riffclown Posted December 25, 2018 Report Share Posted December 25, 2018 Since the Winter Jacket (Snowflake kite) has found a new home, it leaves a space in my quiver for a true high wind kite.. I started cutting more of the Challenge PolyMax strips for a new adventure yesterday.. More to come as this project progresses.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2018 Halfway done with hemming the strips. Trying to determine the motif for this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2018 A familiar pattern. Looking at 7x8 or 5x7 strips.. Just trying to keep it even. Thinking I might go with a Spider motif on this one given the weblike appearance. More soon.. all but 2 strips are hemmed.. everything not done is still undecided at this point.. will make the LE Sleeve tomorrow. Probably Black this time.. just to be completely different. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted December 26, 2018 Report Share Posted December 26, 2018 Are you going to include leading edge mesh? This type of venting pretty eliminates the need for it. It can save you a step or two during construction and some materials, and if you build a higher aspect ratio sail it will increase the kite's overall speed, regaining some of the speed that the massive venting removed. Of course, that would involve shortening the uprights, but if you don't mind a non-interchangeable frame . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2018 18 minutes ago, makatakam said: Are you going to include leading edge mesh? This type of venting pretty eliminates the need for it. It can save you a step or two during construction and some materials, and if you build a higher aspect ratio sail it will increase the kite's overall speed, regaining some of the speed that the massive venting removed. Of course, that would involve shortening the uprights, but if you don't mind a non-interchangeable frame . . . I will have the LE mesh (or some facsimile thereof) always. It is my preferred technique. I've made several high aspect kites, including a few that rival the super sonic for aspect ratio. I made one that was full width but only about a foot high. It was a scream across the window but very hard to control due to smaller height emphasizing the vertical controls. Seemed like flying just the leading edge almost. I made a few that were 1.5 width but only B2 in height. those seemed to be a good aspect for speed but did not like the mesh when I tried that due to the aspect conflicting with the actual surface area of the kite. Not a fan of the holes and even less of a fan of the direct transition. I've made a few like that and it just doesn't do it for me. This one is for my personal bag and probably isn't going anywhere so it will be a standard 1.5 size frame-wise. I may tweak out the bridles a bit but the size is firm in my head already.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2018 Leading Edge is Completed. I think I've decided on a Black Widow theme for this kite.. More Soon.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 No back cutting yet but if you look closely you can see the spider. Hourglass will be added after back-cutting.. Spider is Black Icarex. My first reall effort at true applique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 About an hour's worth of work and now you can see the Spider. It's a little rough but it's also my first try at this level of detail. In retrospect, I made the legs too thin to be back-cut well so I'll only back cut the hourglass which will be bright red. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 Realized I'm going to have to borrow a frame from another kite to finish this one.. Time to place another order for spars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 First a slight disclaimer. since this was my first real attempt at doing any sort of detailed applique, I used scraps to start with. The black was two triangular pieces seamed diagonally to give me roughly a notebook page sized rectangle. The midnight blue PolyMax was two pieces cut from the last kite and seamed in the center to make a triangle to build upon. I was NOT expecting this to actually work so didn't plan ahead on a few fronts. First rollback decision was to no back cut due to the thinness of the legs. This decision gave me a nice black spider even on the backside when light is shining through. This decision also allowed me to work a small piece of classic Robin red between the layers of the body so I could fully back cut the hourglass from both sides..End result is the hourglass just glows and the double layers of fabric around it makes it look even brighter.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photomom Posted December 29, 2018 Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 First a slight disclaimer. since this was my first real attempt at doing any sort of detailed applique, I used scraps to start with. The black was two triangular pieces seamed diagonally to give me roughly a notebook page sized rectangle. The midnight blue PolyMax was two pieces cut from the last kite and seamed in the center to make a triangle to build upon. I was NOT expecting this to actually work so didn't plan ahead on a few fronts. First rollback decision was to no back cut due to the thinness of the legs. This decision gave me a nice black spider even on the backside when light is shining through. This decision also allowed me to work a small piece of classic Robin red between the layers of the body so I could fully back cut the hourglass from both sides..End result is the hourglass just glows and the double layers of fabric around it makes it look even brighter.. Good job.Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted December 29, 2018 Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 Looks great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 @makatakam Thank you.. Working out the logistics on getting allof the spider to fit on the center panel now. @photomom You inspired me to try this technique.. Thank you.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 Panels are sewn. Now to trim and attach to center panel. Once done the LE is ready to attach. Kite should be ready to fly by Monday. Except for the small bits to be trimmed in the middle, this is pretty close to the final layout for this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khsidekick Posted December 30, 2018 Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 That spider is way cool [emoji41] nice jobSent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 Wear strips and framing remain.. Will finish this up this afternoon!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted December 30, 2018 Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 That is one badass kite! I'm really impressed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 Thank You Mark.. Framed and Bridled. This kite is ready for wind.. Unfortunately, no breeze to try it in today. Flight pics and video soon.. Bridles and loose ends will be trimmed up after flight test.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deke Haid Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Thank You Mark.. Framed and Bridled. This kite is ready for wind.. Unfortunately, no breeze to try it in today. Flight pics and video soon.. Bridles and loose ends will be trimmed up after flight test.. Very nice, Riff. Hope you get great winds soon.Sent from my Moto Z (2) using KiteLife mobile app 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted December 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 3 minutes ago, Deke Haid said: Very nice, Riff. Hope you get great winds soon. Sent from my Moto Z (2) using KiteLife mobile app Thanks.. Me too.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted January 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 My video didn't turn out very good due to camera angles but I was able to get a few stills from it.. This kite is not as responsive as the snowflake kite but it will eat gusts like no other kite I've ever flown. Hopefully I can get some usable video today before the wind dies out.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted January 1, 2019 Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 WAY WICKED COOL!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted January 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 Decided to go ahead and post a little of the video.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted January 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2019 Renaming the topic so I can find it easier later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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