Kite Arch
The first "flight" of the kite arch is planned for 30 August at the RMB Kite Day. It is intended to be an easy and fun project, the first of its kind for Doldrums Kite Club. Please contact Leon or Otto with any comments.
The kite arch will be made up of around 20 or more diamond shaped kites, using a single flying line as the cross spar for each kite. This line will then be pegged so that the arch will dance in the wind.
It is easy to set up and will relaunch (supposedly) if the wind drops.
The following measurements and instructions are based upon plans for a kite arch on the Australian Kiteflyers Society website.
It is suggested that an arch of 20 kites is a minimum to achieve the desired effect and that it would provide a basis for further growth of the arch. More kites can be added at a later date.
Materials
The following materials are needed to make the kite arch.
- Spars - 41 cm 2 - 3 mm fibreglass or similar. The kites will only have spines and no cross spars as the flying line will form the cross spar. We are busy trying to source the spars.
- Kite skins - As we will sew the "cross spar" line to the kites, all the kites should be made from ripstop nylon. The measurements of the skins are: 41cmx41cm with the cross spar at 9cm from the top.
- Line - Leon will sew the dacron "cross spar" line to all the kites.
- Pocket material - Dacron edging tape or similar. I used 75 mm wide tape. Alternative pocket materials include double folded ripstop, seatbelt webbing, etc.
- Tails - Surveyors marking tape, which will also be provided by Leon, or if you want to, anything else, but not too heavy/long.
Directions
- Decide what colours of ripstop you are going to use and how you are going to cut it out. Make a thick card board template of the size shown (remember to add on seam allowance).
- Make a template as shown. Using this template, mark and cut out the kite skins. Hem the sides. By rotating the template 180 degrees when marking out and cutting you would cut down (excuse the pun) on the number of seams to hot cut.
- Cut out 2 spar pockets per kite, each 5 cm long by approximately 20 mm wide. Take each 5 cm length and fold at 3 cm. You will now have a 3 cm long leg and a 2 cm long leg. This will give you a pocket that spar will easily slide into.
- Sew these spar pockets into position. Do not fold the nose or tail over by too much when sewing on the pockets, as the spars are exactly 41 cm long.
- Leon will sew the "cross spar" line and attach the tails to all the kites.
LATEST NEWS!!
Graeme Poole (member of the Adelaide Kite Flyers Association, our sister club in Australia) has already made a VERY nice kite for our arch. The pictures below show Graeme and some of the detail on the kites:
