This kite will fly in extremely light airs on about a 25lb line
or in stronger conditions on about 70lb line.
INSTRUCTIONS
This kite is made up of 22 panels to make it you will need to make cardboard templates for all the pieces fortunately this only needs the making of 10 different templates since the left and right are simply mirror images of each other and panels 6 and 7 are identical .
The reason that the central panels are 64 cms high and not 65 cms is that A2 card is 64 cms wide and is widely available for making templates .only piece number 4 requires two pieces of card to be joined
Once you have made the ten templates mark around them onto the fabric using a fine line I use children's coloured pencils varying the colour dependant on the fabric colour to produce a clear contrast.
Leave a little space around each piece to add the seam allowance. The seam allowance I recommend is a quarter inch, make this allowance as accurate as you can and the pieces will match up when sewn together much more easily.
When the pieces are all marked out cut them out exactly along the seam allowance line, I use a surgeons scalpel and a metal rule but a rotary cutter or even scissors could be used with care.
If you look at the plan you will see that although the kite is made of 22 panels it can be broken down into six areas top left, centre right, and bottom left etc. When assembling the kite these areas should all be constructed first before any of these six are joined together.
Firstly sew the seams between pieces 1 and 2 ,then 2 and 3 etc. and continue until pieces 1 to 4 are all joined repeat this for 1' to 4' and then for 5 to 8 and 5' to 8' finally join the pieces 9 to 11 and 9' to 11' you should now have six panels. Always work out from the centreline.
The best method of joining each panel is to use a patchwork method, Lay the front faces of each piece of fabric facing each other and carefully align the edges. sew down the line leaving two small flaps of fabric sticking out at the back and a clean join on the front of the kite .
Once all six sections are constructed return to the first piece to flatten it and strengthen the seams lay the flaps of fabric on the back towards the outside edges and sew another line down their centres
Join the remaining 6 panels into 3 by combining the top pair, middle pair and bottom pair.
flatten all the seams the same way to either the left or right. Using the same method as before join the top, middle and bottom into one piece and flatten both seams downwards.
The outside edged can now be edge bound over the quarter inch seam allowances, I use a half inch polyester tape but if you can't find this then a folded piece of ripstop cut with the grain would suffice.
Add small pockets at the six points and frame using 6 mm dowel for the horizontal spars and a 6.35 mm glassfibre tube for the spine the cross spars should be set at a dihedral using the widely available plastic moulded variety .If you intend to fly in strong winds then use or at least have a spare set of glassfibre spars all of 6.35 mm
I recommend a six legged bridle along the lines of rokkaku type bridling attached via small loops these should be on the lines connecting top to middle and middle to bottom, at the top they should be 40 cm either side and in the middle whereas at the bottom they should be 30 cm either side and again in the middle.
At the back of the kite it is also advisable to attach small ties at the bridle points to hold the frame to the sail.
The bridle length is not critical but about 2m for the central line, top and bottom and the outer lines adjusted to pull evenly when the dihedrals are in place. Connect the top three lines to the bottom three with a central piece of about 50 cm and add a small aluminium ring to adjust the towing point.
If you have any problems feel free to contact me and I'll help if I can.