Diamond Kite Plans

For All The MBK Diamonds

These diamond kite plans are aimed at summarizing the far more in-depth instructions to be found under the How To Make A Kite section of this website. It's up to you to do a neat job and keep the weight down!

For all 3 designs, attach flying line to the bridle with a shiftable knot, for later trimming. Also, all 3 designs work well with light single-ply plastic for sail material. Many types of large plastic bags are suitable.

For each kite plan below, there are also a pair of plan view photos. The one on the left is of the front surface. That is, the surface of the flying kite which faces the flier. The other photo is of the back surface, which exposes the spars.

1-Skewer Diamond Kite Plans

Tips And Hints

1. 30 cm (1 foot) bamboo BBQ skewers work well as spars
2. Reinforce the sail edges by adding clear sticking tape over the outline, then trimming back to the outline. Make sure about 3/4 of the tape gets cut off, to save weight.
3. Secure the sail to the spar ends using short lengths of clear sticky tape.
4. Secure the horizontal spar to the vertical spar with glue, or any other method you prefer.
5. Try a length of bridle line about 3 times the length of the kite itself.
6. At the bridle attachment points, a single-wrap slip knot should be sufficient. Add a spot of glue if you want to.
7. For a start, try making a tail about 6 times as long as the length of the kite itself.
8. The tail can simply be threaded between the bottom end of the vertical spar and the sail, then tied or looped through itself.

The PDF eBook 8 MBK Kites To Make - The Complete 1-Skewer Series is useful if you prefer to print out the step-by-step instructions and plans for this kite.

Plan View Photos

2-Skewer Diamond Kite Plans

Tips And Hints

1. 30 cm (1 foot) bamboo BBQ skewers work well as spar material.
2. Reinforce the join in the middle of each spar with 2 lengths of skewer, each 0.2SL long, one on each side as in the plan. The reinforcers stay flat on the table, and glue is applied along their lengths, from above, to join the 4 pieces of bamboo together.
3. Reinforce the sail edges by adding clear sticking tape over the outlines. Trim back to the outline, leaving about half the width of the tape on the sail.
4. Secure the sail to each spar end using a short length of electrical insulation tape. Fold it over the tip.
5. Secure the horizontal spar to the vertical spar with glue, or any other method you prefer.
6. Try a length of bridle line about 3 times the length of the kite itself.
7. At the bridle attachment points, a single-wrap slip knot should be sufficient. Add a spot of glue if you want to.
8. For a start, try making a tail about 6 times as long as the length of the kite itself.
9. The tail can simply be threaded between the bottom end of the vertical spar and the sail, then tied or looped through itself.

The PDF eBook 8 MBK Kites To Make - The Complete 2-Skewer Series is useful if you prefer to print out the step-by-step instructions and plans for this kite.

Plan View Photos

Dowel Diamond Kite Plans

Tips And Hints

1. For a dowel length of 1.2 meters (4 feet), 6mm (1/4") dowel works well.
2. Reinforce the sail edges by adding nearly the full width of clear sticking tape inside the outline, then trimming back to the outline.
3. Secure the sail to each spar end using 2 short lengths of electrical insulation tape. One length goes over and around the tip, the other at 90 degrees to the first tape, with corners folded back under the sail.
4. Lash the horizontal spar to the vertical spar with tape or string, or any other method you prefer.
5. Try a length of bridle line about 2 times the length of the horizontal spar.
6. At the bridle attachment points, a Single-wrap Slip Knot should be sufficient, secured with a spot of glue.
7. No tail is required for this kite.

Note: The step-by-step instructions for this kite under the How To make A Kite section of this website describe how to make a transportable version. That is, a design which breaks down and rolls up like a Sled.

Plan View Photos

These plans, plus all the other related pages on this site for making the Dowel Diamond kite are available as a convenient PDF eBook.

Last updated: 8 Jan 2009