the kite is in flight. The kite was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. It's not a pyramid, pyramids have five sides. A tetrahedral has four sides. My Tetrahedral is two high, made of drinking straws and wrapping paper. I can't take it apart for easy transport. It's tough, I can toss it around my living room like a giant four sided die. I fly it in higher winds, with and without a tail. Or, I could be totally wrong and its a stack of mini-deltas, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Materdaddy Posted June 16, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 3 hours ago, Kansas Flier said: It looks like a Tetrahedral kite. If I counted correctly you have ten sails. That would make a Tetrahedral kite that would be three sails tall. Which would be one sail on top, three sails on the second level, and six sails on the bottom. Something like >Here<. Although it's not the instruction for that kite, like you won't be tying knots to hold the kite together, it should give you an idea of how the kite will look. The first picture of the kite is how the kite flies as seen from the side. I believe the bridle connection to the line should be closer to the top of the kite. The picture in Step 7 should give you an idea of how the kite will assemble. In the picture for Step 9, the spot that the top purple arrow is pointing at, I believe should be the the place you connect the kite line(as opposed to the first picture of the kite in flight). This is where I connect the line on my Tetrahedral. If you want to attach a tail, It should attach at the bottom on the kite, below where is lower purple arrow is on Step 9. Yes, on the same edge you attach the flying line. That edge will be the closest to the ground when the kite is in flight. The kite was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. It's not a pyramid, pyramids have five sides. A tetrahedral has four sides. My Tetrahedral is two high, made of drinking straws and wrapping paper. I can't take it apart for easy transport. It's tough, I can toss it around my living room like a giant four sided die. I fly it in higher winds, with and without a tail. Wow, thanks for the detailed reply. I'll try to get some time this weekend to make some stacks of parts and see if I can get something going, take some pictures, etc. based on your help. Thank you! 3 hours ago, Kansas Flier said: Or, I could be totally wrong and its a stack of mini-deltas This made me laugh, thanks for that, too! I don't think it's a stack of mini-deltas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Materdaddy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Well, I have an interesting mix of spars and such, but still no clear way to assemble the kite. I'll do some more counts of the spars, connectors, ferrules, etc. at some point, but there are 4 of each color of sail, so it looks like it should be a 16-cell Sierpinski Tetrahedral kite. Basically four 4-cell tetrahedral sections together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kansas Flier Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 21 hours ago, Materdaddy said: Basically four 4-cell tetrahedral sections together. Indeed. A very cool kite, especially because it breaks down so small. I would love to see it assembled. I would think that individual sets of four cells would assemble before putting them all together. It looks like there are particular cells that go in certain places I would think if there was common structure between the sets of four cells, it would run down along the edges of the top set of cells, as it basically sits on top of the other three sets. It's hard to tell from those three pics how it would go together. You gotta post pics when you figure it out. I would think that the connector on the top of the sail in the first pic would point downward toward one of the corners of that cell. At least you did't get Bell's big kite, it had over 3,000 cells. He even made a Circular Tetrahedral kite. Be careful launching and landing it. He almost breaks the bottom cell. I would launch it like he is holding the kite in the thumbnail pic. It looks like a super cool kite. No idea what it is worth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladders Posted October 17, 2018 Report Share Posted October 17, 2018 Is there an advantage to that shape, other than it being good fun? Is it more stable? Does it have more lift? It certainly doesn't look easier to store, assemble, launch or land. Bell used them for aerials I suppose. He must have been dissatisfied with the existing kite designs for some reason? I'll google it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladders Posted October 17, 2018 Report Share Posted October 17, 2018 That was easy. Good old Wikipedia. Bell wanted a kite that was both strong and stable enough to carry people. He worked up to one with (wait for it) 3393 cell weighing 90KG. Some kite. Bell's experiments in manned kite flight did not, it seems, represent a great leap forward either in kite design or in the way we move from A to B. I wonder if all famous inventors CVs are a mixture of the good stuff that made them famous and some the crazy, pointless stuff that no-one talks about? I bet they are. 🤪 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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